Title: Goal of Incorporation Within Sight for Lutheran Men in Mission ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 12, 2006
Goal of Incorporation Within Sight for Lutheran Men in Mission 06-068-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The "founding fathers" of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM) wanted the organization to be more than the men's organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). They wanted it to be a financially independent ministry that would help men in the ELCA grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ, their families, women and other men.
Since it was organized in 1988 the intent of LMM has been to "stand on its own two feet" and be in a position to support the ELCA, said Heber Rast, Cameron, S.C., LMM president. "We think self-incorporation is what our men have long had in mind," he said.
LMM was housed in the ELCA's former Division for Congregational Life and Division for Congregational Ministries. "What that has meant financially is that those units have supplied LMM office space," program money, and salary and benefits for a support staff position, said Doug Haugen, LMM director, who serves also as men's ministry specialist for ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.
"Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission is a very natural place for men to relate (to the ELCA) because we are dealing with churchmen who deal in all the areas of mission, congregational development, education and evangelism," Haugen said.
In April the ELCA Church Council supported LMM's desire to become "a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) organization with a strong relationship to the church structure through a relationship with the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit and engagement with all units of the church." The council referred the matter to its legal and constitutional review committee.
LMM being separately incorporated while maintaining its relationship with the ELCA through a churchwide unit "gives us a greater identity within the church, and it allows us to more fully devote our energies to men's ministry," Haugen said.
Most people will not notice a change in LMM's relationship with the ELCA, Rast said. "We will still go about supporting the church and all units of the church. This will give us a little more freedom to choose how that support may be," he said.
"For the guy who commits his gifts to LMM and then comes to our assembly and votes as a delegate on the direction of the organization, ownership is going to be a big part of that," Haugen said. "It's a sense of ownership on the part of those who give direction to the ministry and who benefit from the ministry," he said.
When the ELCA was formed in 1987 from the merger of three Lutheran church bodies, some men felt that the men's organizations of those churches had been abandoned, Rast said. "They don't want that to happen again, and being in charge of our own destiny will make it up to us and not up to anyone else," he said.
The 2005 LMM Assembly passed a resolution that the LMM board "pursue a structure of incorporation that would allow for optimal ministry to men in the congregations and communities that surround them."
"We trust that in 2008, when we have our next triennial meeting, there will be a great celebration," Haugen said. "It will be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Lutheran Men in Mission and yet the rebirth of it as well with a whole new energy and emphasis." -- -- --
The homepage for Lutheran Men in Mission is at http://www.ELCA.org/lmm/ 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