LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 8

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8 MISSIONS

dollars below required funding to prevent further mission
retrenchment. However, some new developments in extra-
budgetary funding, some new ways found to accomplish essen-
tial programs for less, and a good measure of faith in God’s
continued, undeserved grace cause us to say, “We are now
holding our own, and we will move ahead with confidence into
1973 and 1974.’ But much will be required of God's people as
enablers of Christ's mission in all the world.

2. Where We Are Now

A major factor which threatened to cripple the overseas
planning in 1972 was a projected large exchange loss occasioned
by dollar devaluation overseas following the world monetary
crisis late in 1971. Fortunately, the Board of Directors of the
Synod recognized the necessity of protecting overseas mission
budgets against these unavoidable dollar exchange losses. In
March 1972 the Board of Directors established a reserve fund
for ‘dollar exchange loss” and authorized Synod’s Stewardship
Department to solicit extra-budgetary funds for this purpose.

Several other extra-budgetary sources are also now available
to the Board for Missions which should help to avoid the kind
of crisis we experienced during the 1970 cutbacks. One of these
sources endorsed by the Board of Directors is the Mission
Patrons program—under which an individual commits himself
to a contribution of $100 per year for missions over and above
his regular congregational, District and synodical giving. The
Patron Fund is used upon resolution of the Board for Missions
for urgent mission programs which cannot otherwise be funded
from the regular mission budget. Contributions received in the
Fund totaled about $42,000 in 1972.

The Board for Missions also maintains a listing of unfinanced
needs that cannot be financed by the current operating budget.
This listing is used primarily in responding to donors (individ-
uals, groups, congregations) who specifically seek an oppor-
tunity to contribute to a project not funded in the operating
budget. These extra-budgetary gifts thus help make up part of
the difference between total mission needs and available regular
budget income, as well as also make possible capital projects.
Approximately $230,000 in such above-budget mission gifts were
received during 1972, not including Mission Patron contributions.
One gift deserves special mention: The Iowa East District, after
meeting their total commitment to the Synod in 1972, forwarded
an additional $15,000 in specific response to Milwaukee Res.
1-20—to enable the Board for Missions to fund some program
or project in 1973 that could not otherwise be financed within
the '73 budget. Hopefully, gifts to the 125th Anniversary Thank-
offering in ‘73 and ‘74 will also enable many new creative mis-
sion programs and urgently needed capital projects to ‘get off
the ground” and become a reality.

In 1973 overseas missionaries received their first salary
increase since 1970. The increase was really only a stop-gap
measure pending the introduction of a whole new salary struc-
ture for overseas workers of the Board for Missions. Ministers
to the deaf in the U.S. were also given a minimal cost of living
salary increase in 1973, but the deaf budget was not increased.
Deaf congregations were informed that they should make every
effort to finance the salary increase locally.

It is now estimated that the U.S. dollar devaluation an-
nounced by the Nixon Administration in mid-February 1973 will
result in at least $100,000 exchange losses overseas that will
have to be absorbed by the Synod. This added cost to the 1973
synodical budget would have been even greater had it not been
for the fact that the entire 1973 foreign currency subsidy of the
Japan Lutheran Church was transferred to Japan ten days prior
to the announced devaluation. It was converted to yen at the
predevaluation rate of exchange and placed in a time deposit
in the Fuji Bank of Tokyo for release in monthly increments to
the Japan Lutheran Church. This move, which saved the Synod
at least $75,000 (and possibly as much as $150,000) was suggested
by the General Secretary of the Japan Lutheran Church be-
cause of predictions in Japan concerning possible revaluation
of the Japanese yen. The transfer was made possible by the
cooperation of the Board of Directors and the Treasurer of
Synod.

At the present time it appears that Hong Kong, New Guinea,
Ghana, Lebanon, Taiwan, and several other fields will suffer
1973 exchange losses. In New Guinea, the Australian dollar has
already undergone two significant revaluations since December
1972; and there is a possibility of an additional monetary crisis

there related to a probable conversion from Australian dollars to
a new national currency. Any revaluations which result in an
appreciation of the U.S. dollar with respect to a national cur-
rency will be credited to the special exchange loss fund admin-
istered by the Synod’s Treasurer.

3. Trends in Giving “Our Silver and Gold”

a. In the Districts. During the period from 1968 to 1971 while
the synodical mission budget was declining, District mission
expenditures rose from $12.4 million to $12.9 million. More
spectacularly, District expenditures for missions and special
ministries have risen from about $5 million in 1959 to the current
rate of almost $13 million. This would indicate that Districts are
taking ‘“‘home missions” more seriously. If this trend continues
and we find it possible to gradually reduce synodical subsidies '
to Districts, another $3,000,000 now required in the Synod’s
budget for “home missions” might be released for further
outreach overseas and for deaf, blind, campus, and other special
ministries.

b. Overseas. Sister churches overseas are also taking their
“home missions” seriously and increasingly giving ‘‘according
to their means” and ‘beyond their means” in the support of
Christ’s mission in their land. In Taiwan, India, and the Philip-
pines, for example, long-range target dates have been set for
the attainment of self-support. In these churches, as in Hong
Kong and Japan, annual increases in contributions range from
10 percent to 20 percent.

St. Paul said: ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became
poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” Obviously,
many people in the Synod and in related churches overseas,
knowing and remembering that grace, are increasingly being
moved by the Holy Spirit to say to the Lord: “Take my silver
and my gold, / Not a mite would I withhold.”

4. Where the Money Goes

The following tables and pies give the overall financial pic-
ture of Board for Missions operations, and how the money is
used.

Board for Missions Budgets. 1968 — 1972

1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
World Areas $ 5,029,000 $ 5,411,000 $ 5,613,000 $ 5.455,038 $ 5,353,500
N. Amer./Sp. Min. 4,480,000 4,080,000 3,670,000 3,827,333 3,940,300
Pers./Admin. 615,000 614,000 586,000 586,124 692,000
Totals $10,124,000 $10,105,000 $ 9,869,000 $ 9,868,495 $ 9,985,800

“Take My Intellect and Use..."

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: ‘For consider your call,
brethren, not many of you were wise according to worldly
standards . . . but God chose what is foolish in the world to
shame the wise . . . so that no human being might boast in the
presence of God. . . .He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus,
whom God made our wisdom. .. .” (1 Cor. 1:26-30)

In order to make the very best use of the funds available,
Synod’s Board for Missions in 1970 instituted a planning, pro-
gramming, and budgeting system which seeks to plan together
with local people. Staff attempts to work in advance with North
American Districts and overseas mission leaders to develop
long-range objectives and strategies for all areas. Each year,
synodical staff counsel with North American Districts in national
and regional planning conferences as Districts map out their own
specific mission plans and strategies for the coming year. World
area secretaries work together with overseas churches as they
develop and evaluate goals and specific programs to meet those
goals.

Few of us—on Synod’s board or District mission boards, over-
seas church councils or boards of elders at home —can claim to
be wise according to worldly standards. But our Lord has prom-
ised to give us His Holy Spirit. He is with us in His mission, at
local and national levels alike, and provides the needed wisdom
for His work.

V. OUR WILLS AND OUR HEARTS: MISSION ISSUES
CONFRONTING THE BOARD FOR MISSIONS AND
THE SYNOD

Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine:

Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.