Feature

Ancient Mission, New Alliances

Two alliance missionaries — pastors who come from LCMS partner churches — serve alongside the Lutheran church in Spain.

Story by Roy S. Askins | Photography by Erik M. Lunsford | Summer 2025

“It’s the Bible in architecture,” said the Rev. Isaac Machado about the Sagrada Família, a minor basilica being built in Barcelona, Spain. The basilica, designed by famous architect Antoni Gaudí, has been under construction for nearly 144 years. On a recent visit to the basilica, Machado pointed out the 12 spires for the apostles, the four spires for the evangelists, the tower for Mary and the tallest central spire for Christ. He also called attention to the stations of the cross splayed across the Passion façade on the western side of the structure. As a Lutheran pastor, he appreciates the way that the Sagrada Família stacks layer upon layer of biblical theology and teaching.

(From left) The Rev. Isaac Machado prepares the altar in Barcelona. The Sagrada Família has been under construction for nearly 144 years.

To some degree, the sacred building embodies what Machado, a Venezuelan pastor, is doing in Spain, where he serves alongside the Spanish Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELE). The Sagrada Família merges ancient and modern — Gothic glory and the natural curving lines of modern architecture. Machado serves in this ancient land through a (relatively) new model of historic missionary work, the re-infusion of confessional Lutheranism into the modern Roman Catholic-dominant Spanish culture. That is, he serves as an alliance missionary with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Machado is a pastor of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela (ILV) who has been called by the ILV to serve as a missionary in Spain under the oversight and through the support — financial and otherwise — of the LCMS. During his six years in Spain, he has fallen in love with Spain and the Spanish people.

In the last six months, Machado was joined by the Rev. Alisson Henn, a Brazilian pastor. The time is ripe for the work in Spain to expand: “People in Spain come to the Lutheran church because it is a liturgical church and [its] doctrine is beautiful,” Henn said. “The people … read more about the doctrine, our Concordia book [Book of Concord], … and this is good for us because people are coming now to the Lutheran church.”

Henn received a call from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) to serve as a missionary in Spain. He moved there with his wife and daughter, and he has been serving with the IELE doing what missionary pastors — alliance or otherwise — do: preaching, teaching and distributing Christ’s gifts to His people.

See photographs from a recent worship service and time in fellowship with the congregation in Barcelona.

Lutheranism in Spain

“We are a small church [body],” Machado said. The small numbers are in part a consequence of historic persecution of Lutherans. Following the emergence of the Reformation in Germany (1517), it is believed that thousands of Lutheran Protestants worshiped secretly in Spain. In fact, the New Testament was translated into Spanish by Francisco de Enzinas while he lived in Philip Melanchthon’s house in Wittenberg (1541). He probably spoke with Martin Luther at some point. However, following the 1559 conviction of 16 Spanish Lutherans as heretics and their subsequent burning at the stake, the Reformation in Spain was snuffed out. For 400 years, Spain lacked any significant Lutheran presence. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that Lutheranism finally returned.

The small numbers do not mean that the work is any less important. In some ways, it means that the four pastors who serve the IELE have more work than they can handle. The IELE consists of about 120 people, but “[they’re] spread across the country,” Machado said. They attend 12 different congregations or preaching stations throughout Spain. And interest in Lutheranism is growing.

Here’s where the alliance missionary program enters the story: While the IELE has four pastors, only Machado and Henn are able to dedicate their time fully to their congregations. The Rev. Felipe Lobo, bishop of the IELE, and the Rev. Antonio Suárez, pastor of the IELE, serve as bivocational pastors. Prior to Henn’s arrival, Machado provided pastoral care for six of the 12 mission stations of the IELE. He is now able to split that work with Henn.

Henn could not have come a moment too soon. “We are receiving a lot of emails from people in other places where we don’t have a church,” Machado said. “For example, in the Canary Islands, we’re receiving [messages from] people that want to become Lutheran, and it’s a new challenge.”

Machado and Henn already spend significant amounts of time traveling across Spain to care for the far-flung congregations; adding additional locations will mean even more travel time.

Immigrants from Latin America are a key demographic of the IELE. Betania Casniro is a Venezuelan deaconess student who will be graduating this fall. She and her husband, Jorge Paruta, knew Machado in Venezuela, and she finds great comfort in having a familiar face around: “It’s comforting to have pastors, at least for us who are migrants, … [who are our] fellow countrymen, who can bring us the Word of God, who help us, who encourage us, who guide us, who lead us spiritually,” she said.

Their congregation, which is in the Magán suburb of Toledo, feels much like a family gathering. Machado is godfather to Casniro and Paruta’s son, Joaquin. Machado beams with pride as he watches his 3-year-old godson lead a mealtime prayer from memory. Joaquin is already memorizing portions of the catechism as well, the result of parents and a pastor working to ensure the Lutheran faith in Spain is passed on to the next generation.

See photographs from a Palm Sunday service at the congregation in Madrid.

The Word of God

As with the architecture of the Sagrada Família, the Word of God — Palabra de Dios, in Spanish — sits at the heart of the IELE’s work. Zulema Rodriguez, an immigrant and deaconess student from Peru, sought out the Lutheran church in Spain because it’s where she finds the Word of God.

“The Lutheran church that I attended in Peru aligned more with what I could see in the Word of God, the true Word,” she said about her conversion to Lutheranism. “I have visited many churches, and I always saw little things I didn’t see in the Bible. But with Lutherans, I did see it [in the Bible].” Furthermore, she delights in the shared confession she finds in the Lutheran church: “We have a single confession; we share a single belief in the Word of God, and we share [a] belief in the Divine Service.”

At the encouragement of her mother and husband, Rodriguez entered the deaconess program. She cherishes the study of God’s Word, finding it not only beautiful but a gift she can give to others: “I like [speaking God’s Word] because I know that we are instruments of God, and that He uses us as instruments.”

Indeed, she believes that Machado and Henn are the instruments that God is using to care for His people in Spain. These alliance missionaries have significantly increased the capacity of the IELE, which “allows the work to be shared more … and allows us to reach more people, more cities,” Rodriguez said.

Committed to Alliance Missionaries

The work of alliance missionaries is not new. At the 2023 LCMS convention in Milwaukee, delegates adopted Resolution 2-01, “To Commend, Strengthen, and Give Thanks for [the] Alliance Missionary Program.” The resolution acknowledges that alliance missionaries have served with the LCMS since the early 2000s, and it commends the LCMS Office of International Mission (OIM) for expanding this program. Finally, it encourages the Synod to support and expand the program with prayers, gifts and efforts coordinated under the supervision of the OIM. Currently, a small but growing community of God’s people in the LCMS are financially supporting around 20 alliance missionary families, while the LCMS Mission Advancement team is available to help other mission-minded contributors respond to the convention resolution’s call for their help as well.

See photographs from a Palm Sunday service and fellowship held at a home near Toledo.

The alliance missionary program has become an integral part of the LCMS’ international mission work. The OIM is seeking ways to expand the program in Spain and other parts of the globe to further expand the proclamation of the Gospel.

“I want to thank all the people that are supporting this alliance missionary program,” Machado said, addressing those whose financial gifts make his missionary service possible. “I pray for you all, there in the United States. If you want to come and see what the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is doing here in Spain, you are more than welcome to come and be here and with us. … And then you can see with your own eyes what your offerings and what your support are doing in Spain.”

Learn More

Read an FAQ about alliance missionaries

Make a gift to support the alliance missionary program

Read a past Engage story about the work in Spain

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Rev. Roy S. Askins

Managing director of Editorial and Theological Content for LCMS Communications and executive editor of The Lutheran Witness.