The Anglican Health and Community Network (AHCN) recently announced the launch of The Luke Fund - an initiative that seeks to fund small, health-promoting activities in churches across the Anglican Communion in memory of the late Rt Revd Luke Pato.

Bishop Luke was one of the founding Co-Convenors of the health network. He was known as someone who was deeply committed to health, mission and community care.

The Luke Fund was launched on 18 October, which is known in the Christian Calendar as ‘The Feast Day of Saint Luke the Evangelist’, a physician, companion of Saint Paul and author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

What The Luke Fund will do

Previously named ‘The 5 Loaves Initiative’, The Luke Fund now aims to actively seek out and support the invisible, local health work already taking place in the world’s most remote parishes. It is grounded in the Health-Promoting Church Model - a community-centred framework that seeks to integrate physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being into the daily mission of a congregation – which Bishop Luke championed. The fund will equip small, community-driven church initiatives to encourage Anglican congregations to fulfil Christ’s call to care for the sick.

According to the AHCN, the new fund is shaped by four core priorities:

• Confronting health inequity: Directing support to isolated parishes facing severe gaps in basic healthcare.
• Honouring local wisdom: Funding partnerships built on local assets rather than top-down external interventions.
• Protecting the most vulnerable: Standing as caregivers for the poorest of the poor, who suffer first and most in health crises.
• Sowing seeds of hope: Enabling local churches to sow the seeds of love and hope in the lives of others.

Should local parish projects wish to apply for pilot grants from this fund, organisers say, applications must meet five core criteria:

1. Betterment of Health: Delivering measurable improvements in local health outcomes (e.g. reduced malaria rates, maternal support or nutrition guidance).

2. Local Connection: Originating directly from an Anglican parish and built on local community wisdom.

3. Faith in Action: Aligning directly with the Anglican Five Marks of Mission by treating healthcare as a core expression of Kingdom witness.

4. Asset-Based Community Development: Utilising the skills, relationships and assets already present within the local community.

5. Replicability: Offering a practical model that can inspire and be adapted by other parishes across the Communion.

Bishop Luke Pato: a legacy of health and community care

Speaking about the naming of this fund, a spokesperson from the AHCN shared that ‘When the Rt Revd Luke Pato passed away, tributes from across the Anglican Communion remembered a “shepherd of uncommon devotion”. A South African-born prelate, he had served as Principal of the College of the Transfiguration in South Africa, collaborated with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on post-apartheid reconciliation, and led the Diocese of Namibia as its 13th bishop. Yet alongside his administrative authority and international peace-making work, Bishop Luke held a persistent theological conviction regarding the Church's healing mission.’

He was particularly remembered by some at the network for speaking at a Harvest Festival service in St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong, in 2024, in which Bishop Luke challenged the global church directly, saying: ‘Healthcare is not an optional extra to Christian faith, but a primary expression of worship, stewardship and loving service.’

The network commended Bishop Luke’s determination to confront what he called the ‘horrendous illustration of health inequity’ in the world, where some have plenty while others are left empty-handed.

During his episcopate in Namibia, Bishop Luke was well known for putting this vision into action through the Isdell: Flowers Cross Border Malaria Initiative that mobilises local congregations and trains community health volunteers across southern Africa. As a founding Co-Convenor of the Anglican Health & Community Network in 2021. Another project in the vein of the Health-Promoting Church Model.

Paying tribute to his late colleague, the Rt Revd Michael Beasley, Co-Convenor of the AHCN and Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Church of England, reflected on Bishop Luke’s legacy: ‘Bishop Luke was to us a much-loved advisor, mentor, brother and friend. As a network, we benefited immensely from Luke’s practical experience and understanding as one of the bishops who brought into being the extraordinary achievement that is the Cross Border Malaria Initiative that changes for good the lives of people across the countries that border the Zambezi in southern Africa. As our network sought to focus on the needs of local churches and people, Luke brought to us deep wisdom about how best to hear the voices of the most vulnerable and marginalised.'

More information

Application forms are available to churches across the Anglican Communion in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French by enquiring with the Network directly. For more information, see a resource from the AHCN or send your inquiry to [email protected].

Learn more about the Anglican Health and Community Network.

Find out about the Anglican Communion's global conversation on 'Health'.