Mission Builders Draw Up Plans for Their Future

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ten congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are getting some help constructing their first church buildings through the ELCA Division for Outreach.  Mission Builders are coming from across the United States to help plan the projects and see them through.
     Twenty-one of the church's 22 construction managers met here Feb. 14-16 for an update on projects for 1997 and plans for the organization's future.  Gary Johnson, Mission Builders director, Tucson, Ariz., told them there is a desperate need for crew members.
     There are about 100 Mission Builders, and Johnson said that's not enough to staff the construction jobs and special projects for 1997.  Builders are usually retired contractors, construction workers or farmers who work for minimum wage building "first units" for ELCA mission congregations.
     "The common thread that runs through Mission Builders is the can-do attitude," he said.  "They think they can do anything, and most of the time they can and do."
     "We're operating on faith.  The jobs are here.  The crews will arrive," said Johnson.
     The ten construction sites for 1997 are:  Resurrection Lutheran Church, Seward, Alaska; Mariposa Lutheran Church, Mariposa, Calif.; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Douglasville, Ga.; Resurrection Lutheran Church, Newnan, Ga.; Bethel Lutheran Church, Cicero, Ind.; Servants of Christ Lutheran Church, Indianapolis; Salem Lutheran Church, Longville, Minn.; American Lutheran Church, Lincoln, Neb.; Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; and Christus Lutheran Church, Appleton, Wis.
     Mission Builders has also agreed to repair buildings at Shishmaref Lutheran Church, Shishmaref, Alaska, and Nazareth Lutheran Church, Cruz Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
     "We've had an inquiry from an abandoned Indian children's school in Oklahoma," said Johnson.  "We hope to help them later this fall to build some more cottages for the children there."
     Mission Builders is also building its own future with plans to improve its operation and become financially self-sustaining by the end of the century.
     Johnson said financial independence from church funds will come in two ways -- soliciting donations to the Mission Builders Fund and charging a $1-per-square-foot fee for their services. He said the future fee will probably meet some resistance, but it will amount to less than one percent of the project's total cost.
     Changes to the organization will include establishing construction criteria for future agreements, setting firm deadlines for preparation work and naming regional representatives and pre-construction workers.
     The construction criteria include some of the maximum dimensions for the building and rule out some "experimental" practices and materials.  "It's a matter of knowing our limitations," said Johnson.  "Outside of that we can get in trouble, hurt somebody, have problems, and we're not interested in that."
     A careful eye on the congregation's advance work will be another priority, because a common complaint from the crews has been that they sit around for the first month or so waiting for permits to be approved, Johnson said.  "I'm asking people to be ready in January, if they want to build in the spring."
     A system of regional representatives would present the Mission Builders program to young congregations.  Pre- construction workers could help them get the estimates they'll need to secure financing for their projects.
     Construction managers and their spouses came from 14 states -- Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.
     The Rev. Paul and Ruth Reyelts were chaplains for the weekend meeting.  Mission Builders helped their congregation, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Morganton, Ga., build its church.

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