wfn.org | LCMS - Generation gap affects Synod building program

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod
Board for Communication Services

LCMSNews -- No. 62
September 17, 2002

Generation gap affects
Synod building program

By Paula Schlueter Ross

The shortage of active workers in the Synod's Laborers For Christ (LFC) 
program really hit home last month for Curt Connolly.

As director of the low-cost building program, Connolly sends out birthday 
cards to LFC volunteers.  In August he mailed 37 cards.  But only five of 
those workers, in a prime construction month like August, were serving LFC 
projects --32 weren't.

"We need Laborers at about half of our projects right now," Connolly said.

The problem isn't so much the number of rostered Laborers as their 
availability, according to Connolly.  More than 300 are on the LFC roster 
as workers, and another 80 or so serve in specialized positions, such as 
project managers and regional consultants.

That's low, when compared to a high of about 550 a few years ago, but it's 
workable, Connolly says.

The real rub is this: As the 18-year-old program changes hands from the 
post-World War II generation to the so-called "baby-boomer" generation, 
Laborers are beginning to think of their service in different ways.

The older retirees, for example, scheduled their lives around LFC projects, 
often working on two or more per year.

The younger boomers seem to have longer retirement agendas, and LFC 
projects are just one of many activities they're trying to juggle.  In 
other words, they're more limited about where and when they can serve LFC, 
according to Connolly.

The problem is exacerbated, Connolly says, by building processes that have 
become more complicated and time consuming.  Too often, projects are 
delayed for weeks or even months while various permits are being 
authorized, and couples who wanted to serve a certain time slot are 
excluded because of the late start.

Typical projects involve Laborers for three to six months, sometimes 
longer, and the program completes about 30 to 35 projects a year, according 
to Connolly.

Projects are continuing, "without enough workers," he says.  What used to 
involve eight or more Laborers now squeaks by with four.

Often the shortage can be offset by volunteers from the congregation, but 
sometimes that's not an option.

Don Wetzel, for example, is an LFC project manager who desperately needs 
Laborers for his current job -- an 8,900-square-foot child-care center in 
Belleville, Mich.  The center is being built by the Michigan District in 
conjunction with a mission congregation of about 10 members, so there's not 
much of a congregation from which to draw volunteers.

"If we don't get any Laborers, I will have to contract the wall framing to 
a subcontractor," Wetzel said.	"This undoubtedly will drive the cost of 
the building up."

Wetzel said he would like to see more people involved in the Laborers For 
Christ program, which can be very rewarding, according to Laborers.

For more information, contact the Laborers For Christ office in St. Louis 
at (800) 433-3954, Ext. 1331; laborers@lcms.org.

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