Title: Lutherans Learn Key Stewardship Strategies, Share Ideas
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 17, 2000

LUTHERANS LEARN KEY STEWARDSHIP STRATEGIES, SHARE IDEAS
00-033-JB

     LISLE, ILL. (ELCA)   Successful stewardship in the church must be
mission- and vision-focused and requires constant attention and hard
work.  Those were some of the ideas expressed as Lutheran stewardship
leaders met here Feb. 3-6 to learn about stewardship in its broader
context.
     Under the theme "Stewardship at the Heart of the Church," the
leaders' conference was sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America's (ELCA) Division for Congregational Ministries.  It drew 190
participants, including staff from the churchwide office, synods and
congregations of the ELCA, and volunteers.
     The purpose was to bring the leaders together for fellowship,
training and learning about stewardship, said the Rev. Michael L. Meier,
director for leadership development, ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries.
     "One of the challenges we have is to help the whole church
understand stewardship in a deeper and broader way," he said.
Stewardship includes gathering funds to support the church's ministries,
and it encompasses a person's activities at home, in the neighborhood,
at work and at church, Meier said.
       "All of these people are involved in networks where they teach
and model living the life of a faithful steward with lots of emphasis on
education, fellowship, encouraging growth and leadership development,"
Meier added.
     One speaker, Mark Dollhopf, certified fundraising executive,
Branford, Conn., discussed  giving patterns and fund-raising methods.
Stewardship involves responsibility and accountability by which each
person returns thanks for God's gifts, he said.  Development is a
program of planned or systematic growth in which an institution reaches
out to its constituents and motivates them to give, Dollhopf said.  Many
churches need to improve resource development, he said.
     "Stewardship is the ideal to which we strive, as well as to
teach," Dollhopf said. "Development is a way to accomplish stewardship."
     "We fall short as resource developers when we fail to inspire
people to give," he said.  Dollhopf said congregations need resource
developers to plant seeds and work with stewardship directors.
     Pastors and bishops are chief fund-raisers for their church
organizations, he said. "They must know how to plan, invest people in
the mission and inspire them to give," Dollhopf said, however, neither
may be the best person to ask specific people for significant financial
gifts.
     Focus on mission and vision in the church is critical, he said.
Successful churches focus on the mission for the benefit of people
outside the congregation, Dollhopf said.
     "This is hard work," he said. "This is ongoing work.  People
succeed when there is creative, energizing conversation with people in
the pew."
     Key speakers also focused on stewardship in its biblical,
historical and everyday contexts.
     Stewardship is at "the heart of the Bible," said the Rev. Sarah
Henrich, associate professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn.
     "How we tend to the work of peace, justice and mercy with what we
have been given is the whole question of stewardship," she said.
     In a Bible study, Henrich cited stewardship references in Genesis,
the Psalms, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans and the Gospel of John.
John 21:15-17, which discusses love for Jesus, is an important lesson
for stewards, Henrich said.
     "Loving Jesus has very strong, practical, real-life implications,"
she said. "People expect the love of Jesus in the feeding and being fed.
That's what we're talking about in this conference."
     Stewardship is the work of Christ in the world outside the
institution of the church, said Dr. Claire Wolfteich, assistant
professor of practical theology and spiritual formation, Boston
University.  A person's identity and his or her vocation are closely
related, she added.
     "The workplace is a tremendous place for mission," Wolfteich said.
"That, I think, is an important area for stewardship."
     Wolfteich said she is interested in the changing roles of women in
the workplace.  A woman's workplace experience may influence church
activities and vice versa, Wolfteich said.
     "Stewardship is about spirituality in life and cannot exist
without it," she said.
     Martin Luther spoke openly about stewardship and financial issues,
said Dr. Carter Lindberg, professor of church history, Boston University
School of Theology.
     "Everything in Luther's theology is the theology of stewardship,"
Lindberg said. "He had no qualms about speaking about money because
money had a place in discipleship.  Stewardship in Luther's sense is
all-encompassing.  It involves everything."
     Lindberg also said Luther put a strong emphasis on "the common
good."
     "With this orientation, all of life can be seen as stewardship, as
in serving the neighbor," he said. "The gifts and capabilities you have
can serve others."
     Lita Brusick Johnson, director of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal,
said the ELCA Conference of Bishops last year raised the possibility of
doubling annual giving to the appeal from its present $12.6 million to
$25 million.  Last year was the Appeal's 25th anniversary, and gifts
increased $2.5 million over 1998, she said.
     "This will be a wonderful path to double giving," she said.
     In concluding remarks, the Rev. Mark R. Moller-Gunderson,
executive director and coordinator for mission support, ELCA Division
for Congregational Ministries, thanked the stewardship staff and
volunteers.
     "There are many, many healthy hearts in the church," he said. "We
can thank God for that.  There are lots of healthy places with healthy
hearts."


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