2014 Lutherans Engage the World - November - December

Lutherans ENGAGE the WORLD November – December 2014, Vol. 3, Issue 2

MORE TOGETHER

Lutherans ENGAGE the WORLD November – December 2014

vol. 3, no. 2

inspire

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Radically Free to Serve

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A Holy Calling Beating the Bushes

7 Engaging the Church in the work of witness and mercy across the globe in our life together.

LUTHERANS ENGAGE THE WORLD is published bi-monthly by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. © 2014 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Reproduction for parish use does not require permission. Such reproductions, however, should credit LUTHERANS ENGAGE THE WORLD as a source. Print editions are sent to LCMS donors, rostered workers and missionaries. An online version is available (lcms.org/lutheransengage). To receive the print edition, we invite you to make a financial gift for LCMS global witness and mercy work. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are property of the LCMS. 888-THE LCMS (843-5267) www.lcms.org

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001

by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

inform 6 10 12 15 16 19

engage MORE TOGETHER

10 Questions

It is both bane and blessing to serve in the

Doing More Together Auxiliaries: Helping Extend the Gospel Synod & Tanzania Lutherans Partner to Spread the Gospel RSOs: Walking Together to Bear Mercy Partnering in Mercy

15 involve 21

Cutting Unnecessary Costs

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

designate your gift here

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S TA F F Mark D. Hofman David L. Strand Pamela J. Nielsen Erica Schwan Melanie Ave Megan K. Mertz Erik M. Lunsford Carolyn A. Niehoff Chrissy A. Thomas

executive director, mission advancement executive director, communications executive editor manager, design services staff writer staff writer photojournalist/staff writer designer designer

LCMS Communications department. Bane, in that we are responsible for keeping abreast of the news and information about the LCMS’ multiple ministries and efforts to share the Gospel and communicating all of it in a timely and engaging manner. My colleagues and I often go home fully spent.

The blessing is that we are responsible for keeping abreast of the news and information about the LCMS’ multiple ministries and efforts to share the Gospel and communicating all of it in a timely and engaging manner! My colleagues and I go home exhilarated and thankful to be part of it all.

From where we sit, we have a pretty good view of the work of the LCMS — and just between you and me, that view thrills me. I love that in our name, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, we tell the world how we relate to each other. Synod means to “walk together,” and wow, is God ever blessing that walking together!

Universities, colleges and schools; global witness and mercy work; urban; rural; black; Hispanic; youth; life and health; campus; and worship ministries are but a few examples of the amazing work going on in partnership with parishes, districts, partner church bodies, Recognized Service Organizations and our two mission-minded auxiliaries, the LWML and LHM. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

In an age that worships individual achievement, we in the Church have a better way. I know from where I sit that we accomplish more together and sustain it longer and more fully than any of us working alone.

That’s the theme for this issue of Lutherans Engage the World as we focus on stewardship and the many rich partnerships we have in the LCMS. Join us in celebrating how God blesses and brings us all together to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

This is your story, and it’s amazing!

Walking with you for Christ’s sake, Pamela J. Nielsen Associate Executive Director, LCMS Communications

EDITORIAL OFFICE 314-996-1215 1333 S. Kirkwood Road St. Louis, MO 63122-7295 lutheransengage@lcms.org www.lcms.org/lutheransengage

Cover image: Shara Cunningham, an LCMS career missionary in Kenya, East Africa, assists a woman to a van for transport to the hospital during a Mercy Medical Team clinic. Cunningham is able to share the Gospel in Africa thanks to a network of support that includes individuals, congregations, Mission Central and groups like the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.

PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

Radically Free to

Serve

nspire

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n the midst of the Galatians’ controversy over circumcision, Paul gave the Church its seminal teaching on how Christians should relate to each other in all matters not specifically commanded or forbidden by the Scriptures. No man is an island. No pastor is an island. No layperson is an island. No congregation is an island. No district is an island. No church body is an island.

The Gospel gives us extreme freedom.

We are free from the Law. There are very few prescriptions or rules in the Bible on just how we are all to relate to each other as members of the same confessional fellowship. There are few laws about worship, fewer about polity. But the New Testament teaches over and over again that the Church is a body — in fact, the mystical body of Christ. “If one member suffers, all suffer” (1 Cor. 12:26). We are baptized into Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). All parts of the body are needed, but they are different and serve different purposes. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). And we all have different vocations, or gifts, for service to the greater body.

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Over the past decade and a half, as I’ve viewed (especially) many tribal cultures, it has become evident to me that we American Lutherans have a very hard time working together as a body. We are first and foremost individuals, even rugged individualists! “My way or the highway!”

And so the description of the ancient kingdom of Israel is true all too often in the Missouri Synod: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). We very often get cross-ways with each other. We have conflict within congregations, between congregations, within districts and even with partner churches!

Luther summed up Paul’s teaching brilliantly in a tract called “On Christian Liberty” (1520). Luther’s two theses are as follows: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

Forgiven in Christ, we are absolutely free. We have a free conscience. We are free to act according to that free conscience so long as it’s informed by Holy Scripture.

But freed in Christ, we are servants of our

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neighbor. We self-impose limits for the sake of love and the well-being of our neighbor.

We are willing to use our radical freedom to serve and be “subject to all.” Think about Christ washing His disciples’ feet. Think about His death. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28).

And so it is with us. In our homes, in our congregations, in our circuits and districts, in this Synod and in its worldwide connections, we are always cognizant of “the greater good,” for the sake of the Gospel. We like to go it our own way. And thank God, He very often works such human failings for good. Nevertheless, we are called to be one body, through one Baptism, into one Lord. And as you’ll see from this issue of Lutherans Engage the World, what the Lord allows us to accomplish together is mind-boggling!

Pastor Matthew Harrison President The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

St. Paul really nailed it. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Gal. 5:1, 13–15).

nspire

by Pamela J. Nielsen with H.R. Curtis

PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

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hildren to baptize. Newcomers to catechize. People in the pews who are glad to be in church, receiving the Lord’s grace and giving Him their praise. That’s the mental picture we have of a thriving congregation. We certainly don’t think of tense budget meetings, stressed-out treasurers and being forced to choose between this or that ministry due to a lack of funds. Yet after the Baptisms have gotten fewer and farther between, and the attendance is suffering, and folks are grumbling, it’s often the “stewardship symptoms” that force a congregation to face the fact that something needs to change. So they set out on a stewardship project or a financial overhaul … but the solution is not financial because the problem is not really financial either.

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A Holy Calling Instead, it’s the other way around.

Revitalized stewardship comes from revitalized Christians: people of God who see and understand the purpose for which God has set them on earth in a particular congregation, family and community.

Communicating this message is the task of LCMS Stewardship Ministry. As part of the Office of National Mission, Stewardship Ministry helps pastors and congregations teach the Word of God regarding one aspect of Christian sanctification: imitating God in sacrificial generosity.

The Rev. H.R. Curtis, coordinator for LCMS Stewardship Ministry, and the Rev. Nathan Meador, assistant coordinator, are both parish pastors, practicing what they preach in their service to the Synod.

“We know the struggles that pastors and parishes are facing in terms of finances,” says Curtis, “because we both face them every day. For me, that’s in a small church in a rural setting. For Pastor Meador, it’s in the setting of a large church and school with a huge staff. The challenges are different, but the biblical theology and practice are the same.”

Curtis says that the Lutheran approach needs to keep stewardship firmly placed within the pastoral and theological task.

“Stewardship doesn’t stand on its own: it’s part of our sanctification. And that means stewardship begins with Law and Gospel, repentance and faith — and then moves toward educating people with the Word concerning the new Christian life.”

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t A child is baptized at Ascension Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Mo.

“

Christians who understand the great purpose for which God has called them become joyful, Gospel-motivated givers who see their local congregations for what they are: colonies of the kingdom of God.”

— Rev. H.R. Curtis

One key concept for LCMS Stewardship Ministry is vocation. God has given each of us a holy calling in the home, in the Church and in society. These holy callings give purpose to our lives and make a claim on our presence and our support.

Stewardship Ministry gets this message out through the many resources it produces and the speaking engagements Curtis and Meador conduct throughout the year — as well as through specialized conferences and training sessions.

At www.lcms.org/stewardship, pastors and congregational leaders will find all kinds of things to help them teach stewardship in a biblical manner. The “A-Z Stewardship Resource” collection includes everything from nuts and bolts advice for building a yearly stewardship emphasis to theological essays laying out the biblical case. The most popular resources are the devotional and educational pieces designed to keep stewardship in front of the congregation throughout the year: weekly devotional “blurbs” for the bulletin based on the lectionary readings, 4

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monthly newsletter articles and a monthly resource for stewardship leaders called StewardCAST. Online resources are a big help in leading the congregation, but when it comes to training new leaders in the realm of stewardship, nothing beats face-to-face contact. Last spring, Stewardship Ministry held the National Stewardship Leadership Conference, and more such conferences are in the works. Pastors and lay leaders from across the country were introduced to Stewardship Ministry’s approach and were challenged to be more intentional in teaching vocation, stewardship and sanctification in their own ministry settings.

This fall, both Curtis and Meador will be speaking at district conferences and at

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a variety of other events. The focus is on teaching pastors how to bring the Word of God to bear on stewardship in a faithful and godly way.

“Christians who understand the great purpose for which God has called them,” says Curtis, “become joyful, Gospelmotivated givers who see their local congregations for what they are: colonies of the kingdom of God.” And who wouldn’t be excited about being part of the kingdom of God? Pamela J. Nielsen is the associate executive director for LCMS Communications.

The Rev. H.R. Curtis is coordinator for LCMS Stewardship Ministry. u Learn more: www.lcms.org/stewardship lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

p Participants sing during a worship service at St. John Lutheran Church, Sewards, Neb.

t The Rev. James Rust participates in a worship planning session at Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Mo. q Deaconess Lynnette Fredericksen leads the children’s choir at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Hamel, Ill.

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10 Q

nform

Acquiring residence permits, setting up a home in a foreign land, CHURCH WORKERS: learning a new language, petting a crocodile, even dealing with a

Showing & Sharing

Questions

bout of malaria. These are a few of the experiences the Rev. Dale and Suzanne Kaster, new LCMS career missionaries to Ghana, have had since moving from Jacksonville, Fla., to the West African country on May 11. Despite the challenges, Kaster says they have been continually blessed, and he encourages LCMS members — both church workers and laypeople — to consider serving the Lord in Africa.

God’s Love

by Melanie Ave

by Megan K. Mertz

what is Law and what is Gospel, what is sin and what is grace, and, most importantly, who and what is our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ.

1.

7.

Describe your work in Ghana.

The work that brought us here was to help the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana train men in the northern part of the country for the pastoral ministry. To do that, we have based ourselves in Tamale, the largest city of northern Ghana. Tamale used to have a Lutheran congregation that has since folded, so I have been holding Lutheran worship here for the faithful and as an outreach to non-Christians and non-Lutherans alike.

2.

What prepared you for this work?

Twenty-four years of parish ministry in the States has been a huge factor. Daily struggling with the Word of God and applying it to the lives of the hurting, broken and sinful have helped me understand how life in the Church is a rich blessing of God, imparting to us His grace for our every need. … But without a doubt, it is our daily prayers — asking for wisdom, strength and grace to accomplish our task — that keeps us constantly “prepared.”

Added to these are the prayers of the many who have partnered with us as supporters.

3.

As a network-supported missionary (NSM), from where does your support come?

NSM missionaries raise the funds needed to support their work through visits with parishes, ministries and partners. We have been blessed to have what we need and then some. The monies needed to pay for our ministry come completely out of that account.

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4.

What is the most extraordinary form of support you’ve received?

A young lady in Iowa was moved to offer all of her confirmation gift monies to our work through Mission Central. She has since saved up other monies and donated them to our work.

5.

How does the Synod support you as a missionary?

The most important thing is that the Synod encourages us through prayer. It gives us much strength to know that those who supervise or work with us here are praying for us. … Also, the staff of the LCMS Office of International Mission helps us finance large items (car, computer, etc.). They also make sure that we are not in any danger.

6.

What is most challenging about your work?

No matter how long one lives with an ethnic group, you never can fully understand their worldview and culture. So when you take the universal message of salvation in Christ Jesus to them, you need to make sure that they are being reached where they are. Therefore, you need to begin with the Small Catechism —

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Most rewarding?

A young man who was driving our cab in Accra [the capital city] was asking us about our faith. He had attended a church that had not properly preached Christ. I had an opportunity to share the cross of Jesus with him and how it delivered to him full forgiveness of his sins. His response was: “Finally, I get it!” Those things make the sacrifices here most endurable.

8.

What has surprised you about your new home?

That when the rain comes down hard, our floor slab actually leaks, and we are OK with it!

9.

What do you miss from home?

Not to be trite, but our family and time with them around the dinner table. But we also miss the conveniences of the States: fast food, premade food, a grocery store!

10.

What advice do you have for people who are considering missionary service?

Be flexible! Things change here from day to day.

You just have to trust it all to God, who sees the whole picture.

Megan K. Mertz is a staff writer for LCMS Communications.

Find a missionary to support: www.lcms.

org/missionarysupport Follow the Kasters’ missionary journey:

www.facebook.com/KastersinGhana lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

PHOTOS: DALE KASTER

with the Rev. Dale Kaster

nspire

Beating Bushes THE

by Adriane Heins

“We’re willing and ready to go out and beat the bushes.” The Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez’s voice proves he means business. “We go into their homes and ask them how we can care for human beings with human needs, waiting for the Holy Spirit to move them,” he explains. “And often He does. Whenever we share

PHOTO: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

the Gospel, people say, ‘Really?

Salvation by grace? It’s a free gift?’

Some people cry.” t The Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director of LCMS

Church and Community Engagement lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

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q Vicar Pastors, teachers, deaconesses, parish music directors and other Jason Gullidge (left), the Rev. Doug church workers serve the Church in its vital ministries.

Evenson (center) and children cheer

PHOTO: JASON GULLIDGE

during a break in the vacation Bible school action at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Beardstown, Ill.

Beating the bushes is easy, because Hernandez, director of LCMS Church and Community Engagement, isn’t doing it alone. Partnerships between congregations, districts and the Synod are making in-roads across the country.

“By invitation, we assist districts or congregations that are interested. Usually, it’s a double partnership, because the district is often already helping the congregation,” he explains.

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Beardstown, Ill., is one such example of a lay-led joint venture. “The congregation is in a community that has, over the last 20 years, become increasingly Hispanic,” says Hernandez. “The members of the congregation said to the pastor, ‘We really need to reach out to the growing Hispanic population in this town.’ The pastor agreed, but he also knew the church didn’t have much money.”

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When the Rev. Doug Evenson mentioned this obstacle, one lay member took it as a challenge.

He simply asked, “How much does it cost?” recalls Hernandez.

That’s when the congregation “brought up the idea of a partnership — both in terms of finances and as a mission development — between the congregation and the district and the Synod.”

The ball was already rolling.

Using the Synod’s Gospel Seeds model — where congregations focus on mercy, finding out from their neighbors what human-care needs the church can help them meet, which leads them to opportunities to bear witness to Christ — Hernandez and congregation members got to work. “You can’t just put up a sign and say, ‘Y’all come,’” Hernandez says. “When I met with the congregation in Beardstown, I asked them, ‘What Hispanics do you know? Do you know Spanish?’”

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The congregation made a lengthy list of names and then started knocking on doors. “We asked them, ‘We’re from St. John’s. We’re reaching out to the Latino population. What are some of the needs you see in our community?’” Hernandez recalls.

Starting conversations through acts of mercy sets Lutherans apart from other

groups who knock on doors, he notes. “We start with mercy and then bear witness according to the Holy Spirit and then move to life together as He draws them into the Church.”

What Do Lutherans Believe?

The congregation offered the Latino community the use of the gym, which was no longer in use since the church’s school

“Let’s partner. Let’s reach out with the Gospel.

We have an enormous mission field. Why shouldn’t we?”

— Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez

lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

PHOTOS: LCMS COMMUNICATIONS/ERIK M. LUNSFORD

“Our need for funds to assist church workers has quadrupled, especially during the recession. We’re still feeling the effects of that. Our need far exceeds what we budget. When your church worker is in need, the church suffers. The church is in trouble if we don’t care for our workers in times of crisis. I would challenge individuals and congregations to care for the workers of the church so that the clear proclamation of the Gospel is made through workers who aren’t burdened with economic concerns.”

— Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez

closed. Then the church started English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes. “People were drawn in quickly,” Hernandez recalls.

Then a woman from the community named Maria Guijosa offered her help, both in translating and in locating local and county services families could use. Before long, “St. John’s became a Hispanic center for people to inquire about human needs,” Hernandez says. “And then they started asking the same question they always ask: What do Lutherans believe?”

The Rev. Pablo Dominguez, pastor of a Hispanic mission in the LCMS Central Illinois District, was quickly on the scene, visiting every couple of weeks while simultaneously leading a Bible class. Soon, though, the congregation members pushed for even more: “Can we get a vicar?”

Hernandez recalls them asking.

“We need someone here for them every day!”

And they did. Jason Gullidge, a vicar from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., who is still learning Spanish, now assists with a variety of Hispanic ministry opportunities, like hosting “Sunday school to our community and our members, and every other Saturday, a gathering similar to a church service (religious movies, songs, a message and a prayer), led by

Pastor Dominguez,” Gullidge says, noting plans for more are in the works.

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Acts of Mercy Ultimately, Gullidge and Evenson believe, this partnership enables them to “share the Gospel of Christ through acts of mercy while helping with daily needs.”

The Central Illinois District is now putting funds on the table in addition to what the congregation gives, while the Synod’s Hispanic Ministry staff members continue to offer time, counsel and expertise.

This tri-fold partnership “allows new ideas to be shared, resources to be increased and our work to be synchronized around the world,” explains the Rev. Bart Day, executive director of the LCMS Office of National Mission. “All of this means the Gospel is proclaimed to the ends of the earth, and Lutheran churches grow as the Word is taught and the Sacraments are administered. Walking together in our life together is a tremendous witness to the world of our shared mission.”

And as for that witness? “I’ve never seen this much love and excitement in reaching out to Hispanics in all my years,” acknowledges Hernandez. “It’s an amazing thing.”

Adriane Heins is managing editor of The Lutheran Witness and editor of Catechetical Information.

Taking Care of Church Workers

A

nother opportunity for collaboration involves the care of the Church’s workers. “A church may be small and can’t afford a pastor anymore, or a pastor has an illness. These are financial crises, and church workers are not immune, especially since they don’t get a whole lot of money to start with,” explains Hernandez, who also spearheads Soldiers and Veterans of the Cross, two programs that provide emergency support and pastoral care for LCMS church workers, active or retired, based on financial need.

“It’s a team effort,” President Dwayne Lueck of the LCMS North Wisconsin District says, referring to the way in which his district cares for its church workers, especially those in financial or emotional crisis.

Often, the district and the Synod will go 50-50 on providing financial assistance to a worker in need.

“If a worker needs $3,000 to cover medical bills not covered by insurance, the North Wisconsin District pays $1,500 and asks us if we can grant $1,500,” explains Hernandez. “President Lueck has become really adept at watching for those kinds of issues.

He’s able to identify the needs, and he responds quickly by saying, ‘Here’s the situation. Can you help us? Can we work together? Can we respond together to the need of this particular worker?’”

And together, they do, often getting funding to the person in need in a week or less. “Once we learn of the need, there is great communication between my office as district president and the Synod office about how we can address the need,” Lueck acknowledges.

“There are generous people who have stepped forward with their financial gifts to assist workers at a difficult time in their lives. We are asked to steward those gifts, and together we are able to meet the concerns that arise. The gift allows me to assist the workers of our district flock. What a blessing!”

“We are always looking for partners!” Hernandez agrees. “So, let’s partner. Let’s reach out with the Gospel. We have an enormous mission field. Why shouldn’t we? Why won’t we? We have such a wonderful gift in the gift of the pure Gospel!”

Learn more: www.lcms.org/

gospelseeds

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Doing More Together “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

3

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(Phil. 1:3–5)

LUTHERAN SCHOOLS

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MINARIE

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THE LCMS

SYNODWIDE ENTITIES

Congregations and Schools

Concordia University System (CUS)

Individual Christians are joined together around the Word and Sacraments within the congregation. Congregations, the basic units of the Synod, have joined together to form the Synod and relate to one another through it. There are 6,136 congregations and 2,255 Lutheran schools.

Districts

The Synod divides itself into districts and authorizes its districts to create circuits. Districts and circuits are included among the component parts of the Synod. There are 35 LCMS districts.

AUXILIARIES International Lutheran Laymen’s League (LLL) www.lhm.org As the official men’s auxiliary of the LCMS, the LLL is the governing body for Lutheran Hour Ministries, a Christian outreach ministry.

Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) www.lwml.org As the official women’s auxiliary of the LCMS, the LWML encourages and equips women to live out their Christian lives in active mission ministries and to support global missions.

RECOGNIZED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS (RSOs)

www.cus.edu CUS provides for the education of pre-seminary students, ministers of religion—commissioned, other professional church workers of the Synod and those desiring a Christian liberal arts education, and it coordinates the activities of the Synod’s colleges and universities.

Concordia Publishing House (CPH) www.cph.org CPH, the official publisher of the LCMS, offers more than 8,000 products for use in Christian congregations, schools and homes.

Concordia Plan Services (CPS) www.concordiaplans.org CPS is the benefits provider for more than 6,000 LCMS congregations, schools, universities, seminaries and other organizations in the United States and in mission fields worldwide.

Concordia Historical Institute (CHI) www.lutheranhistory.org CHI maintains the official archives for records of the LCMS and its agencies, congregations and workers.

Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) www.lcef.org LCEF facilitates faith and the reaching out to others with the Good News through investments, loans and services that help build, transform and keep our church vital.

www.lcms.org/rso The LCMS works with 325 RSOs — including 175 organizations and 150 schools — to extend its mission outreach, education and social ministry. These independent organizations agree to foster the mission and ministry of the LCMS and to ensure that their programs and services are in harmony with the doctrine and practice of the LCMS.

The LCMS Foundation

35 PARTNER CHURCH BODIES

INTERNATIONAL LUTHERAN COUNCIL (ILC)

www.lcms.org/partnerchurch There are 35 church bodies worldwide with which the LCMS is in altar and pulpit fellowship.

www.ilc-online.org The ILC is a worldwide association of established confessional Lutheran church bodies that exists for the purpose of encouraging, strengthening and promoting confessional Lutheran theology and practice centering in Jesus Christ, both among member churches and throughout the world.

lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

www.lfnd.org The LCMS Foundation provides Lutheran donors with charitable expertise and opportunities to ensure that families are provided for and beloved ministries are supported.

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Auxi li ari es :

Helping Extend the Gospel

by Megan K. Mertz

T

hroughout The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) history, its two auxiliaries — the International Lutheran Laymen’s League (LLL) and the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) — have played a vital role in extending the ministry and mission of the LCMS. In their own unique ways, these two organizations provide the support, resources and staff to increase the reach of the Gospel both at home and around the world.

One example: the creation of a selfsustaining Lutheran church body in Korea.

That was the goal of the LCMS when it sent three American missionaries and a Korean pastor to Seoul, South Korea, in 1958.

Soon, others joined the mission effort, walking together to share the Gospel among

a people still struggling to recover from the devastation of war.

Lutheran groups in the United States sent material aid to the country’s widows, orphans and blind.

In 1959, the LLL established an office in the LCMS’ mission headquarters. By 1962, “The Lutheran Hour” was being broadcast in Korean on eight radio stations, and 80 individuals were enrolling in the LLL’s correspondence courses every day.

In 1971, God blessed the work of these partners when the Lutheran Church in Korea (LCK) became an independent church body in altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS. During the next two decades, the LWML gave $357,000 in grants to support a multi-ministry center, new church plants, construction of a dormitory at the LCK’s seminary and scholarships for seminary students.

Here’s a brief history of each auxiliary and its impact on the Synod:

International Lutheran Laymen’s League In June 1917, a group of 12 laymen attending the Synod convention in Milwaukee met together to discuss the perplexing problem of the Synod’s $100,000 debt — a staggering sum at the time. In one evening, they pledged $26,000 and came up with a plan — later blessed by the convention — to deputize lay delegates to reach each district and congregation to raise the additional funds.

Six months later, despite the uncertainties of World War I, the newly formed LLL delivered $114,000 to the Synod, and the debt was wiped out.

From this extraordinary beginning, the LLL went on to raise $2.7 million to fund a pension plan for professional church

A History of the Synod’s Auxiliaries

1917

1930

1940

1942

1943

LLL founded in Milwaukee

First broadcast of “The Lutheran Hour”

LLL opens first international ministry center (Philippines)

LWML founded in Chicago

LWML publishes first issue of Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly

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PHOTOS: THE LUTHERAN WITNESS, LUTHERAN HOUR MINISTRIES, LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE, CONCORDIA HISTORICAL INSTITUTE, ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK

workers and their widows and orphans.

The interest from this endowment fund continues to help retired church workers today as the LCMS Veterans of the Cross Fund.

LHM currently has ministry centers run by local staff in 34 countries. These centers carry out LHM’s mission of “Bringing Christ to the Nations — and the Nations to the Church.”

Next, the LLL turned its focus to supporting Gospel proclamation through the establishment of KFUO Radio and equipping laymen to serve the Church. In 1930, it began a weekly radio program called “The Lutheran Hour,” which is now the longest-running

Christian outreach broadcast in the world, airing on 1,400 stations across the United States and Canada.

Today, the LLL carries out media outreach through Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) in St. Louis. LHM currently has ministry centers run by local staff in 34 countries. These centers carry out LHM’s mission of “Bringing Christ to the Nations — and the Nations to the Church” through mass media ministries, including radio and TV programming, the Internet, dramas, music, Bible Correspondence Courses, printed materials and other culturally relevant programs.

“LHM provides a significant and highprofile voice for the Gospel and the LCMS,” said LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison. “Rev. Gregory Seltz is an outstanding preacher, and we are blessed as a church body to have him as the Lutheran Hour speaker. Additionally, LHM provides

Above: Lutheran Hour Ministries’ international ministry work includes holistic outreach. Pictured here, LHM—Lebanon cares for Syrian refugee families in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Top: On Pentecost 1959, Dr. Won Yong Ji (right) confirmed seven adults and baptized six more. This was the beginning of Immanuel, Seoul, the first congregation of the Korean Lutheran church.

1945

1948

1952

1967

1971

LWML gives first mission grant ($15,000 for Christ Church for the Deaf, Cleveland, Ohio)

LWML accepts first international members

LLL and the LCMS create first Lutheran TV show (“This Is the Life”)

First LWML Sunday celebrated

LWML publishes first “Mustard Seeds” mini-Bible studies for women employed outside of the home

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Medicine. Bibles. Church buildings. Respite for missionary families. Care for the disabled and orphaned. These are just a few of the many projects in 42 countries that the LWML has supported with its “mighty mites” during its 72-year history. p LWML members tie lap quilts for distribution to shut-in members of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Vincennes, Ind.

Lutheran Women’s Missionary League In July 1942, just weeks after World War II’s Battle of Midway, more than 100 women from 15 LCMS districts met in Chicago for the inaugural convention of the LWML. This new national women’s organization was more than a decade in the making.

The mission of the organization, delegates agreed, was “to assist each woman of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in affirming her relationship with the Triune God so that she is enabled to use her gifts in ministry to the people of the world.” An important component of this was to gather funds for mission projects not covered by the Synod’s budget.

The LWML encouraged its members to save their pennies, nickels and dimes in “Mite Boxes,” a practice that was common among Lutheran women in the 1900s.

Through these voluntary offerings, the

LWML has provided more than $100 million for Christian outreach at home and abroad.

Medicine. Bibles. Church buildings.

Respite for missionary families. Care for the disabled and orphaned. These are just a few of the many projects in 42 countries that the LWML has supported with its “mighty mites” during its 72-year history.

“We are truly blessed by the LWML,” said Harrison. “The LWML offers profound encouragement in Christ for thousands of women of the Missouri Synod. Through a simple device called a ‘Mite Box,’ these faithful women have provided millions of dollars for the proclamation of the Gospel and the advance of the Lutheran church all over the world. The organization encourages women to learn leadership skills, while deepening their knowledge of and joy in Christ.”

What Is an Auxiliary?

Learn more about Lutheran Hour

• Has a membership made up of baptized members of LCMS or partner church congregations.

(Bylaw 6.1.2.1)

Ministries: www.lhm.org Learn more about the Lutheran Women’s

Missionary League: www.lwml.org

The Synod’s two auxiliaries have a special relationship with the LCMS that is like none other. The 2013 Handbook of the Synod states that an auxiliary: • Is “national in scope and voluntary in membership”; • Identifies “with the Synod” but is not “part of the Synod’s constitutional structure”; • Operates with “freedom and selfdetermination as a ministry,” while complying with Synod Bylaws; • Coordinates “plans and programs with those of the Synod through regular sharing and contact”; • Is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization; and

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1992

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2009

LWML adopts first $1 million mission goal

LLL establishes Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) as the overall identity for its outreach programs

First broadcast of LHM’s “Woman to Woman” radio program

LHM begins broadcasting its “On Main Street” TV program

LHM begins the Men’s NetWork

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PHOTOS: LUTHERAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY LEAGUE

a Gospel voice worldwide in many far-flung places. The reach is astounding.”

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Pastor Deus Medard, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, performs a Baptism.

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PHOTOS: LCMS MID-SOUTH DISTRICT, ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK

by Roger Drinnon At nearly 20,000 feet above sea level, Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa, and not too far from its peaks, there’s a high point for LCMS international partnership efforts.

Through a 12-year partnership with the LCMS Mid-South District, one Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) diocese grew into two, and now a growing number of clergy for the newest diocese receive theological training with the help of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. “The Mid-South District began a relationship with the East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELVD) of the Lutheran church in Tanzania in 2002 at the recommendation of the mission board of the LCMS,” said Bob Allen, the district’s mission director. “The focus of this partnership was an evangelism effort to the Sukuma people of the Lake Victoria region.”

An estimated 60 percent of the Sukuma tribe’s roughly 5-8 million members hold to indigenous pagan beliefs. Yet tens of thousands have been receptive to the Gospel, which the Mid-South District helped deliver, in part, by providing Bibles translated into Kiswahili (Swahili), the official language of Tanzania.

In recent years, the number of churches and sub-congregations in the region went from 120 to 372; seven more mission training centers supported by the district were added; the number of ordained clergy grew from 25 to 45; and, most notably, the number of baptized lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

Christians in the diocese increased from 37,500 to over 100,000.

“From the growth of the ELVD and because of its size in land mass, the diocese was split into two dioceses in the fall of 2012 — the ELVD and the South East of Lake Victoria Diocese (SELVD),” said Allen. “In May 2014, Pastor Emmanuel Makala was consecrated as bishop of the new diocese.”

“As a result of mission work by LCMS missionaries from neighboring Kenya and short-term mission trips sponsored by the Mid-South District, Bishop Emmanuel Makala was led to seek further theological education in the LCMS,” said the Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, director of Theological Education for the Synod’s Office of International Mission (OIM). Quill also is a professor and dean of International Studies at the seminary in Fort Wayne.

In his OIM role, Quill works with the Rev. Dr. Albert Collver III, LCMS director of Church Relations and director of Regional Operations for the OIM, and with OIM regional directors and the Synod’s seminaries. In 2012, Collver met with the Mid-South District and worked out a partnership in which funds were raised to enable Makala to enter the Doctor of Ministry program at Concordia Theological Seminary. Makala has now completed all of his course work and is nearing completion of his dissertation as a result of district mission work and the Synod’s Global Seminary Initiative coming together.

At Makala’s request, Quill and others from the Fort Wayne seminary helped establish

a two-year pilot program to train about 30 pastors and deaconesses. Some Fort Wayne seminary faculty members also helped write a 16-course curriculum for the school.

“The city of Shinyanga is a two-anda-half-hour drive south of Lake Victoria.

Another 45 minutes’ drive into the bush takes you to the Bishop Makala Training Center. The school provides a two-year residential program, training leaders for the fast-growing SELVD,” said Quill. “Most of the classes are taught by visiting LCMS professors. The first graduation will take place in March of 2015, and plans are underway for a new class in the fall of 2015.”

Both Allen and Quill are in awe, as the Holy Spirit works in the region.

“What we have seen in Tanzania during the years of this partnership has been a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is leading people to respond to the Word in a way that is experienced in few places in the world today,” said Allen.

Roger Drinnon is the manager of editorial services for LCMS Communications.

Learn more: www.lcms.org/tanzania

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Recognized Service Organizations:

PHOTO: DIGITAL VISION/THINKSTOCK

Walking Together to Bear Mercy

by Melanie Ave To Pastor Donald Wilke, it made perfect sense.

It was the early 2000s, and he was the chaplain at the Good Shepherd Community, which provides a full range of care for older adults at two Minnesota locations, Sauk Rapids and Becker. The nonprofit organization is a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

At the time, Wilke held chapel services every Sunday at Good Shepherd, which 16

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about 100 people regularly attended. But he had an idea. So he went to Good Shepherd CEO Bruce Glanzer and its board of directors with a question.

With 450 people living on campus, why not start an LCMS church on-site at Good Shepherd?

The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd was established in 2003 at Good Shepherd in Sauk Rapids. It is believed to be the only LCMS congregation located at a long-term care center.

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“ RSOs serve by showing the mercy and compassion of Christ.”

— Deaconess Dorothy Krans, director, LCMS Recognized Service Organizations (RSOs)

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“The church on a Sunday morning is full,” Glanzer said. “We have to remove dividers in the back just to make room for everybody.”

Good Shepherd is but one of the many examples of LCMS RSOs doing “good works,” said Deaconess Dorothy Krans, director of LCMS RSOs. “It’s been such a blessing for the residents because … many people in that age group have been worshiping their whole life, and they are no longer able to go to church,” she said. “They can now take part in it just like at their home congregations.

It’s such a blessing for that facility.”

EXTENDING MERCY, LOVE RSOs — independent nonprofit organizations — extend the mission and ministry of the LCMS. The LCMS currently has more than 320 RSOs working in various areas, including ethnic ministries, youth, disabilities, retreat centers, aging, counseling, veterans, education and immigration.

When an organization receives RSO status, after an application and review process,

it agrees to foster the LCMS mission and ministry and to act in harmony with LCMS doctrine and practices.

Organizations must re-apply every five years to retain their status. RSOs have the ability to call ordained and commissioned ministers on the LCMS roster, use the LCMS logo, participate in the Concordia Health Plan and obtain loans through the Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

RSOs, Krans said, help the LCMS extend its reach by offering mercy and love to meet the needs of those who are suffering, poor, sick or lonely. “RSOs serve by showing the mercy and compassion of Christ,” she said.

What Are LCMS Recognized Service Organizations?

SERVING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN NORTH DAKOTA

• Issue calls for ordained and commissioned ministers on the LCMS roster;

To extend its mission outreach, education and social ministry, the LCMS works with independent nonprofit organizations known as Recognized Service Organizations (RSOs). Organizations granted RSO status agree to foster the LCMS mission and ministry and to act in harmony with LCMS doctrine and practices. RSOs operate ministry programs that reach out with mercy and love to help those who are suffering, poor, sick or lonely by addressing human, social, economic, educational and spiritual needs.

LCMS RSOs can:

For another LCMS RSO, the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in North Dakota, helping children and their families is at the heart of what it does.

Established in 1952 as a mission of the LCMS North Dakota District to serve neglected and deprived boys, the ranch is now the largest Lutheran social-service agency in the state.

• Use the LCMS logo; • Apply for loans through the Lutheran Church Extension Fund; • Seek LCMS grants; • Participate in the Concordia Health Plan; and • Participate in the LCMS Group Purchasing Agreement.

Established in 1952 as a mission of the LCMS North Dakota District, the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is now the largest Lutheran social-service agency

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO/THINKSTOCK

PHOTO: DAKOTA BOYS AND GIRLS RANCH

in the state.

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t Children from the Dakota

PHOTO: DAKOTA BOYS AND GIRLS RANCH

Boys and Girls Ranch’s Bismarck, N.D., campus write what they are most thankful for on a paper hands tree.

Each day, the ranch serves 107 boys and girls ages 10 to 18. It offers residential and shelter care on its main campus in Minot, N.D.; a residential program in Bismarck, N.D.; and residential programs in Fargo. It also serves children in grades four through 12 in day-treatment programs offered through its private, nationally accredited Dakota Memorial School.

When the agency celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2012, it had served 30,000 children in 36 states throughout its history.

“Our mission is to serve at-risk children and their families in the name of Christ,” said Gene Kaseman, Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch president. “We are truly faith-based.”

It is that approach, he said, that greatly improves the ranch’s success. For every child who comes to the ranch, he or she receives four evaluations, one of which is a spiritual assessment.

The Lutheran understanding of Law and Gospel — determining right from wrong and forgiving others — permeates the ranch’s approach with children, many of whom are seeking services at a low point in their lives, Kaseman said.

The faith-based approach makes a big impact, he said, adding, “It gives us some greatly improved outcomes.”

In the 1980s, one of the teen boys the ranch served was Ian Harr. Some 30 years later, Harr sent a letter of gratitude to Kaseman and the ranch for helping him.

Despite the troubled times that brought him to the ranch, Harr explained in his letter, he found a caring and nurturing environment, and he began a spiritual 18

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journey, thanks in large part to the ranch’s chaplain. Harr was led to Christ and today describes himself as “an active Christian in my community church.”

After leaving the ranch, Harr said he finished high school, graduated from college, and became a certified public accountant and vice-president of a publicly traded international real estate services company.

“I now have a daughter of my own who is about the same age now that I was when I was in Minot, and I take pride in being able to teach her some of the same life lessons I learned at the ranch, such as honesty, integrity and the value of working hard toward a goal,” he wrote. “I cannot express the depth of my gratitude to the ranch.”

HELPING OLDER ADULTS IN MINNESOTA Good Shepherd Community is sponsored by 17 LCMS congregations, which also provide representatives to the organization’s board of directors.

At Good Shepherd’s Sauk Rapids facilities, located on 30 acres, some 600 people are served. It offers a wide range of care for the elderly, ranging from independent living to a skilled nursing facility. Its on-site church is but one of the RSO’s attributes.

In 2007, Good Shepherd opened a second location in Becker, which offers 69 units of apartments, assisted living and memory-care units. It is attached to Grace Lutheran Church by a community center, which is shared.

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Glanzer said all services at both Good Shepherd locations are provided from a Christian perspective, addressing a person’s mind, body and spirit.

In 2011, Good Shepherd revamped its entire approach in its skilled nursing rooms.

It converted from an institutional model to a household model.

It now has 154 private rooms, with their own private bathrooms, and only four shared rooms. The rooms are divided into eight households with their own individual decor to better resemble a person’s private home. Each household has its own nursing team, dining room, kitchen and spa.

Instead of a set breakfast time for all residents, they can now choose to eat between 7:30 and 9 a.m. Bath time is when the residents prefer it.

“We went from a set routine to patientcentered care,” Glanzer said. “We used to say Tuesday at 2 is bath time. Today, it’s, ‘When would you like your bath, Mrs. Jones?’ We work it in. We now have some people who want it in the morning. Some people say, ‘I sleep better at night. Can I have it in the evening?’”

Glanzer said Good Shepherd’s shift to a household model is a career highlight for him.

“People don’t like to be in a nursing facility,” he said, “but if you need to be in one, this is the place you want to be.”

Melanie Ave is a staff writer and the social media coordinator for LCMS Communications.

Learn more: www.lcms.org/rso lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

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MERCY MOMENT

Partnering in Mercy

nform “ From the visionary leadership of board members who are LCMS to the hospitality shown by local congregations, the LCMS is an integral part of our mission as Lutherans to welcome the stranger in Christ’s name. Together the LCMS and LIRS have brought a Christcentered perspective to ministry with new Americans, created new programs and resources, engaged congregations in life-changing mercy work and influenced systemic change.”

by Melanie Ave

Mercy. It is what connects the LCMS to three independent Lutheran organizations — Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America and Lutheran World Relief.

The LCMS has a special partnership with these organizations and provides annual grants to each one, allowing the LCMS to extend its reach and to walk together with them in bearing mercy.

The Rev. John Fale, associate executive director of LCMS Mercy Operations, said the LCMS and the three organizations complement one another’s strengths and weaknesses. The organizations have unique capacities that go beyond the realm of the LCMS. The LCMS, Fale said, values its collaborative relationships with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America and Lutheran World Relief.

“Mercy is at the heart of what they do,” he said. “That’s really the connection. Our proclamation accompanies the mercy component that they bring.”

Here’s a bit of information about each organization, its annual funding from the LCMS and what each chief executive has to say about working with the LCMS:

PHOTOS: ISTOCK, LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA,LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF

LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICE (LIRS) — $140,000

— Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

“ Because of our deep and abiding relationship with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Lutheran Services in America is a thriving network of Lutheran social-ministry organizations that touches one in every 50 Americans with God’s love and mercy each year. Together we extend God’s mercy here in the United States serving homeless youth, vulnerable seniors, the unemployed, those displaced by natural disaster, the chemically addicted, the medically fragile and many others in communities across the country. The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod is a guiding force, a partner in faith and a critical ally as we expand the reach of God’s love and mercy to His most vulnerable.”

— Charlotte Haberaecker, president and CEO of Lutheran Services in America

“ LWR deeply values our partnership with the LCMS. Working together in the ministry of mercy, we are able to help so many of our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering. It is thanks, in part, to this partnership that LWR was able to reach 7.8 million people in 35 countries in 2013 and deliver $14.3 million worth of quilts and kits to more than 841,000 people. The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is a wonderful example of cooperation.”

— Daniel Speckhard, president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief

Founded in 1939 and based in Baltimore, LIRS is the second-largest refugee resettlement agency in the United States. It is nationally recognized for its leadership in advocating for refugees, asylum-seekers, unaccompanied children, immigrants in detention, families fractured by migration and other vulnerable populations and for providing services to migrants through over 60 grassroots legal and social-service partners across the United States.

LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA (LSA) — $140,000

LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF (LWR) — $630,418

Based in Washington, D.C., Lutheran Services in America is a nationwide network of more than 300 Lutheran health and human services organizations. LSA members serve a broad range of people — children, youth and families, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, the homeless and those recovering from disasters — and provide a spectrum of services.

Lutheran World Relief in Baltimore works to improve the lives of smallholder farmers and people experiencing poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, both in times of emergencies and for the long term. With the financial support of U.S. Lutherans and other donors, LWR strengthens communities through programs in agriculture, climate and emergency support.

Learn more: www.lirs.org

Learn more: www.lutheranservices.org

Learn more: www.lwr.org

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GIVE GRACIOUSLY, GIVE GLOBALLY DEC. 2, 2014 The LCMS is joining in Giving Tuesday — a day set aside for giving back — with a special effort to increase the capacity of its Global Mission Fund. Gifts to the Global Mission Fund are immediately directed wherever they are needed most in the world to carry out the church’s Witness, Mercy, Life Together ministry. You can help.

Giving Tuesday www.lcms.org/GivingTuesday “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

1 Peter 4:10 ESVV

#GivingTuesday

THE WITTENBERG PROJECT

is restoring a place where Lutherans — and especially those who don’t yet know our Savior Jesus Christ — can gather, learn and confess. Now your Bible study, men’s or women’s fellowship or other church group can join The Wittenberg Project’s Reformation 500 Club! } Commit to raising just $500 over the course of the coming year. } It could be through group offerings, bake sales or a designated donation — you decide! } Submit photos and stories to the LCMS at www.thewittenbergproject.org.

Make The Wittenberg Project YOUR group’s outreach project for 2014-2015!

Visit www.thewittenbergproject.org for more details.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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STEWARD’S CORNER

Cutting

designate your gift here

Unnecessary Costs

A

year ago, I wrote an article about “deployable dollars” (Lutherans Engage the World, September-October 2013 issue). November is Stewardship Month in the LCMS, so let’s take a look at how we are doing at stewarding donations for the sake of deployable dollars.

Two years ago, giving to the Global Mission Fund was promoted as a new, efficient way to support our Synod’s Witness, Mercy, Life Together work. We made a commitment to steward your gifts wisely, and we strive to maximize the “deployable” portion of every gift.

Thousands of people across the LCMS combined their gifts through the Global Mission Fund last fiscal year and supplied more than $4 million in agile, immediately deployable mission funding.

I’m pleased to share that the fundraising costs for the Global Mission Fund were nearly 5 percent lower than other, more restricted giving options. Only unrestricted gifts to the Synod cost less to solicit and acknowledge.

Those precious Global Mission Fund gifts supplemented more tightly restricted dollars and allowed our national and international mission teams to adequately fund urgent and effective work. If a project didn’t have sufficient designated funds to initiate or continue work, leaders were able to draw from the Global Mission Fund!

We’re learning because you joyfully responded to the idea of giving Synod workers the chance to collaboratively utilize a unique type of donation to fund boardapproved work!

But there is more we can do together to be wise stewards of the Gospel using the blessings God entrusts to us.

When God’s people in the LCMS donate to the vital

national and international work of the Synod, we often see checks made payable to specific programs or even certain funds. The problem is that this requires extra processing steps, and the extra steps increase our bank fees, which are charged as fundraising expenses.

If, starting today, each gift sent to us would be made payable to “The LCMS” (or “The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod”) and the designation of the gift (Global Mission Fund, for example) was instead written on the memo line, donors could help save the Synod as much as $40,000 in annual bank fees!

We could push those saved dollars out to do meaningful mission work. Under a multimillion-dollar budget, $40,000 may not sound like all that much money, but the principle — stewardship — is at stake.

Last year, the Synod’s fundraising overhead, as reported to the Board of Directors, was 13.3 percent, and only 9.6 percent of all

donations (if district support is included). While either is a respectable percentage, we can do better. It requires that we work together. We pray you will continue to walk with us on this important stewardship journey.

We’re learning to better manage every single gift we receive. We actively solicit the kinds of gifts that cost less to raise and manage without compromising work in the field.

We are making hard choices on your behalf to maximize the impact you can have on people’s lives through the Gospel. And we’re nowhere near finished with shifting to best-practice fundraising. I like the stewardship path we’re on, and I pray you do too.

I’m eager to hear your thoughts and continue the conversation. Drop me a note at LutheransEngage@lcms.org.

In Christ, Mark Hofman

Mark Hofman, CFRE, MBA, is the executive director of LCMS Mission Advancement.

Giving Tips You can help us minimize required fundraising and administrative overhead! Here’s how: 1. Talk to us! Help

2. Make gifts payable to “The

LCMS Mission Advancement understand the kinds of things you like and want to support. lcms.org/givenow/globalmission

LCMS” (or “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod”), and use the memo line on checks (or a note) to restrict your gift for a specific ministry, missionary or project.

3. If you don’t use a checkbook, make gifts using any of these methods: • Make a secure donation using a major credit or debit card at www.lcms. org/givenow or by calling our Donor Care Line at 888-930-4438.

• Use your bank or credit union’s online bill payment feature. This also is a great option for setting up recurring gifts or making regular payments to fulfill a pledge!

• Complete forms available from Mission Advancement to have gifts automatically withdrawn from your account using electronic funds transfer (EFT).

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NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID Burlington, WI Permit No. 12

YO U C AN H ELP B RI N G H ISTO RY TO LI FE .

The script is ready to go, casting is done and filming is underway for the first documentary about the life of Dr. Rosa Jinsey Young — “the mother of black Lutheranism in central Alabama.” Born in an ordinary town in rural Alabama, Young was anything but ordinary. She was instrumental in founding and promoting 30 Lutheran elementary schools and 35 Lutheran congregations in Alabama’s Black Belt. It’s time to hear her full story.

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is producing a movie about Young that will enlighten the church about her remarkable history, encourage a new generation of professional church workers and inspire the establishment of new Rosa J. Young Academies, an educational process to start new schools in the LCMS using the same model Young used in starting Lutheran schools all across Alabama.

Learn how you and your congregation can be a part of supporting this mission and telling this story at www.lcms.org/thefirstrosa.