wfn.org | Lutheran Leaves Legacy of Faithful Stewardship Education

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 4, 2001

LUTHERAN LEAVES LEGACY OF FAITHFUL STEWARDSHIP EDUCATION
01-01-01-FI/JS*

     GETTYSBURG, Pa. (ELCA) -- Arthur L. Larson, a man who routinely
gave away 70 percent of his income and more, died Dec. 21 at age 93
in Orlando, Fla., and left a legacy of support for seminaries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  He was an employee of
the Hercules Corporation of Wilmington, Del., for 43 years.
     Larson was a former member of the board of directors for the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., and attended the
seminary's summer Lay School of Theology for 19 years.
     In the 1980s Larson founded the Arthur L. Larson Stewardship
Council in Gettysburg and similar councils at six other ELCA
seminaries: Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; Lutheran School of
Theology at Chicago; Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia;
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.; Pacific
Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.; and Trinity Lutheran
Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.
     Larson joined the Lutheran Laity Movement for Stewardship (LLM)
in June 1956 and became a life member in 1992.  "For more than 40
years he was generous in his support of LLM's stewardship ministry,"
said Joyce B. Cain, LLM executive director.
     LLM is a fellowship of lay people who are interested in the
stewardship of all life and seek to impart that spirit to others.
The nonprofit organization was founded in 1907 and is based in
Chicago.
     Larson submitted several articles for Faith In Action, the LLM
stewardship publication.  "His participation in our stewardship
ministry will be sincerely missed," said Cain.
     Through a series of special gifts, Larson meant to foster
greater stewardship skills among pastors and church leaders in
seminary training and other settings where church leaders are formed.
In 1988 he established and endowed the Arthur Larson Professorship in
Stewardship and Parish Ministry at the Gettysburg seminary.
     The Rev. William O. Avery, who has held the Larson chair since
1988, said, "Art was a dear friend, a child of God who lived fully in
God's grace, and the most extraordinary steward I have ever met among
people with ample resources."
     Avery said Larson "was an extraordinary lay theologian in the
subject of stewardship" and lived his commitment, giving away 70
percent of his income while "living very simply."
     With Larson's death, another bequest will come to the
Stewardship of Life Institute, an independent, non-profit agency
whose mission is "to promote stewardship in the ELCA through its
constituent seminaries."  The institute is headquartered at the
Gettysburg seminary and chaired by the occupant of the professorial
chair.
     A funeral service was held Dec. 28 at St. Paul Lutheran Church,
Orlando, with Avery preaching and the Rev. Roger H. Prehn, Larson's
pastor, presiding.

* The Rev. John R. Spangler is director of communications for the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.

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