wfn.org | Lutheran Services in America is Born

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 28, 1997

LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA IS BORN
97-15-044-FI

     MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) was
born here April 18, creating one of the largest organizations of
housing, counseling, child care, adoption, refugee resettlement,
disaster response, health care, nursing home, hospice and AIDS
ministries in the United States and Caribbean.  About 280 social
ministry organizations operating in about 3,000 locations joined
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod in the corporate partnership.
     LSA was born during a one-hour business session at the heart
of the Association of Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations
(ALSMO) spring conference April 17-20.  "Technically the same
organization exists with a new name, new members, new rules and
new colors," said the Rev. Nelson C. Meyer, president of Lutheran
Social Services of Central Ohio, Columbus, Ohio.
     Meyer had been president of ALSMO.  LSA elected him chairman
of its board of directors.
     ALSMO membership included 154 Lutheran social ministry
organizations.  LSA includes all social ministry organizations
affiliated with the ELCA or recognized by the LCMS.  LSA
membership also includes the two church bodies through direct
representation on its board of directors.
     "Social ministry organizations and the church bodies are at
the same table," said the Rev. Carl H. Toelke Jr., LCMS director
of social ministry organizations, St. Louis. "They're sitting at
the same table, carrying out the same plans, looking at the same
mission.  That's the beauty of it."
     The social ministry organizations elect nine of the 18 board
members; the ELCA appoints six members; and the LCMS names three.
The ELCA has 5.2 million members; and the LCMS has 2.6 million.
     Another change in the rules is that Lutheran social
ministries will be charged dues -- similar to those ALSMO
assessed according to an agency's operating budget -- to be
affiliated with or recognized by a church body.
     "Only about 20 percent of the total financial income of LSA
in its first year are those membership dues.  The rest are the
contributions of the church," said Joanne Negstad, LSA's
president and CEO, St. Paul, Minn.  She had been ALSMO's
executive director.
     LSA's budget for 1997-98 lists $926,514 of income.  About
$260,000 will come from dues, fees and investments.  The churches
make up the difference with cash and in-kind support.  The ELCA
will share six staff members and $145,000 in cash for a $519,590
total.  The LCMS will share one staff member and $80,000 for a
$146,924 total.

     The LSA budget is a hint of the operation it represents,
said Negstad.  "We serve two million people a year.  That's no
small city.  That's larger than this whole metropolitan area of
Milwaukee.  We spend $2.8 billion a year doing that," she said.
     "In long-term care, 25 percent of the nursing beds in the
country are connected with our Lutheran system.  We have 45,000
beds," Negstad said.
     The "new colors" of LSA will publicize the work of Lutheran
social ministries.  "We Lutherans have been shy too long, and
we're going to be shy no more," said Negstad.  That will mean a
higher profile in the churches, among other charity organizations
and in advocacy with government.
     Meyer unveiled LSA's new logo.  At the center is a cross
that "ties us together."  To its left is a heart "for
compassion," and to the right is a leaf.  "The leaf says we're
gardeners.  We expect this plot of ground to grow something," he
said.  The words "Lutheran Services in America" arc over the
symbols like an umbrella.  "An umbrella allows us to go out and
to face the elements," Meyer added.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html