Lutheran Services In America is Born

     MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) was born here April 18, creating one of the largest organizations of housing, counseling, child care, adoption, refugee resettlement, disaster response, health care, nursing home, hospice and AIDS ministries in the United States and Caribbean.  About 280 social ministry organizations operating in about 3,000 locations joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the corporate partnership.
     LSA was born during a one-hour business session at the heart of the Association of Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations (ALSMO) spring conference April 17-20.  "Technically the same organization exists with a new name, new members, new rules and new colors," said the Rev. Nelson C. Meyer, president of Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, Columbus, Ohio.
     Meyer had been president of ALSMO.  LSA elected him chairman of its board of directors.
     ALSMO membership included 154 Lutheran social ministry organizations.  LSA includes all social ministry organizations affiliated with the ELCA or recognized by the LCMS.  LSA membership also includes the two church bodies through direct representation on its board of directors.
     "Social ministry organizations and the church bodies are at the same table," said the Rev. Carl H. Toelke Jr., LCMS director of social ministry organizations, St. Louis. "They're sitting at the same table, carrying out the same plans, looking at the same mission.  That's the beauty of it."
     The social ministry organizations elect nine of the 18 board members; the ELCA appoints six members; and the LCMS names three. The ELCA has 5.2 million members; and the LCMS has 2.6 million.
     Another change in the rules is that Lutheran social ministries will be charged dues -- similar to those ALSMO assessed according to an agency's operating budget -- to be affiliated with or recognized by a church body.
     "Only about 20 percent of the total financial income of LSA in its first year are those membership dues.  The rest are the contributions of the church," said Joanne Negstad, LSA's president and CEO, St. Paul, Minn.  She had been ALSMO's executive director.
     LSA's budget for 1997-98 lists $926,514 of income.  About $260,000 will come from dues, fees and investments.  The churches make up the difference with cash and in-kind support.  The ELCA will share six staff members and $145,000 in cash for a $519,590 total.  The LCMS will share one staff member and $80,000 for a $146,924 total.

     The LSA budget is a hint of the operation it represents, said Negstad.  "We serve two million people a year.  That's no small city.  That's larger than this whole metropolitan area of Milwaukee.  We spend $2.8 billion a year doing that," she said.
     "In long-term care, 25 percent of the nursing beds in the country are connected with our Lutheran system.  We have 45,000 beds," Negstad said.
     The "new colors" of LSA will publicize the work of Lutheran social ministries.  "We Lutherans have been shy too long, and we're going to be shy no more," said Negstad.  That will mean a higher profile in the churches, among other charity organizations and in advocacy with government.
     Meyer unveiled LSA's new logo.  At the center is a cross that "ties us together."  To its left is a heart "for compassion," and to the right is a leaf.  "The leaf says we're gardeners.  We expect this plot of ground to grow something," he said.  The words "Lutheran Services in America" arc over the symbols like an umbrella.  "An umbrella allows us to go out and to face the elements," Meyer added.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html