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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 64

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

ing? LCMS MADV is not tasked with the active solicitation of
contributions to support Worldwide KFUO; however, the ministry is blessed with qualified advancement staff members and
program directors doing what they can to resource a ministry
capable of bringing the Good News into the very darkest corners of the world.
Along the lines of international work is the puzzle of balancing the need to fund both missionaries and the projects, programs, and engagement work they oversee. Support for LCMS
missionaries through donor-designated gifts is at record highs,
in amounts that surpass what the Synod headquarters receives
from regular worship offerings. We love our missionaries! In the
field, however, they are hard pressed for resources that undergird the work and funding to support coordination, accountability, and missionary care services is a constant source of
anxiety, distraction, and uncertainty. Has the goal of doubling
the number of LCMS missionaries deployed around the world
over-taxed the people of the LCMS? Conversely, is it possible
to achieve an appropriate balance of personnel and resources
sufficient to return our missionaries a laser-like, joyful focus on
sharing Jesus with the world?

Joys
In the face of puzzles and sometimes daunting challenges,
the MADV staff are privileged to be at the nexus of activities
and actions that truly capture a great joy among Christ’s disciples in the Synod, and even some who worship Jesus Christ in
other church bodies yet contribute personally to LCMS-managed mission and ministry work.
The members of the MADV team are not caricatures of
corporate or government bureaucrats. Each person, if you were
to meet them, embraces and performs his or her work in a manner truly worth of the Savior we serve. The LCMS is blessed with
individuals, some of whom are not Lutheran, who daily overcome challenges and frustrations to serve each contributor to
the best of their ability. More important, they know they are
serving Christ Jesus, their Savior who died for them and forgives
their sins daily. These individuals are a joy to work with and
alongside.
The LCMS is seeing a revitalization of generosity toward
human care (mercy) work as the number of contributors choosing LCMS World Relief and Human Care grows. Restructuring
and rebranding between 2010 and 2016 resulted in a significant
contraction of both donors and dollars. By God’s grace, this appears to be making a turn for the better in 2019, and the LCMS
is once again producing and mailing its Sharing newsletter.
Perhaps the most energizing joy more recently is the growing wave of contributors joyfully willing to supply an undesignated, unrestricted gift. The growth in unrestricted direct giving,
combined with undesignated bequests received, offset declines
in worship offering funding in each of the past two fiscal years.
And because unrestricted gifts are the least costly to administer,
they are boosting the level of available net assets for ministry.
The people of the LCMS, quite literally, formed an army
of support several times in the past triennium in the wake of
disasters large and small. Most stunning was a $10 million
outpouring of support for people living in Texas, Florida, and
Puerto Rico following the fall 2017 hurricane season. Inspired
by lead commitments from LCEF, Thrivent, and others, congregations and individuals demonstrated just what this church
2019 Convention Workbook

body can accomplish when people rally around a single issue.
The advancement staff could barely keep up! Meanwhile, in the
same time frame, contributions for the support of missionaries reached record levels while unrestricted giving gained more
traction. Truly, “a rising tide floats all boats.”
Joyful opportunities abound. We see opportunities to raise
awareness of LCMS mission and ministry done on behalf of
Synod’s member congregations, and to refresh that awareness
among those who are personally invested in sharing Jesus with
neighbors next door and very far away. Preliminary steps are
underway to recruit and resource a cadre of LCMS ambassadors who, while not directly seeking donations, are joyfully willing to help tell the story of what God’s people in the LCMS are
already doing for the sake of the Gospel. Such a group will influence those who may be the next generation of pastors, teachers, deaconesses, missionaries, and other servants.
We see mission opportunities inspired by the Holy Spirit
when a person feels someone in the church has truly heard what
matters most to them. Listening is an increasingly lost art in
American society, and the church—especially those connecting with contributors—must spend much more time listening
to God’s people than we do talking or writing about ourselves.
There is a real river of joy flowing just beneath the surface in
our church body. Are we truly hearing it flow (or is it being overpowered by a cacophony of voices, often negative, all trying to
scream at once)?
We see opportunity in the difficult and challenging process of eliminating debt. The Synod, through the LCMS annual budget, is carrying unproductive debt (not all of it selfincurred) that siphons energy away from Gospel proclamation,
church-worker formation, and humanitarian care that connects
broken people to Christ, especially as He comes to us through
font, altar, and pulpit. More than $1 million annually—instead
of being used merely to pay interest and pay down principal
on accumulated debt—could be going to missionaries, mission
projects/programs, seminary and other church worker education, and human care work. Debt will not go away by itself.
We see opportunities in lifting up endowment as a means
by which God’s people can fuel mission and ministry beyond
their own brief lifespan. LCMS Concordia University System
institutions and LCMS seminaries are far ahead of the Synod
in seizing this opportunity to bring stability, predictability, and
donor-energy to the mission of the church.
We see opportunities as those in the pew come to understand how critical they are in the mission of the church, and that
their Sunday morning worship offerings are absolutely indispensable for bringing others to hear the Good News. They (you)
recruit, educate, and keep pastors in pulpits, not “corporate
Synod.” They (you) recruit, prepare, send and keep missionaries
in the field, not “corporate Synod.” They (you) provide children and young people with Christ-centered Lutheran schools
and colleges. They (you) decide the direction of the LCMS, not
“corporate Synod.” They (you) fuel mission and ministry, not
“corporate Synod.” And there is JOY in that awareness.
We see more opportunities in collaboration efforts than we
do when organizations within the Synod compete with one another. Competition places the needs of the contributor behind
the needs of any one organization. Competition fails to see the
talents, gifts, and expertise God has given across the entire spectrum of the LCMS. Competition is sometimes rooted in fear