# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1981_S214
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

212

our Synod, principally those receiving benefits under the old
pension plan, have become woefully inadequate by today’s
economic standards; and

WHEREAS, In some instances the monthly retirement
benefits paid to retired workers have actually decreased. For
example:

In 1979 a retired worker of the Texas District was receiving
approximately $192 in retirement benefits under a combina-
tion of the old pension plan and the current Concordia
Retirement Plan. At the beginning of 1980 his benefits were
reduced by $14 to approximately $178 monthly. Upon inquir-
ing, he was told by the Concordia Plans office that this
reduction was made in order to cover the increase of his current
participation in the health care coverage under the present
Concordia Plans; and

WHEREAS, The intention and responsibility of our Christian
and synodical fellowship is eloquently expressed by the Board
of Managers—Pensions and Support in a principle statement
in regard to our retirement plan: “‘God binds His people into the
fellowship of the church for a purpose: that they might freely
share all His gifts for the common good of all. In both the Old
and New Testaments God points to the workers of the church
as special objects of such loving concern”; and

WHEREAS, The spirit of the Scriptures, ‘‘the laborer is worthy
of his hire” and “we beseech you, brethren, to know them which
labor among you...to esteem them very highly in love for their
work’s sake,” surely also applies to the retiree who spent
himself in the work of the church; soit ought to be said that the
retired person is indeed worthy of his retirement and deserves
to be offered the kind of love and temporal security that
confirms the assurances that the church’s retirement program
originally held out to him; therefore be it

Resolved, That we, the Board of Directors of the Texas
District, petition the 1981 ®t. Louis convention to issue a
mandate that the present conditions and situations of our
Synod’s retired workers be reviewed; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Managers of the Concordia
Plans be directed to make the necessary adjustments to
increase the benefits to current retirees so that these retirement
benefits bespeak the dignity and high esteem due the office of
the ministry in which the retired workers of our church labored.

Board of Directors
Texas District
Walter A. Dube, Secretary

Identical or similar:

4-20B
Texas District Pastoral Conference,

West Texas Section Jack Amen

4-21

To Change Retirement Plan Regulations
re Workers Not Covered
by Social Security

WHEREAS, The Board of Directors of the Synod approved the
request of the Board of Managers to compute all Survivor Plan
benefits on the offset basis beginning Jan. 1, 1975; and

WHEREAS, This action, according to recent surveys by the
Board of Managers, has adversely affected the Survivor Plan
benefits of 10 percent of the workers of the Synod who do not
participate in Social Security; and

WHEREAS, Workers who have protested this arbitrary, dis-
criminatory action have not received a reasonable and justifi-
able explanation from the Board of Managers; and

WHEREAS, Such arbitrary action involved a “change in
contract” for workers enrolled in the Survivor Plan prior to
Jan. 1, 1975, unfairly penalizing them in order to make
adjustments elsewhere in the Concordia Plans program; and

WHEREAS, Res. 4-03A of the 1979 synodical convention
instructed the Board of Managers to “review the potential of,
and, if any possible equitable arrangement can be devised,

ADMINISTRATION

provide a plan of additional survivor coverage for the workers
not in Social Security”; and

WHEREAS, No such equitable arrangement has been devised
or proposed; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Board of Managers be instructed by the
1981 convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod to
correct without additional cost to congregations, the arbitrary
and discriminatory action against those 10 percent of workers
not covered by Social Security; and be it further

Resolved, That before these corrections are finalized, the
Board of Directors of the Synod meet with a delegation of
workers so affected in order that their concerns can receive a
hearing before officers other than those who work directly for
the Board of Managers.

Emmanuel Lutheran Church
Asheville, N.C.

Richard Clancy, President
Louise Greenwald, Secretary
Preston E. Wagner, Pastor

4-22A
To Assist Emeriti Pastors and Teachers

WHEREAS, Our emeriti pastors and teachers have served the
church valiantly on low salaries most of their years; and

WHEREAS, They did not put much into the pension fund and
Social Security because of their meager salaries and were
under the new pension fund for only a few years; and

WHEREAS, The inflation of these days places on them a
heavy burden for survival; and

WHEREAS, They have not received any increase but rather a
decrease in their pensions; therefore be it

Resolved, That we show our love for them for their love and
willingness in serving the Lord in their earlier years by asking
the Districts and the Synod to place in their budgets sufficient
funds to give them an increase in their pensions, and be it
further

Resolved, That the Synod place sufficient funds in a special
fund for these elderly men and women in order to give them a
retroactive increase for the past two years.

Grace Lutheran Church
Grass Valley, Calif.

Paul Labrenz, Pastor
Marvin Leitzel, President

Identical or similar:

4-22B and 4-22C

Cordova, Rancho Cordova, Calif.
Messiah, Citrus Heights, Calif

Michael Phillips
Robert A. Behnke

4-23A
To Increase Pension Payments

WHEREAS, Our Synod has been committed for many years to
provide, in some measure, for its retired church workers and to
that end has established several pension plans over the years;
and

WHEREAS, Most workers and congregations have joined the
plans in the confidence that the workers would be provided for;
and

WHEREAS, The present inflation has reduced the value of the
pension payments toa mere fraction of what it was eight or ten
years ago, as is shown by the following example (this example
shows an actual case of one of our retired pastors):

PASTOR X

Ordained: 1938 Retired: 1973

Age of wife: 58

Age at retirement:
65 yrs., 6 mos.

Pension Plan (old plan) and
Concordia Plan (since 1965) fully paid up.

Total pension at time of retirement in 1973: $237.45, less $15 for
Concordia Health Plan. Net pension in 1973: $222.45