Location: St. Louis , MO
Organization Name: Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Purpose of Fund: A group of LCMS members, from different congregations started a charter school at Bethlehem Church, so that the Gospel could be shared with students after the school day through the Bethlehem After School program. Attendance from the students of the public charter school is voluntary. 80% of the students attend the program each night. Not only do they receive God’s Word, but they share it with their parents. This has resulted in many baptisms of both children and parents, and has brought several families into a regular worshipping life a Bethlehem Lutheran Church. It has also brought about one marriage of school parents who had been living together. The success of this program includes the need for highly qualified teachers, which creates an ongoing significant expense. A publicly funded after school program would be less expensive, but would severely restrict us from speaking about Jesus. Thus, we have adopted our privately-funded approach so that the Gospel is unrestricted in being shared. The purpose of this fund is to provide financial resources to support the sharing of the Gospel with the children of the Bethlehem Church neighborhood.
