support remaining in synods aver- ages just more than 50 percent. What is striking in the opening example is that out of the $10,000- plus giving lost to the ELCA in my layoff, only a little more than $350 of that amount ended up as churchwide undesignated giving. That $350 went to support positions like the one I for- merly held as director for candidacy and support for women in ministry at the churchwide organization, as well as grants for campus ministry, seminaries, colleges, mission starts and renewing congregations, and other programs benefiting from such national distribution.
Things will likely not go back to the way they were. Jesus, our Easter life, goes ahead to Galilee—to the margins, not to the empire. Cling- ing to his feet isn’t going to stop that trajectory or reverse the direction, Scripture tells us. Nor will dragging our heels keep our life together from changing.
New economy emerging In an interdependent system, as Paul would have it, when one member in the body suffers, we all suffer (1 Cor- inthians 12:26). When we all suffer, well, maybe new life finally has its way with us too.
Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler once reflected that the word emerg- ing connotes that which is pulled out from in front, rather than pushed out from behind. While some leaders and congregations have been trying to prepare for and push out a new paradigm ahead of these changes, the economy itself now seems to be pull- ing us into that future.
The new economy asserts that givers want direct relationships and more immediate experiences in the ministries they support. These were formerly funded more remotely from pooled resources in a faithful effort to spread the wealth. We have been
telling the story that mission sup- port in synods and churchwide did all these things, but we have indeed been doing less over the decades as financial support declined. Our institutions were increasingly left to the mercy of the market and encour- aged to tell their own story so new donors would become involved in the mission and give directly and philanthropically.
The announcement last April of reductions in grants to such ELCA partner ministries, aligned with new primary functions to support congregations as missional centers, makes the change in paradigm more transparent. This clarity frees us to tell a new and different story about dynamic ways in which individuals and congregations can build rela- tionships more locally with our ministries.
While we may still grasp the gift of being part of something larger than ourselves in a wider church, we have new opportunities to be more immediately involved in these insti- tutions and energizing ministries as part of the fabric of our shared life and mission.
For years we have been talking about networking, not silos, and creative cooperation, collaboration and strategic partnerships within and across church institutional lines. The new economy has moved us from talk to action. Last year Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., announced a merger plan with Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, N.C. One churchwide advocacy staff position now operates ecumenically. With the prime directive to sup- port congregations, roles of synods and churchwide offices need reinter- pretation. How will these stories be told? Given the nearly flat historic line in the amount of undesignated mission support shared by congrega-
tions, what amounts and percentages should be expected now to fund our synod and churchwide offices? These conversations are provided for in the recently adopted LIFT (Living into the Future Together) document that resolved to bring a proposal for renewed, sustainable and possibly varied covenants of mission support to the 2013 Church- wide Assembly. Any proposals will focus on increasing the vitality of mission: • In congregations through growth and outreach. • In sustainable support for wider and whole church ministries such as theological education. • Through strategies that could include redrawing synodical bound- aries and revising responsibilities of bishops and synods as catalysts for mission in this changing context. That’s a new economy. Economic collapse reminded those depending on the church for current and future income that there are no guarantees or government insurance backing unemployment compensation and retirement. How could, or should, the church be more ready to meet or exceed what society considers just and necessary for workers in this type of formerly unimaginable economy? Will the growing discrepancy between areas in the church that con- tinue to work and provide well under current systems and those already pulled into a new and marginal econ- omy mirror the national economy’s increasing divide between haves and have-nots and the disappearing mid- dle class? How does this discussion relate to the church’s advocacy for worker justice and life-giving sus- tainable economies for all in a time of increasing public debate? Or is this type of security and expectation a middle-class prop that has no place in the new economy of
January 2012 23
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