My view Leave it to the Spirit
I take issue with the “End ‘shotgun’ confirmation” article (June, page 49). Mother Teresa said “our calling is not to be successful but to be faithful.” The
rest is the business of the Holy Spirit. Laverne Detlefsen Red Wing, Minn.
Pay attention
Families and youth are not going to church because churches are unaware and unresponsive to their daily and lifelong needs. Frankly, churches have become a social club for the elderly (and I know God loves the elderly). However, today’s American churches will continue to shrink (January, page 22) and eventually die because church leaders are deaf to the real needs of people by not making genuine efforts to get to know and understand what is
important to neighborhood families. William C. Holm Bloomington, Minn.
Different entities In two of the biographies on newly elected synodical bishops (August, page 38), you identified them as gradu- ates of “Concordia Senior College (now Concordia Theological Semi- nary) in Fort Wayne, Ind.” The only thing in common between the two institutions is the occupation of the same piece of property but at differ- ent times. It may be minor to some, but
huge to the college graduates. The Rev. Gerry Rickel Concordia Senior College, Class of 1971 Baltimore
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Rude, an ELCA pastor, leads the Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
By Ronald H. Rude
Revitalization needed Lutherans depend on Lutherans
A
bout 25 years ago, the word from the pulpit, pews and synod offices was that Lutherans should be more outward looking. That is, we should support charities and projects outside of the Lutheran structure. We wanted to serve the wider community and let people know Luther- ans aren’t just insulated and focused on ourselves. So congregations began including in their stewardship plan entities such as Habitat for Humanity, food banks, women’s shelters, Ronald McDonald Houses, United Way, cancer research, Flying Doctors of Mercy, and countless other worthwhile local and international projects. I cham- pioned this shift in the congregations I served. Our success has been significant, and I am the first to say this is a good thing. But a downside has also occurred.
Because of our success in intentionally supporting
charities beyond the Lutheran community, our in-house Lutheran ministries have become underfunded. For exam- ple, at one time a student preparing for ordained ministry could count on his or her seminary education being virtu- ally covered by the Lutheran community. Today, seminar- ians must add tens of thousands of dollars to their educa- tional debt load as they prepare to serve the church. Besides a drastic reduction in support for our eight ELCA seminaries, funding for our 28 ELCA colleges, 150 cam- pus ministries, church camps and retreat centers, Lutheran Social Services (including adoption, refugee resettlement and nursing care), ELCA Global Mission, Lutheran Volun- teer Corps, ELCA World Hunger, synod and ELCA offices, and more has also been steadily reduced. Community charities receive funding from a wide spec-
trum of sources: the general public, corporations, govern- ment grants, nonreligious contributors, etc. My wife works in the development department for Habitat for Humanity in Tucson, Ariz. The breadth and diversity of its donor base is impressive. Contrarily, the sole donor base for the Lutheran ministries mentioned above is the Lutheran community itself. If we aren’t supporting these ministries, no one is. Perhaps we need to rethink some of our stewardship decisions. If our Lutheran ministries are vital, which I believe they are, and if we can’t expect anyone else to sup- port them except ourselves, we may need to make some adjustments. Extending ELCA congregation stewardship dollars into the wider community is 100 percent worth- while—as well as good theology. But so is supporting the Lutheran ministries God has launched through us, that the Lutheran community is distinctively gifted to sustain.
October 2013 49
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