Some of you know that my two sons, Bergen and Leif, are now enrolled in seminary; Bergen at Luther in St. Paul, MN, and Leif at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, IL. It has been so enjoyable for me to hear of their experiences as it has been quite some time since I was in "Pastor School" myself, way back in the 80's at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, IA.
I want to use this week's pondering to catch you up on a big five-year fundraising goal that our national denomination, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has been undertaking, and they'll be completing by 2019. It is called "Always Being Made New: the Campaign for the ELCA."
It has a couple of different goals, but the first that I'll mention is to create a "Fund for Leaders" by raising $15 million to help encourage students to enter into a seminary education without going too much further into student debt. Wow! That part of the program has already been put to good use, and my family is proof since both boys have been greatly assisted in paying for their seminary education. This new "Fund for Leaders" is a huge blessing to the wider church and I am very proud of our ELCA. They have met their goal for this program ahead of schedule and are giving all kinds of tremendous boosts to people willing to pursue the training it takes to become a pastor. Enrollments are up, and new students are being given great financial assistance in becoming pastors. There is excitement and good energy buzzing through our ELCA seminaries.
But that's not the only goal. The Young Adults in Global Mission was given the finances it needed to grow its program by 48% such that 93 young adults were involved in the 2017-2018 year of service (including a son of this congregation, Erik Olson). Family of Christ actually participated in this part of the overall campaign with donations. Another goal was hunger ministries. Giving to World Hunger was boosted by 15% so that 2017 saw the largest year of direct giving in that program's entire history. We Lutherans support 518 projects to fight hunger in 62 countries - and again, Family of Christ participated in this part of the overall campaign.
Another emphasis was to provide funding to help congregations renew and retool their ministries, and so far 26 such grants have been given, though the goal is to have many more than that. Yet another emphasis is to grow the highly rated and very compassionate "Lutheran Disaster Response" so that it is ever more effective in reaching out to victims of fire, hurricane, flooding, and other crises. Further ministries to be funded include reducing Malaria, Global Ministries & Missionaries, Disability Ministries, and international promotion of Women Leaders.
The overall goal was to raise $198 million and as of this past June, they have reached the $158 million mark. This represents 80% of the goal. We will continue to be a part of this huge campaign through our donations to World Hunger Appeal and Lutheran Disaster Response. The ELCA has one year to go and a real good chance of reaching a goal that at first, many thought impossible. Yay, and go Lutherans! Generosity is a hallmark of discipleship, both in our personal lives, in our congregation's life, and in our denomination's efforts. To learn even more about all of this, go to
elca.org/campaign
.
And as one of the ELCA's pastors, I share a thank you to Family of Christ for the ways your giving effects lives far beyond the walls of our church building.
Blessings to you all as we PLUG IN to ministry and activity this fall.
