wfn.org | ELCA Council Declines Proposal For Designated Mission Support

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 15, 2005

ELCA Council Declines Proposal For Designated Mission Support
05-069-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed at its recent meeting
a suggested approach to designated mission support funding from
the ELCA Saint Paul (Minn.) Area Synod.  In the end the council
declined to endorse the synod's proposal, thanked the synod for
its idea, and said there must be further study and consultation
about growing mission support funding throughout the church.
     Congregations of the ELCA share a percentage of giving from
members with synods, and through synods, with churchwide
ministries.  These shared funds are known as mission support
funds.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies.	The council met here April 9-11.
Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14,
in Orlando, Fla.
     The council defeated a substitute motion that the synod
formally be permitted to test its ideas in the synod.  Council
members expressed concerns that the proposal had not been widely
discussed and that it could substantially change how mission
support is shared within the church.
     The substitute proposal was brought to the council by Janet
E. Thompson, council member, Eagan, Minn., and presented during
the council's Budget and Finance Committee report.  Thompson is
also vice president of the Saint Paul Area Synod.
     Thompson told the council that her proposal would make it
possible for a synod congregation to direct its mission support
to specific synod and churchwide ministries, or it could elect to
maintain its present giving pattern.
     The Saint Paul Area Synod is last among the ELCA's 65 synods
in the percentage of congregational offerings for mission support
shared with the synod and with churchwide ministries, she said.
Synod congregations give an average of about 3.5 percent for
mission support, she told the ELCA News Service.
     The designated giving idea resulted from "listening to our
congregations," in the synod's effort to increase mission support
funding, she said.
     After a one-hour discussion, the council defeated Thompson's
substitute motion that designated categories of giving be agreed
upon by the Saint Paul Area Synod and the churchwide
organization, and that the program undergo a two-year testing
period beginning in 2006, subject to cancellation or extension.
Instead the council approved a motion thanking the synod and
calling for more conversation in the church about mission support
overall.
     Noting that a designated mission support program would have
"huge implications" for the church, the Rev. April Ulring Larson,
bishop of the ELCA La Crosse (Wis.) Area Synod, pleaded with the
council for more time to study the idea.  She said the ELCA
Conference of Bishops had not heard of nor discussed the Saint
Paul Area Synod proposal.  Larson is one of several advisory
bishops to the council.
     "Bishops must have time to talk about this," she told the
council.  "This is a great moment for us to think through these
things, but please give bishops more time to think through this."
     Likewise, Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, asked
for more time to consider the ideas advanced by the synod.  She
noted that the synod provided to the council a congregational
form that was only a draft of what it proposed to use.	Jackson-
Skelton said she had many questions related to designated giving,
accounting and church relationships that had not been discussed.
     Grieg L. Anderson, council member, Portland, Ore., said he
was opposed to the substitute because the ELCA maintained a
"relatively healthy" giving relationship among congregations,
synods and the churchwide organization.  There must be greater
conversation among the church's leaders about any changes in
giving patterns, he said.
     The Saint Paul Area Synod proposal "is totally outside the
box" from the ELCA Constitution, and the church must live within
its convenants at least until there is a discussion among all of
the church's partners, said Earl L. Mummert, council member,
Harrisburg, Pa.
     Some council members supported the Saint Paul Area Synod
proposal.  The council should let the synod "give this a shot,"
said the Rev. Joseph G. Crippen, council member, Northfield,
Minn.  If the synod is last in mission support giving among
synods, "I don't see why this can hurt," he said.
     Council member Karl D. Anderson, Lakeville, Minn., said he
favored the Saint Paul Area Synod proposal.  Congregational
giving reports that show a decline in mission support "haunt me,"
he said.
     After the council completed its discussion, Linda J. Brown,
council member, Fargo, N.D., and chair of the council's Budget
and Finance Committee, thanked the synod for providing "a
catalyst for an important discussion."

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