Lutheran Women's Missionary League
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The Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) is an auxiliary organization of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. It was founded in 1942 to support missionary work through the collection of "mites," spare change named for the small coins in the lesson of the widow's mite in Mark 12 and Luke 21. Small cardboard containers called "mite boxes" are used for the coins.
The LWML meets biennially in convention to decide on mission grants to support. Each delegate represents a "zone" of about 8-12 LWML "societies," each of which is in a local congregation. The mission goal for the 2005-2007 biennium is US$1,137,500 to be raised from the collection of "mites", which will be used to support projects in Russia, China, Kenya, and Pakistan as well as several in the United States. In addition, the LWML is divided into 40 geographical districts, each of which holds a convention in the alternate years to vote on its own local mission projects, with delegates representing each of the "societies" in the district. (One district holds annual conventions.)
The national organization publishes the Lutheran Woman's Quarterly four times a year, and districts usually have their own newsletters.
Since 1998, the LWML has also been known as Lutheran Women in Mission.
