Mission History

Lutheran Church of Nicaragua of Faith and Hope

The Lutheran presence in Nicaragua began in 1983 as a pastoral accompaniment for the refugee community of Salvadorans who settled there during the years of the civil war in El Salvador. In 1992, these refugees returned to their homeland after the Peace Accords were signed in New York City. The small group of Nicaraguans who had received these refugees and had worked with them decided to continue the Lutheran witness in their own communities. They began organizing faith communities among poor Nicaraguans living in and in rural areas close to the capital, and joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1994 as the Iglesia Luterana de Nicaragua "Fe y Esperanza" (ILFE).

In less than a decade, ILFE grew to more than 20 faith communities. After Hurricane Mitch’s deadly sweep through Nicaragua in 1998,  ILFE’s relief and reconstruction assistance proved not only to be life-saving for people in desperate need, but also the means by which peasant farm communities in western Nicaragua first learned about Lutheranism in Nicaragua. More than a dozen new ILFE preaching points and missions were established. Today it is one of the most dynamic churches in the region.