wfn.org | A Banner Year for the ELCA Mission Investment Fund

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 23, 2004

A Banner Year for the ELCA Mission Investment Fund
04-024-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- 2003 was a banner year for the Mission
Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA).  To the Mission Investment Fund, a banner year is good
for investors in the Fund, for borrowers from the Fund and for
the mission of the church, according to Andy Waters, vice
president and director for operations, ELCA Mission Investment
Fund.
     "Investors are receiving a blessing, and borrowers are
receiving a blessing.  So, it's a win-win situation," he said.
     The Mission Investment Fund offers investment opportunities
to ELCA congregations, their members and ELCA-affiliated
institutions such as colleges, universities and social-service
agencies.  With the invested monies, the Fund makes loans to ELCA
mission congregations for purchases of land and construction of
initial church units, and to established ELCA congregations for
renovating or expanding existing facilities, relocations and
purchases of land.  Nearly 500 loans are in effect throughout the
United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
     More than one-third of the ELCA's 10,721 congregations,
thousands of individual Lutherans and numerous ELCA-affiliated
institutions are investors in the Fund.
     "The Fund has approximately $440 million in total assets,
which is an increase of more than $30 million from a year ago,"
Waters said.
     "With $22 million in new investments, 2003 was the second
highest year for increases in deposits with the Mission
Investment Fund," Waters said.
     As of Jan. 21, 2004, the amount of investments in the Fund
was $280,450,033.
     "The Fund has loaned more than $220 million directly to
congregations.	We also have a partnership with another lender
that the Fund has [loaned] $50 million.  So, the reality is that
we've made approximately $275 million out there in loans to
ministries of the ELCA," Waters said.  "The Fund has $10 million
invested in real estate."
     From a position of strength, the ELCA Mission Investment
Fund was able to offer a new investment in 2003.
     MissionFirst -- a savings investment plan -- was offered to
members of ELCA congregations beginning in July 2003.  With a
minimum initial investment of $25 and the ability to make
additions of $25 or more to the principal at any time, investors
can receive an adjustable interest rate on their investment and
make one withdrawal per month.
     During 2003 and the first few weeks of 2004, MissionFirst
"received $2.4 million in new deposits," Waters said.
     "Investors may also select a MissionPlus account that allows
them to write checks and earn interest," he said.
     Investors showed their satisfaction with the Fund by
renewing their maturing investments.
       "Seventy percent of those whose investments were maturing
this year -- individuals and congregations -- actually decided to
renew their investments," Waters said.
     "Investors have made a conscious decision about where they
are going to invest their money in the Mission Investment Fund,"
Waters said.  "They are receiving a gift of wise stewardship of
their resources, and they're receiving interest on their
investments."

MIF provides $100 million dollars in new loan commitments
     Waters said loans approved in 2003 included projects in two
of the ELCA's 65 synods, four outdoor ministry sites, two
seminaries and many other ministries.  "We provided almost $100
million dollars in new loan commitments during the year," he
said.
     The ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod received a loan to
purchase and renovate its new office building in Detroit, Waters
said.  "The synod bought a Victorian home, worked with an
architect and renovated it into a beautiful building," he said.
     A grassroots effort in the ELCA South Dakota Synod, with the
support of the ELCA Division for Outreach and a loan to the synod
from the Mission Investment Fund, will provide a ministry for the
indigenous people of South Dakota.  "Native Americans will have a
ministry center that will provide worship services and mentor
training," Waters said.  "We're providing the loan, and a
matching grant to help purchase the building."
     The Fund's strength made it possible to reduce the interest
rates for loans made to more than 50 ELCA mission congregations
for initial church-building programs or purchases of vacant sites
for future churches.  The rate reduction was effective Jan. 1,
2004.
     The interest rate for the congregations' loans was lowered
to 3 percent for the remaining terms of the respective loans.
Interest rates on these loans varied from 4 to 7 percent.  The
interest-rate reduction by the Fund represents a savings to the
congregations of more than $1.4 million.
     The loans receiving the interest-rate reduction were made
prior to January 2003, when the Fund announced an interest rate
of 3 percent for seven years to young mission congregations for
the construction or purchase of initial church buildings.  The
Fund also offered mission congregations a zero-percent interest
rate for two years, followed by a two-percent interest rate for
five years, for purchases of vacant land for future church
buildings.
     The congregations holding loans did their part to make 2003
a banner year for the ELCA Mission Investment Fund by making
payments on their loans.
     "We know that congregations, from time to time, can have
unforeseen problems," Waters said.
     "In the management of the Mission Investment Fund, we take
into account an expected delinquency rate.  The expected
delinquency rate did not exceed where we thought we would be,"
Waters said.  While other financial institutions are seeing an
increase in delinquencies, the Fund's delinquency rate is stable,
he said.
     "That speaks well of Christian-based organizations and where
their faith resides," Waters said.  "When Christians make a
promise to do something, they tend to do whatever it takes to
fulfill that commitment," he said.

MIF offers free advice on how best to use buildings
     When a congregation is ready to build or renovate, the ELCA
Mission Investment Fund is also ready with free advice.  "We have
eight church building consultants who help congregations look at
their buildings" and help the congregations determine how best to
use their facilities for ministry, Waters said.
     "Many congregations wonder what they can do to make their
churches better tools for ministry, and our consultants are
available to help them do that," he said.
     The church building consultants are not only looking for
barriers that may prevent people with physical limitations from
going into worship centers or into fellowship halls in basements,
Waters said.  They are looking for "invisible barriers" that
"make it difficult for people who don't know Christ to come into
a building," he said.
     "It might mean putting signs in the parking lot to designate
visitor parking spaces.  It might mean adding a greeting space or
narthex, because maybe the existing narthex may be very small and
it's not welcoming to the people who are visiting," Waters said.
The congregations know that's not ideal but may not know how to
fix it.
     "Building consultants are available to help them figure out
what they can and should do, and then we're there with the
financial resources to provide a loan, if that's what they want
to do," Waters said.
     The Fund has "a staff architect to work with young
congregations that are designing their first buildings, helping
them make sure the building is affordable, fits within a budget,
is going to be expandable and is going to serve their ministry
well," Waters added.
-- -- --
     Information about the Mission Investment Fund -- including
current interest rates and the full offering of investment
opportunities -- is available at http://www.elca.org/mif/ on the
ELCA Web site.
     Mission Investments are securities that are sold only by
means of an offering circular, which is available from the
Mission Investment Fund.  Mission Investments are subject to
certain risks.	See "Risk Factors" following the introduction in
the Offering Circular.	As securities issued by a non-profit
institution, the investments offered by the Mission Investment
Fund are not insured by FDIC, SIPC or any federal or state
regulatory agency.

EDITORS:  Additional information about the investments and loans
the MIF offers can be obtained by calling toll-free
(877) 886-3522 or by sending e-mail to mif@elca.org.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news