ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 6, 2006
ELCA Blue Ribbon Committee on Mission Funding Appointed, Starts Work 06-033-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) appointed a 10-member Blue Ribbon Committee for Mission Funding. The committee is expected to study topics such as mission support, stewardship education, planned giving, and designated and restricted giving, all aimed at strengthening the future financial resources of the ELCA. The committee will begin its work March 8 here at the ELCA churchwide office.
The ELCA is a 4.9 million-member church based here. There are 10,461 ELCA congregations organized into 65 synods, each synod headed by a bishop. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council's next meeting is here April 1-2. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-12, 2007.
Mission support -- funds from congregations through synods to the churchwide organization -- has shown little overall growth in the ELCA's 18-year history. About 81 percent of the funds used for the church's operations come from mission support, said the Rev. Michael L. Meier, associate executive for mission support, ELCA Synodical Relations. In recent years financial gifts designated for a specific purpose or ministry have grown considerably, while mission support has declined slightly, he said.
The idea to create the committee originated with the ELCA Conference of Bishops, an advisory body of the church, which proposed that the council appoint a committee in place of a synodical/churchwide leaders' gathering on mission funding that had been planned for this month. That gathering was postponed.
The council approved the proposal to create the Blue Ribbon Committee at its meeting in November 2005.
The committee's purpose is to consider how the church can do a better job of stewardship and mission support education for members, and to consider effective practices aimed at developing congregational resources, adequately funding synod ministries and expanding the financial foundation of the churchwide organization, Meier said.
Between now and next year, the committee is expected to consult with the members of the ELCA Conference of Bishop and ELCA Church Council, synod and churchwide staff, mission interpreters, youth and young adult representatives, synod treasurers and others. The Church Council asked that the committee report its conclusions and recommendations to the council at its April 2007 meeting.
Synod bishop, Church Council member to serve a co-chairs
"This is a huge task," said the Rev. Philip L. Hougen, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod and co-chair of the committee, in an interview with the ELCA News Service. Hougen said committee members are "very committed, very knowledgeable," and he said he is optimistic that the group will propose exciting things that will contribute to the mission and ministry of the ELCA.
The ELCA has the strongest churchwide organization of any denomination in the United States, Hougen said, and declining financial resources will make the whole ELCA weaker.
"The strength of the churchwide office contributes to the strengths of congregations and synods. We are interdependent in that way. The weakening of our churchwide office, I fear, will make us weaker synodically and congregationally," Hougen said.
Addressing the "principle of interdependence" in the ELCA is a key piece of the committee's work, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, when the council approved formation of the committee.
Hougen hopes the committee will address some specific concerns he brings in his role as a synod bishop. One is stewardship education, and how the church raises up the personal stewardship of its members in a culture of affluence, he said.
"We need to give. The values of giving are essential for Christian discipleship," Hougen said.
A second concern is mission education about the work of the ELCA churchwide organization and the "wonderful things" that get done by the wider church because of the resources provided locally, he said.
It is "vital" for the committee to hear from members throughout the ELCA, Hougen said, adding he is open to new ways of enhancing the mission funding of the church.
Co-chairing the committee is Earl L. Mummert, Harrisburg, Pa., a member of the ELCA Church Council and chair of its budget and finance committee.
Mummert said he brings two "high level" concerns to the committee -- that the ELCA has not been clear or consistent about financial expectations of its members and that the ELCA should "model" behavior that involves sharing financial resources throughout the church.
ELCA staff has done an "outstanding job" of managing what funds have been given, Mummert told the ELCA News Service. "I (also) realize we are a very wealthy church if we consider the economics of our membership. The wealth across our membership is quite substantial," he said.
The Blue Ribbon Committee's work is about mission support at all levels, including congregations, synods and the churchwide organization, Mummert said. "It's all interconnected," he said.
Mummert said he hopes the committee's work will raise expectations of the church's members.
"I feel pretty strongly that we need to raise the bar in terms of what it means to be an active member of the ELCA," he said. "The reason we need to do that is to challenge each member to be a more active participant in the life of the church. If we don't raise expectations, we allow (members) to be something less than they can be."
Council appoints Blue Ribbon Committee
In addition to Hougen and Mummert, members of the Blue Ribbon Committee for Mission Funding are: + Grieg L. Anderson, ELCA Church Council member, Portland, Ore. + The Rev. Leonard H. Bolick, bishop, ELCA North Carolina Synod, Salisbury + Ann Sponberg Peterson, director of development, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa + Emma Graeber Porter, principal, Graeber Consulting, New York + The Rev. John Sabatelli, senior pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Baltimore + The Rev. Thomas A. Skrenes, bishop, ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod, Marquette, Mich. + The Rev. Jennifer J. Thomas, ELCA Church Council member, Milwaukee + Dr. Phyllis Castens Wiederhoft, executive director, Association of Lutheran Development Executives, Madison, Wis.
Staff working with the Blue Ribbon Committee are the Rev. Donald M. Hallberg, executive director, ELCA Development Services; Kenneth W. Inskeep, director, ELCA Research and Evaluation; Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer; Meier; the Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive for administration, ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop; and the Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich, executive for synodical and constituent relations, ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop. ---
Information about the ELCA's stewardship ministry is at http://www.ELCA.org/dcm/stewardship/ on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog