Voting members, staff, volunteers and visitors were grounded in daily worship, prayer and song during the Churchwide Assembly.
Fundraising campaign approved The first of its kind in the ELCA
F
resh from the election of a new presiding bishop, voting members approved (671-242) a 25th anniver- sary campaign to raise an additional $77 million that leaders said will move the church into the future. It’s the first campaign of its size and scope in the history of the ELCA. The five-year campaign came as
a recommendation from the Church Council, but there were questions among voting members if it had proper support and timing. Jeff Otterman, a pastor in the South Dakota Synod, called the campaign “a top-down piece instead of a bottom-up piece.” However, Presiding Bishop-elect
Elizabeth A. Eaton was the first to speak to the campaign motion, call-
26 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
ing it “an exciting step for the ELCA” and saying “it makes it possible to encourage people to give where their heart is calling them to give.” She said she’s grateful it doesn’t start until 2014, which gives “my brother and sister bishops and I a chance to go to our synods to talk to deans and synod councils and congregations about where their pas- sions lie … even though I’m going to be inheriting it, I’m saying let’s go for it.”
Smith Heavner of the South
Carolina Synod was author of an amendment calling for the formation of youth and young adult leadership, which added $4 million to the cam- paign. Another amendment added a stretch goal of $4 million for disabil-
ity ministries. The campaign was originally designed to raise additional funds as follows: new congregations, $4 million; renewing congregations, $8 million; Fund for Leaders, $5 million; World Hunger, $20 mil- lion; Malaria Campaign, $15 million (already underway, see page 25); missionaries, $6 million; global ministries, $7 million; and interna- tional leaders, $4 million. With the additions for youth and disability ministries, the goal increased from $69 million to $77 million. These amounts are to be raised over and above the current five-year funding projections of $10 million for Fund for Leaders, $95 million for World Hunger, and $16 million for missionaries, for a total of $121 mil- lion. Combined with the campaign, the church’s projected funding total now stands at $198 million.
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