wfn.org | Mission Builders Draw Up Plans for Their Future

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 28, 1997

MISSION BUILDERS DRAW UP PLANS FOR THEIR FUTURE
97-07-019-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ten congregations of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America are getting some help constructing
their first church buildings through the ELCA Division for
Outreach.  Mission Builders are coming from across the United
States to help plan the projects and see them through.
     Twenty-one of the church's 22 construction managers met here
Feb. 14-16 for an update on projects for 1997 and plans for the
organization's future.  Gary Johnson, Mission Builders director,
Tucson, Ariz., told them there is a desperate need for crew
members.
     There are about 100 Mission Builders, and Johnson said
that's not enough to staff the construction jobs and special
projects for 1997.  Builders are usually retired contractors,
construction workers or farmers who work for minimum wage
building "first units" for ELCA mission congregations.
     "The common thread that runs through Mission Builders is the
can-do attitude," he said.  "They think they can do anything, and
most of the time they can and do."
     "We're operating on faith.  The jobs are here.  The crews
will arrive," said Johnson.
     The ten construction sites for 1997 are:  Resurrection
Lutheran Church, Seward, Alaska; Mariposa Lutheran Church,
Mariposa, Calif.; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Douglasville,
Ga.; Resurrection Lutheran Church, Newnan, Ga.; Bethel Lutheran
Church, Cicero, Ind.; Servants of Christ Lutheran Church,
Indianapolis; Salem Lutheran Church, Longville, Minn.; American
Lutheran Church, Lincoln, Neb.; Abiding Presence Lutheran Church,
Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; and Christus Lutheran Church, Appleton, Wis.
     Mission Builders has also agreed to repair buildings at
Shishmaref Lutheran Church, Shishmaref, Alaska, and Nazareth
Lutheran Church, Cruz Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
     "We've had an inquiry from an abandoned Indian children's
school in Oklahoma," said Johnson.  "We hope to help them later
this fall to build some more cottages for the children there."
     Mission Builders is also building its own future with plans
to improve its operation and become financially self-sustaining
by the end of the century.
     Johnson said financial independence from church funds will
come in two ways -- soliciting donations to the Mission Builders
Fund and charging a $1-per-square-foot fee for their services.
He said the future fee will probably meet some resistance, but it
will amount to less than one percent of the project's total cost.
     Changes to the organization will include establishing
construction criteria for future agreements, setting firm
deadlines for preparation work and naming regional
representatives and pre-construction workers.
     The construction criteria include some of the maximum
dimensions for the building and rule out some "experimental"
practices and materials.  "It's a matter of knowing our
limitations," said Johnson.  "Outside of that we can get in
trouble, hurt somebody, have problems, and we're not interested
in that."
     A careful eye on the congregation's advance work will be
another priority, because a common complaint from the crews has
been that they sit around for the first month or so waiting for
permits to be approved, Johnson said.  "I'm asking people to be
ready in January, if they want to build in the spring."
     A system of regional representatives would present the
Mission Builders program to young congregations.  Pre-
construction workers could help them get the estimates they'll
need to secure financing for their projects.
     Construction managers and their spouses came from 14 states
-- Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas,
Washington and Wisconsin.
     The Rev. Paul and Ruth Reyelts were chaplains for the
weekend meeting.  Mission Builders helped their congregation,
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Morganton, Ga., build its
church.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html