LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 377

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STEWARDSHIP AND FINANCE 377

partmental stewardship activities of the past might be
evaluated and future planning be done.

1, An ongoing 12-month stewardship program in each
congregation of the Synod.

2. A full-scale service program of gift solicitation which
provides individual congregations and groups with the op-
portunity to make larger special gifts in support of the
church’s ministry and mission through the Synod.

3. A coordinated approach to the variety of special ap-
peals that emanate from within the Synod, its Districts,
agencies, and auxiliaries.

4. A more effective process of bringing the congregations,
the Districts, and the Synod into cooperative planning and
funding of the church's mission at every level of its corpor-
ate life.

5. A greater reliance on person-to-person relationships
(as opposed to policy statement, church directive) in re-
sponding to the stewardship concerns and needs of congre-
gations.

(Note: It would be beneficial to the reader to review the
1971 convention Report of the Stewardship Board which pro-
vides detailed background material on the goals listed above.)

Ill. Toward Goal Achievement, 1971—-1973

The Milwaukee convention took specific action designed
to provide assistance to the Stewardship Department in
meeting the goals listed above. In the area of structure and
organization the convention —

A. Created a new Division of Stewardship Services

B. Clarified the Stewardship Department objective

C. Added new functions consistent with the above (cf.
Res. 12-16, Milwaukee)

This action precipitated the need for the immediate ap-
pointment of two additional staffs —

A. Associate Counselor — Field Services
Education)

(Stewardship

B. Associate Counselor — Resource Development

With authorization for appointment being given by Syn-
cd’s Board of Directors the Stewardship Board has attempted
to fill these positions. At this writing such attempts have
been without success. It is still the conviciton of the board
that a vigorous pursuit of the above goals is contingent on
qualified and dedicated people serving the church in the
newly created staff additions.

In other action designed to assist the department in
meeting its responsibilities, two resolutions were adopted at
Milwaukee — Res. 12-17 and Res. 1-20. Resolution 12-17
authorized periodic Synodwide stewardship conferences for
purposes of fiscal program planning. It provided for the
involvement of a broad base of synodical leadership, recog-
nizing the fact that the more extensive the involvement in
the planning process, the more extensive will be the sup-
port. Although such a conference was not held during the
course of the past biennium, two smaller conferences with a
fewer number of church leaders participating have been
conducted under the aegis of the Synod's Beard of Directors.
Some very positive benefits were derived from these two
gatherings; however, they did not afford opportunity for
“grass roots” leadership to take part. It is the conviction of
the Stewardship Board that every attempt be made to con-
vene the kind of conference envisioned by Milwaukee Res.
12-17 during the next biennium. In an age when, rightly or
wrongly, institutions including the church are suspect, every
reasonable opportunity must be provided for the maximum
number of people to participate meaningfully in determining
the kind and extent of the programs they are willing to
support.

Res. 1-20 (Milwaukee) requested “the Board of Steward-
ship with the cooperation of the Board for Missions, and with
concurrence of the Board of Directors, to solicit extra budget
funds sufficient to finance the difference between the budget
figures established by the Synod and the fiscal commitment
of the Board of Directors based on regular budget income.”
The one attempt to implement this resolution was to en-
courage the congregations of the Synod to confront the “dol-
lar devaluation” problem facing the overseas churches and

provide “extra measure” support through a special offering.
This approach of requesting a special offering proved less
than satisfactory. Slightly less than 257% of a needed $350,000
has been realized. It would appear that special Synodwide
offerings are not looked upon with favor by the majority of
our congregations with the possible exception of those offer-
ings earmarked for human needs arising from natural dis-
asters such as earthquake, flood, and the like. It is the con-
Viction of the Stewardship Board that a real service will be
rendered the Synod in the area of special funding when
individuals, groups, and congregations who are above fair-
share levels in the support of their work through the Synod
can be challenged with projects of an extra-budgetary
nature.

Besides attempting to implement the directives of the last
convention a variety of activities, projects, programs, and
strategies have been employed during the past biennium to
move toward the achievement of the goals listed above. The
following paragraphs briefly outline the more important of
these:

1. The North American Interchurch Study

In order to obtain objective data regarding the steward-
ship attitudes of church members, Synod’s Stewardship and
Research and Statistics Departments cooperated with 14 of
the largest Protestant denominations in a massive research
project titled, “The North American Interchurch Study.”
Respondents were given an opportunity to state their views
about —

— what they believe

—. how they feel about the church

— what the church should be doing

— what is expected from their denomination

— how they respond to church programs

— what they give and why

— what the future may hold

The findings are being studied by stewardship leaders
throughout the Synod with special concern given to the im-
plications for stewardship programming.

2, Action Team Approach to Stewardship Planning
and Programming

During the past 2 years a process has been set in motion
to bring together from throughout the church concerned and
knowledgeable people for stewardship programming and de-
velopment in five specific areas. These areas are:

—12-month stewardship programming for congregations

— mission education, Synod promotion

— special funding

— congregational fall stewardship emphasis

— pastor/teacher stewardship training

Out of this team approach will come practical strategies and
programs for both the congregations and the Synod.

3. Counsel in Christian Family Money Management

A new program of Christian family money management
is being pursued by the Stewardship Department. Still in its
infancy, the program recognizes money as a vital, necessary,
and effective extension of life and is therefore designed to
aid families in establishing and achieving God-pleasing goals
through the practical application of Christian stewardship
management principles.

4. Mission Education and Promotion

The Stewardship Department’s mission education section
provides programs and materials designed to help congrega-~
tions understand, appreciate, and generously support Christ’s
mission through the Synod. This is in keeping with the
Synod -assigned responsibility of interpreting the synodical
program to its constituency. During the past biennium new
mission information from Central America, Africa, and the
Near East have been incorporated in discussion guides, film
strips, hymn slips, news articles, pamphlets, bulletins, and
the like. This service also supplies congregations with sug-
gestions and directions for utilizing this information in the
most practical manner. With channels of communication
plagued with “overload” and the art of communication grow-