LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 211

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ADMINISTRATION 211

4-17

To Review and Evaluate Concordia
Retirement Investment Philosophy
and Portfolio

WHEREAS, There are presently rumors, fears, concerns, and
suspicions among the enrollees of the Concordia Retirement
Plan regarding the investment and yields of retirement funds
(5 percent and 6 percent per year); and

WHEREAS, Messiah Lutheran Church, along with all its
sister congregations and other agencies and institutions
employing personnel, look to the Retirement Plan to adequately
provide for the future needs of our servants, because this is our
God-given responsibiity; and

WHEREAS, There is increasing concern in our country andin
our church that full disclosure be made of actions and processes
that affect major groups of people, and this concern has been
summarized in the Freedom of Information Act; and

WHEREAS, Competent professionals are always willing to
open their dealings to public scrutiny; and

WHEREAS, Church leaders should certainly serve as models
of accountability; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Board of Managers of Concordia Retire
ment Plan, in order to dispel the fear, gloom, mistrust, and
suspicion of the members of the Synod regarding their retire-
ment benefits, answer the following questions to the conven-
tion in session and to the church at large:

1. Please state the annual percentage of earnings on the
investment portfolio of the retirement fund for the last 16 years.

2. Who exactly does the investing?

3. Upon whose counsel are investments made?

4. What professional investment firms and counselors are
being utilized?

5. Are there possible conflicts of interest between investors
and investnients?

6. What are we investing in? Please be specific.

7. Does the Synod or anyone else have the right to borrow
retirement funds, and at what interest rate?

8. Have loans been made from the retirement portfolio? To
whom? In what amount? At what interest rate?

9. Are government regulations for pension funds being
followed?

10. Why no plans or thoughts, in an age of doubledigit
inflation, to indexing benefits to adjust for inflation? The
government and other institutions are doing such. Must the
church be the last to care for its own?

11. Why continue with the “antique” formula of 25 percent
for housing and utilities?

12. What are typical monthly payments to pastors and
their widows from the old Pension Plan?

13. Please give specific assurance to the church and its
workers that for the future there will be adequate retirement
funds; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Directors of the Synod con-
stantly monitor the investment portfolio of the Concordia
Retirement Plan and take all necessary steps to insure
adequate future benefits for the veterans of the church; and be
it finally

Resolved, That the Board of Managers annually issue a
clear report to all enrollees of the annual status of the
investment portfolio.

Messiah Lutheran Church
Clio, Mich.

John Nutzmann, President
Ronald Robinson, Secretary

4-18

To Provide Funds to Increase Pension
of Pastors Retired Under
Old Pension Plan

WHEREAS, Many presently retired pastors did not qualify to
enter the Concordia Retirement Plan because of age; and

WHEREAS, These pastors served their Lord and the church
faithfully in years of low salaries and depressed economic
conditions; and

WHEREAS, The resources and the benefits of the present
“old” pension plan are very limited because of the low limit of
contributions in years past; and

WHEREAS, Those retired pastors receiving benefits only
under the old pension plan are experiencing severe economic
hardships; and

WHEREAS, We ought to honor these pastors for their faithful
service and provide them with respectable pensions; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the Colorado District express its concern for
those retired pastors receiving only very limited synodical
pensions from the old pension plan; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod allocate sufficient additional
resources to the old pension plan, which will enable the
managers of the plan to adjust the pension benefits to a more
adequate level.

Board of Directors
Colorado District
Ralph A. Phipps, President

4-19

To Provide Assistance for Retired
Servants and Spouses of Deceased
Servants with Inadequate Pensions

WHEREAS, The faithful servants of the Lord in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod and the spouses of these workers
have been aided in preparing for retirement by a number of
different pension programs before the unified Concordia Plans
became effective in 1964; and

WHEREAS, Some of our servants under present plans have
served in areas of ministry through which they are not able to
fully participate in the plans because of low salaries and
minimal congregational participation where they served; and

WHEREAS, A number of retired servants and the spouses of
deceased servants currently are faced with living out their
years of God’s grace on pensions which are below the poverty
level; and

WHEREAS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and its
members have a responsibility of Christian love, compassion,
and concern to provide for our faithful, retired servants and
their surviving spouses; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Nebraska District in convention
memorialize The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in con-
vention in 1981 to provide funds to supplement inadequate
pensions toa level providing a life of dignity, reflecting at least
the minimum level of need and providing a source of aid in
emergency situations, the program to be administered by the
Board of Managers—Worker Benefit Plans, the program to be
reevaluated after 10 years of operation.

Nebraska District
Eldor W. Meyer, President
B. F. Meschke, Secretary

4-20A
To Provide Adequate Benefits
to Currently Retired Workers

WHEREAS, It has come to our attention that in this time of
spiraling inflation the fixed incomes of certain retirees within