Outreach

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

— Matthew 25:40

Service to our immediate community and the world offers opportunities to explore one of our most basic convictions: that life in Jesus Christ—every action in every corner of our daily lives—flows freely from a daring confidence in God’s grace. This is part of what we mean when we envision a future where all have life through the love of Christ. People at Lord of Life dare to work every day to make their community a better place.

Ongoing Outreach Activities

Every week at Lord of Life, you will find a table or box in our Welcome Center collecting goods or money for outreach, social support, or mission activities. We also have regular events to support specific organizations throughout the year.

Our outreach ministry, which identifies opportunities and organizes support, works through two teams. The Community Outreach Team focuses on Lord of Life’s immediate community in The Woodlands and surrounding areas of Greater Houston and Montgomery County, Texas. The Global Missions Team looks beyond our immediate area to address mainly international mission opportunities. Each team has its own expertise but both provide opportunities to donate money, goods, or time. If you would like to serve on either team, please get in touch with our Director of Outreach, Jenny McKenna.

Community Outreach

“Second Offering” – On the first Sunday of each month at both worship services, Lord of Life collects two offerings. All proceeds from the second offering are dedicated to the Montgomery County Food Bank Backpack Food program.

Food Pantry Sunday – Also the first Sunday of every month. You are invited to bring bags of nonperishable food items to the altar. Members will take these to the Montgomery County Food Bank and Interfaith of The Woodlands. Check the previous week’s Sunday bulletin or our weekly news email for a list of needed items.

Buddy Backpacks – The Montgomery County Food Bank Backpack Food program provides food-insecure children with nutritional food for weekends and holidays. Proceeds from our monthly Second Offering benefit this program. You can also donate grocery items especially for the backpacks on Food Pantry Sunday and help sort and deliver the items. Shopping lists are included in the worship handouts the week before. Contact Jenny to participate in sorting and delivering.

Lord of Life Homeless Ministry – Meets the 4th Tuesday of every month at 1 p.m. in the Lord of Life kitchen. We make lunches and bags of personal toiletry items to deliver to the Salvation Army shelter in Conroe. You can drop off travel-size toiletries at the church office any time. These gifts help people maintain dignity and are a necessity to those who are currently employed or seeking employment while finding their way to independent living.

Lord of Life Angel Reach Lunch – Meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month in the Lord of Life kitchen to prepare meals for at-risk youth. Check the event calendar or Realm for a sign-up link. This supports Angel Reach Transitional Living Program for young people who have aged out of foster care and Angel Reach Kinship Program for people who are caring for extended family members placed by CPS.

Needle Arts at Lord of Life – Sewing, knitting, and crocheting to meet the needs of various organizations locally and globally. See the event calendar for schedule.

Cards for a Cause – Food and fellowship with church family! This monthly lunch group collects free-will donations of $25 grocery gift cards (HEB, Kroger, or Walmart) to give to food-insecure individuals in our community. Check the events calendar for the next get-together.

Meals on Wheels Montgomery Country – Delivers meals to homebound people in our area. They provide the meals; our volunteers provide the wheels. Contact Jenny to learn about the current delivery schedule.

Upbring – We host several events throughout the year to benefit children across Texas who are in foster families through Upbring (formerly Lutheran Social Services).

Adopt-a-Family/Adopt-a-Senior – This annual holiday activity provides Christmas gifts for needy families and seniors in our community.

Souper Bowl of Caring – A one-day national effort to help end world hunger at the local level, held annually on the NFL’s Super Bowl Sunday. Lord of Life participates every year; last year’s tailgate party raised over $2,000 to support food-insecure families in Montgomery County.

Project Liftoff – Help send kids to camp! This nonprofit funds scholarships for foster kids and other kids in need to attend Weekend Family Retreats at Lutherhill Ministries in LaGrange, Texas.

Family Promise of Montgomery County – Donations to this group help local families that are experiencing homelessness.

Scouts BSA (formerly Boy Scouts of America) – Lord of Life is the only chartering organization in The Woodlands that offers a full Scouts BSA program for the entire family from kindergarten through age 21!

• Pack 883: Cub Scouts for boys and girls ages 5–11
• Troop 89: Serves boys ages 11–18
• Troop 890: Serves girls ages 11–18
• Crew 89: Available to boys and girls ages 14–21

Hospital Visitation Ministry – Visiting Lord of Life members and their family who are hospitalized and have requested a visit. If you are interested in this, please contact Pastor David.

Recovery and Identity Support Programs – Lord of Life provides regular meeting space for recovery and identity support groups in our community, including Safe Harbor AA and Alanon groups, other AA, Alanon, and Alateen groups, and more.

Global Missions

Lutheran World Relief Farmers Market – Lord of Life is proud to serve and sell free trade coffee from Lutheran World Relief Farmers Market. You can buy this coffee for yourself at the Hands of Faith Fair Trade shop, a ministry of Lord of Life. The sale of fair trade coffee, chocolate, and handcrafted goods helps farmers across the world.

Congregación Filadelfia, Iglesia Luterana del Perú (IL-P) – We maintain a partner relationship with this congregation, increasing global awareness, building support for global mission work, and praying faithfully for our sisters and brothers in Lurín, Lima, Perú.

RuthAnn’s Remnants – Meets twice a month on the 2nd and 3rd Thursdays at 10 a.m. This group makes quilts which are sent around the world with Lutheran World Relief. Learn more about why quilts are so important for Lutheran World Relief.

Lutheran World Relief Kits – Periodically we gather items to make and ship School Kits, Personal Care Kits, and Fabric Kits to Lutheran World Relief, which distributes them to people coping with poverty, disaster, and conflict.

ELCA Good Gifts (God’s Global Barnyard) – This fundraiser provides for the purchase of animals that are given to families to provide income and nutrition. Individuals can also purchase a gift on their own, if they choose.

Seafarers Ministry – Every December, we prepare boxes of gifts for foreign seafarers and deliver them to the Houston International Seafarers Center at the Port of Houston, which distributes them to seafarers from all over the globe separated from their families at Christmas.

Rise Against Hunger – A fun church-wide activity is packing meals for this international hunger relief organization which distributes food and life-changing aid to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Last time we did this, we packed over 15,000 meals with GREAT JOY!

A Legacy of Missions and Outreach

Here are just some of the missions and outreach activities that Lord of Life’s Community Outreach Team and Global Missions Team have organized over the past two years. Every item on these lists represents a real connection among people in our congregation and beyond. Whether you are meeting monthly to create a quilt, packing boxes in the Fellowship Hall, or hauling furniture, lasting friendships come from serving together.

Donating Money

The Gebert Mission Endowment Fund, honoring Pastor Emeritus and Interfaith of The Woodlands founder Rev. Don Gebert and his wife Barbara, was created specifically to support mission and social outreach activities outside Lord of Life, both local and global. In the 2024–2025 fiscal year, this fund, along with special collections and budgeted outreach work, distributed more than $36,000 in grants to local and global groups.