LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2010, Page 105

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SYNOD REPORTS
Examples of LCMS World Relief and Human Care Funds
Leveraging and Multiplying Giving

105

since it began in 1994 and counseled and assisted 267 women clients who were needy or contemplating abortion in 2009.
• In the United States, Life Ministries works to provide start-up
grants to congregationally based pregnancy centers, pregnancy
center staff mentoring, and development of a wide range of online
and printed pro-life materials, including publishing the popular A
Small Catechism on Human Life, which has provided young and
old the opportunity to view Luther’s catechism through a pro-life
lens.
• One of Life Ministries popular hallmark programs is providing free,
on-site workshops to youth groups and churches on abstinence and
Christian chastity.
• Under the auspices and leadership of Life Ministries, the LCMS
Sanctity of Life Committee currently advises the work and outreach
of Life Ministries for the Synod. This committee of dedicated volunteers includes some of our Synod’s best theologians and laity
from diverse areas of the pro-life movement and bioethics field.
Their goal is to inform and serve as a catalyst for the church to
assume a full measure of participation in the public square concerning life issues.
• Life Ministries and the Sanctity of Life Committee published the
long-awaited statement for pastors, health care workers, and laity
entitled “Res. 6-10: Guidance on Contraceptive Methods” following the resolution at the 2004 LCMS convention. The committee
also produced the helpful “In the Beginning” Bible study on the
ethics of stem cell research.
Next Triennium Major Goals

Life Ministries
Life Ministries was mandated as the responsibility of BHCM at
the 2001 Synod convention to promote the sanctity of human life,
both in our church body and the culture at large. Through programs
that care for the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable, supplying leadership for the Synod’s called workers and laity, and through
projects with our international partners, Life Ministries carries the
banner for our Synod to the public and the globe proclaiming that
all life is sacred.
Past Triennium Major Accomplishments

• Life Ministries gives our Synod an active voice on Capitol Hill with
a number of other pro-life organizations and church bodies to influence our culture and our leaders with a united message for life. Life
Ministries also works closely as a strong ally with the pan-Lutheran
Lutherans For Life organization through shared projects and funding support.
• Life Ministries has established, oversees, and completely sponsors the work of two Lutheran pro-life pregnancy resource centers
in Russia and is currently using this successful model to establish another pro-life pregnancy center in Asia in partnership with
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia. A center in St.
Petersburg, Russia, assisted more than 16,000 women in crisis

• Continue to expand our international pro-life influence by working with partner churches to open additional pregnancy resource
centers overseas.
• Publish additional practical resource materials that can be utilized
in congregational settings, such as a chastity curriculum for youth
and educational end-of-life decision-making materials.
• Establish congregational grace-centered materials for women who
regret past abortions and are seeking healing and forgiveness.
Division of Social Ministry Organizations
The Division of Social Ministry Organizations is responsible for
the administration, management, and oversight of the granting of
Recognized Service Organization (RSO) status to service organizations that provide health, chaplaincy, and social ministry efforts to
people in need. To date, 121 Recognized Service Organizations have
been granted status through the Board for Human Care Ministries
(BHCM). The work of Social Ministry Organizations includes, but
is not limited to, assuring the Synod that all service organizations
granted status meet and comply with all RSO requirements as set forth
in the Synod Bylaws and Board of Directors’ policies. Additionally,
the division is responsible for acting as a liaison to the RSO and working with RSOs to identify, develop, and/or participate in mutually
beneficial collaborations and cooperative ministries, offering grants,
as able, to advance ministry with and through RSOs, consulting with
the RSO to address problems or issues of concern, and advocating for
the RSO as a responsible ministry partner to the LCMS. In past years
the BHCM has overseen the granting of RSO status to service organizations and has followed the example of Jesus Christ to minister
to the entire spectrum of human needs: spiritual, physical, and emotional. All of the church’s social ministry efforts have dealt with the
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2010 Convention.indb 105

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