Our Mission

We are so excited to continue our journey for Jesus to Southend Saskatchewan!   We are working with LAMP ministries and this is the fourth year that Messiah has sent a team there as part of a five year commitment.   Some of our team members have had the privilege of serving the Cree for each of the trips.   The mission work continues to grow and evolve.  What began as the teaching of Vacation Bible School to the children has expanded into the rest of the community.  In addition to VBS we will be hosting a community gathering, two teen nights, and a women’s tea.  The theme for VBS this year is God ALWAYS Keeps His Promises. 

LAMP is the Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots which has provided Christian witness and nurture in communities in northern remote areas of Canada since 1970.  Each year over 5,000 children, youth and adults are impacted by the ministry of LAMP in 60 communities across northern Canada.

Beautiful Southend!

The bay outside of Fr Marks House

Southend is a village in northern Saskatchewan that is located on the south end of Reindeer lake which is the 9th largest lake in Canada.  It is about a 23 hour drive from Minneapolis. We will be serving the Cree which is a First Nations people of Canada.

The population of this village is approximately 1,000 and about half of them are children under the age of 12. There are a number of facts about this community.  The Cree are special people that value relationships over tasks. In contrast, we are conditioned to be task oriented with goals and accomplishments defining our success. They prefer story telling over reading or being read to. They are a culture that shares everything, and they are not materialistic. The community functions much like an extended family and many homes have multiple generations that live there.   We expect to continue to learn a great deal from them.