2024 Annual Report > Faithful Investing, Lasting Impact: MIF’s Work with Lutheran Ministry Organizations
Faithful investing lasting impact:
MIF’S WORK WITH LUTHERAN MINISTRY ORGANIZATIONS
Published on June 2, 2025
At the Mission Investment Fund (MIF), we believe that financial stewardship is more than just investing—it’s about making a meaningful impact. Beyond providing secure investment opportunities for individuals and congregations, MIF serves as a trusted financial partner for ministry organizations dedicated to transformative work in communities across the country. Two long-standing partners—Global Refuge (formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) and Lutheran Services in America—exemplify this shared mission.
GLOBAL REFUGE: WELCOMING THE STRANGER, STRENGTHENING COMMUNITIES
“Since 1939, Global Refuge has welcomed more than 800,000 legally admitted immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers as they rebuild their lives in the United States,” shares Andrew Steele, Global Refuge’s chief development and mobilization officer. “It’s part of our DNA as Lutherans to welcome the stranger; we are an immigrant church,” he explains.
Founded to aid European refugees displaced by World War II, Global Refuge continues its mission today by resettling refugees, building stronger communities through inclusion and empowerment, and reuniting families and working with unaccompanied minors—preventing abuse and child trafficking.
As the country’s second-largest refugee assistance organization, Global Refuge works alongside ELCA congregations and ministries to ensure that newcomers receive both an immediate and a “long welcome”—offering resources and community connections beyond their arrival.
PARTNERSHIP WITH MIF
“Investments with MIF have certainly supported the overall mission and operation of Global Refuge,” Steele shares. “MIF is well positioned, and they are good partners.” Global Refuge’s mission alignment with MIF makes using it for investments an easy choice. “MIF is part of the church, and we are church together. Investing with MIF makes sense.”
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LARGER CHURCH
This mission alignment extends throughout the church. A number of congregations, for example, provided office space for local Global Refuge offices when they originally opened. “Quite simply, we are family, and we are all in this work together,” reflects Steele, “work we cannot do alone.”
And the work, by any measure, is impressive.
With more than 1,000 partners and 50,000 volunteers, Global Refuge is the largest faith-based national nonprofit exclusively dedicated to helping restore a sense of home to legally admitted immigrants and refugees. Despite short-term challenges, Global Refuge remains committed to its work. “We have been a trusted ministry, in a public-private partnership with the government and the Lutheran Church, and our mission will not change,” reflects Steele. “We remain steadfast in whom we serve and steadfast in our commitment to serve refugees and welcome the stranger, living out our mission—fostering a world of just and welcoming communities.”
“It’s part of our DNA as Lutherans to welcome the stranger; we are an immigrant church.”
LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA: A LEGACY OF CARE
Lutheran Services in America (LSA) is a nationwide network of faith-based organizations dedicated to serving communities through social ministries. Reaching more than 6 million people—one in every 50 Americans—LSA members provide services in areas such as child and family support, aging care, health and housing, disability services, social sector leadership and public policy advocacy.
Three-hundred member organizations came together in 1997 to found LSA. “The idea behind Lutheran Services in America is to share innovations in our shared social ministries. We know we are better together,” explains Alesia Frerichs, president and CEO.
Founded on the Lutheran tradition of faithful service, LSA’s strategy is to grow collective capacity to lead and effect policy and systems change, catalyze innovation and collaboration for impact, and amplify a united, faith-based voice that shares solutions about what works, why and for whom.
PARTNERSHIP WITH MIF
LSA has been a long-standing customer of MIF. “Investments with MIF help to fund grants to our network and are a safe and stable way to invest,” says Frerichs. “There is the added benefit of investments with MIF helping congregations and ministries of the ELCA with low-cost building and renovation loans. We are grateful for this enduring partnership with MIF.”
CARING FOR NEIGHBORS
“What does it mean to be part of a faith community?” Frerichs asks. “It’s a question being asked in many places across our country today.”
One answer is service to others.
“I am reminded that faith is not just personal—it is communal, woven into the acts of kindness, service and love that connect us all. LSA is a network caring for neighbors,” says Frerichs, and this network has deep roots.
“Martin Luther taught that being saved by grace frees each of us to serve others. He put this into practice by establishing the Common Chest, a fund to support orphans, widows, education and medical care. This wasn’t just charity—it was a way to break cycles of poverty and build a stronger, more compassionate community,” explains Frerichs.
“In the mid-1800s, as many Lutherans and other denominations fled hunger, violence and persecution, they established churches in America,” she continues, “Deaconesses and clergy built schools, hospitals and care institutions for orphaned children, seniors and veterans—laying the foundation for modern social ministry. Luther’s teachings helped unleash the collective power of the broader faith community, launching a powerful legacy of purpose and hope.”
“I am reminded that faith is not just personal–it is communal, woven into the acts of kindness, service and love that connect us all.”
The Rural Aging Action Network, LSA’s national collaborative, illustrates caring for neighbors. One in four older adults in the U.S. live in a rural community or small town, and the network dedicates itself to expanding sustainable community-based services and support for underserved older adults in rural Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Services that are life-changing and lifesaving.
“The work of LSA’s social ministry organizations is a powerful symbol of our faith in 46 states and 1,400 communities. Every day we have the opportunity to witness faith in action—grace, care and service embodied. We’ve been in some places more than 100 years, community-centered and trusted for decades.” Investing with MIF is easy and available to individuals, congregations and ministry organizations alike. Visit mif.elca.org to explore the flexibility of investments with MIF. Join more than 11,000 investors making a difference in the world, one investment at a time.
To learn more about Global Refuge and Lutheran Services in America, please visit:
Global Refuge: www.globalrefuge.org
Lutheran Services in America: www.lutheranservices.org