FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ELCA) -- Income to the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) exceeded expenses in 1999 by $2.1 million in current operating funds, said Richard L. McAuliffe, ELCA treasurer. McAuliffe reported results of the fiscal year ending Jan. 31 to the ELCA Conference of Bishops' spring meeting here March 2-7.
Receipts totaled $82.7 million for fiscal 1999, with related expenses at $80.6 million, McAuliffe said. Income from congregations through synods totaled $68 million, up from $66.7 million the previous fiscal year, he said. Financial giving to the churchwide organization increased in 54 of the ELCA's 65 synods. McAuliffe called the increase "remarkable" and thanked the bishops for their "leadership in stewardship."
Contributions to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal in 1999 were $16 million, up $3.5 million from the previous year, the ELCA treasurer said. Giving to the ELCA Disaster Response fund last year was $6 million, compared to $5.4 million in 1998.
In his report to the Conference of Bishops, the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, called the ELCA's Companion Synod program "the absolute pinnacle" of what the church has done in evangelism. The program matches ELCA synods as partners with specific Lutheran churches in other parts of the world.
The ELCA has sent hundreds of missionaries and volunteers to other countries, Anderson said, and companion synods have sent representatives from those countries to the United States and Caribbean.
Anderson said there is strong support among ELCA and companion synod members for Jubilee 2000, a campaign to eliminate international debt in the world's most impoverished countries.
The ELCA has increased its membership of people of color, he said, but it did not achieve its membership goal of 10 percent people of the color by 1998, Anderson said.
"We can show increase in all ethnic categories," he said. "We have a good way to go," he added.
Anderson and the synod bishops also expressed thanks to seven bishops whose terms will end this year and have announced they will retire. They are the Rev. John C. Beem, bishop of the ELCA East-Central Synod of Wisconsin, Appleton; the Rev. James E. Bennett, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, San Antonio; the Rev. Mark B. Herbener, bishop of the ELCA Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod, Dallas; the Rev. Robert L. Isaksen, bishop of the ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Mass.; the Rev. Richard N. Jessen, bishop of the ELCA Nebraska Synod, Omaha; the Rev. George P. Mocko, bishop of the ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod, Baltimore; and the Rev. Alton Zenker, bishop of the ELCA Central-Southern Illinois Synod, Springfield.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
