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By the staff of The Lutheran, ELCA News Service and Religion News Service


Council endorses concept of anniversary campaign U


nder the theme “Always being made new,” the ELCA celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2013. As part of that celebration, the ELCA Church Council endorsed at its Nov. 9-11 meeting in Chicago the concept of a comprehensive campaign.


Such an anniversary campaign could raise money over the next five years for ELCA churchwide minis- tries, perhaps $65 million, over and above the current $120 million fund- ing goal for that period. Mission Advancement executive director Christina Jackson-Skelton said going beyond current income goals would help the ELCA start a record number of congregations, train more leaders, break systems that foster hunger and poverty, and create new opportunities for people to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The campaign proposal “received overwhelming support” from the Conference of Bishops, she said. “While I like the campaign and the challenge of it,” council member Stephen R. Herr of Gettysburg, Pa., said, “I’m struggling with seeing this along with declining mission support dollars.” Gerald Mansholt, bishop of the Central States Synod, responded: “Funding patterns in the church are in enormous change. We need to look at various resources [and] this is one of the ways that can happen.” The council authorized continued development and finalization of a campaign subject to approval at its spring 2013 meeting and the 2013 Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh.


Mission support questions Council members discussed those


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changing funding patterns during a report from the ELCA Mission Fund- ing Task Force.


Since the beginning of the ELCA some synods have had difficulty maintaining the mission support (the portion of congregational offer- ings shared with synods and church- wide) allocation of 55 percent to churchwide and 45 percent to the synod, said task force chair Louise A. Hemstead of La Farge, Wis. In 2012 “the average is 49 percent to church- wide, which doesn’t take into effect the wide range within synods,” she added.


Some task force ideas, such as changing from synod percentages to dollar sharing on a regional basis or centralizing synod mission sup- port bookkeeping, weren’t “well- received” by bishops, Hemstead said. Conference of Bishops chair Jes-


sica R. Crist of the Montana Synod said bishops didn’t have enough time to discuss the proposals with their synods, but they strongly affirmed proportionate giving and opposed the idea of a regional dollar amount. “We’ve been talking to people about proportionate giving [and] we don’t think talking about a dollar amount is theologically or biblically sustain- able,” she said. Bishop Wm Chris Boerger of the


Northwest Washington Synod said, “I’m not sure congregation members understand their offerings [support more than their congregation]. ... We need to help congregations.” The council voted unanimously to


recognize the need for ongoing dis- cussion, encourage synods to partner on a regional basis to pilot ways to strengthen and build mission sup-


port, and have the ELCA Mission Investment Fund explore a system for transmitting mission support funds to synods. The pilots will be monitored by ELCA bishops and the Church Council for a report and pos- sible recommendations to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. In other business, the council:


• Adopted an ELCA social message, “The Body of Christ and Mental Ill- ness.” The message states that 1 in 2 Americans will experience a serious mental condition in their lifetime. • Authorized the ELCA Word and Service Task Force to continue working toward transitioning exist- ing associates in ministry, diaconal ministers and deaconesses into a unified lay roster, with a final pro- posal to the council before the 2016 Churchwide Assembly. • Approved an initial 2013 church- wide current fund spending authori- zation of $69 million and an initial 2013 churchwide ELCA World Hunger spending authorization of $19 million. • Changed the names of the Mission- ary Sponsorship program to “ELCA Global Church Sponsorship” and Mission Founders to “ELCA New Congregations.” • Encouraged discernment through- out the church related to electing churchwide officers (ELCA presid- ing bishop and secretary) in 2013. • Committed, with synods and con- gregations, to apologize to indige- nous tribal nations for past injustices and work together in the future. • Voted to create an Ecclesiology of a Global Church Task Force to review ELCA governing documents toward affirming and strengthening the ELCA’s understanding of itself as part of the Lutheran World Federation. 


Elizabeth Hunter Hunter is a section editor of The Lutheran.


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