ELCA NEWS SERVICE April 29, 2004 Lutherans Strive to Raise $1.75 million for 'Vision for Mission' 04-083-MR CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will strive to raise $1.75 million this year for "Vision for Mission," a special offering designated to support the church's domestic and global ministries. "Vision for Mission offers an annual opportunity for members of the church to give above and beyond their regular mission support through their congregations," said Nancy Snell, director for stewardship and mission giving, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries. "It sustains all churchwide ministries," such as starting new congregations across the country and supporting mission personnel overseas, she said. May 16 has been designated "Vision for Mission Sunday," said Snell. On that day, or any other time of the year, congregations will take a special offering, she said. To help prepare, congregations received offering materials including bulletin inserts, envelopes, posters, a "pastor packet" and information sheets about some of the ELCA's stewardship and outreach efforts. In 2002 total "member giving" was about $2.5 billion, up 1.7 percent from 2001, Snell said. But "regular mission support," money passed from congregations through the 65 synods of the church to the churchwide organization, decreased by 1.7 percent last year, she said. To help draw attention to mission support, Vision for Mission and its income goal of $1.75 million, the ELCA's magazine -- The Lutheran -- has devoted its entire May 2004 issue to giving and its impact on churchwide ministry. "It is important to give thanks to our members for their generosity and to tell stories of churchwide ministries," what they are and their impact on people's lives, said Snell. She said a goal of stewardship and magazine staff "is to get The Lutheran magazine in the hands of all active members of the church, so that they can learn both how the ELCA engages in mission and ministry and how the magazine works to connect individual members with the church at large." In a letter to congregations, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said "a generous contribution" to the ELCA Vision for Mission annual offering enables members to affirm their "commitment to being part of a church that, by the grace of God, is claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the world." Established by the 1993 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Vision for Mission allows for direct support from individual members and congregations of the ELCA through gifts used for current operations or for an endowment. More than $1 million was collected for Vision for Mission in 2003. An endowment of about $4.6 million for the Herbert W. Chilstrom Vision for Mission Endowment Fund is maintained by the ELCA Foundation. The endowment provides financial support for the development of new congregations in the United States in partnership with the ELCA Division for Outreach, supports worldwide ministries with the ELCA Division for Global Mission and develops evangelism resources through the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries. Chilstrom was elected first presiding bishop of the ELCA in 1987 and re-elected in 1991; he retired in 1995. _ _ _ Information about the annual Vision for Mission offering is available at http://www.elca.org/dcm/stewardship/vision.html on the Internet. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news