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	June 24, 2004 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 56

	Celebration marks 'Nehemiah' success
	as national housing 'crusade' begins

	By Kim Plummer Krull

	BROOKLYN, N.Y. - As the last few buyers of 2,900 low-cost homes
prepared for their closings, Missouri Synod church and lay leaders
celebrated the completion of the "Nehemiah" community here May 27 and
the beginning of "a national crusade" to support affordable housing.

	"This is a very significant day, both to recall and learn and
also to turn a corner for the LCMS in housing," said Rev. Matthew
Harrison, executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, which
hosted the event in honor of Nehemiah's success.

	In the early 1980s, the Synod was the first to commit
financially to the church-based housing program. That $1 million
investment has been called "pivotal" to an effort that, over the years,
has transformed devastated neighborhoods and turned low-income working
families into first-time homeowners.

	Among those on hand for the celebration were members of St.
Peter and Risen Christ Lutheran Churches, two LCMS congregations that
refused to abandon once crime-infested neighborhoods and became leaders
in the East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), the multi-denominational
association of churches that founded the Nehemiah Plan.

	The plan was named for the Old Testament prophet who led the
rebuilding of Jerusalem. Since the first Nehemiah development, others
have followed in cites like Memphis, Chicago and Boston.

	"We got involved when we saw how the community was affecting our
people," said Dr. David Benke, LCMS Atlantic District president and St.
Peter's pastor. "We decided this wasn't just about housing; it was about
missions and keeping our churches in neighborhoods where they are
desperately needed."

	The decision by former Synod leaders to invest in what was then
considered a radical plan for community restoration was "pivotal to
building support for an effort that has had an extraordinary impact,"
said Mike Gecan, the first EBC lead organizer.

	Benke announced during the celebration that the Atlantic
District and LCMS World Relief and Human Care are partnering to make
possible a $1 million loan to the EBC for a new Nehemiah development,
843 low-cost homes to be built at a former landfill site in Brooklyn.

	The district will borrow the money from the Lutheran Church
Extension Fund (LCEF), and World Relief and Human Care will match the
district's commitment to pay interest for what is expected to be a
five-year loan.

	"History is repeating itself," said Gecan, who added that, once
again, the Missouri Synod is the first to financially commit to a new
Nehemiah effort.

	Gecan presented $365,000 to World Relief and Human Care, as
partial return on a second $1 million commitment the Synod made in the
1990s. A total of nearly $1.2 million is expected to be returned by the
EBC to the Synod this year.

	Those monies will be directed to Human Care and World Relief's
LCMS National Housing Support Corporation, the charitable nonprofit
organization founded last year to help Synod congregations, districts
and social-ministry organizations with affordable housing and
neighborhood-renewal efforts.

	Harrison said that, through the new corporation, LCMS World
Relief and Human Care is "beginning a national crusade to bring
resources to bear, to help our parishes and our districts step into
their role as good corporate citizens of their communities."

	The May 27 celebration included a tour of Nehemiah
neighborhoods.

	"This place used to be nothing but abandoned buildings and
trouble," said Minnie Barnes, who, with her husband, Frank, members of
Risen Christ, were involved in community-organizing efforts for Nehemiah
and bought their first home in a Nehemiah neighborhood 20 years ago.

	"It was hard to move here at first," she said, "but it was a
blessing, too. The opportunity to own our own home was a godsend."

	For more information about the LCMS National Housing Support
Corporation or for a booklet with information on a Lutheran theological
approach to housing issues, contact LCMS World Relief and Human Care at
(800) 248-1930, Ext. 1380 or 1381; lcms.worldrelief@lcms.org
<http://lcms.worldrelief@lcms.org>  .

	(Kim Plummer Krull is a freelance writer in St. Louis who writes
for LCMS World Relief and Human Care.)

	***************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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