Title: ELCA Vision for Mission Helps Change Lives Around the World
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 15, 2001
ELCA VISION FOR MISSION HELPS CHANGE LIVES AROUND THE WORLD
01-120-MR
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 5.15 million members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) give top priority to helping change
lives for the better in the United States and around the world. One way
individuals and congregations make that happen is by supporting Vision
for Mission, an annual offering designed to support the church's
domestic and global mission.
The ELCA has been able to train teachers in Tanzania, support a
seminary in Madagascar, train care-givers in Namibia, and drill wells in
Nigeria, in part by gifts to Vision for Mission, according to Kathleen
Hetland, coordinator, Vision for Mission, ELCA Division for
Congregational Ministries.
Since 1988, 328 new congregations have been organized in the
United States, which now have a baptized membership of more than 80,000
members, with the help of Vision for Mission, she said.
The offering provides an opportunity for members of the church "to
make gifts over and above regular congregational giving," said Hetland.
Established by the 1993 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Vision for Mission is
designed "to support domestic and global mission through celebrative
giving," she said.
As of 2000, contributions to Vision for Mission totaled more than
$8 million. "Contributors to Vision for Mission have a big heart for
what the church does," Hetland said.
An endowment of $4.25 million for Vision for Mission is maintained
by the ELCA Foundation. The endowment will help provide financial
support in the development of new churches in the United States in
partnership with the ELCA Division for Outreach; support worldwide
ministries with the ELCA Division for Global Mission; and develop
evangelism resources through the ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries.
Through Vision for Mission, members of the ELCA have also been
able to promote basic human rights around the world through the Division
for Global Mission and other churchwide divisions; support ELCA
companion synod relationships that link some of the ELCA's 65 synods
with Lutheran churches around the world; and help congregations and
families cope with the U.S. farm crisis by assisting small town and
rural congregations with strategic planning.
In a letter to contributors of Vision for Mission, the Rev. H.
George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, said, "If we were face-to-
face, I would tell you about the places where I've seen this mission
work first hand -- in new congregations embracing diverse ethnic and
cultural groups and all economic classes, and in the faces of fellow
Lutherans from Slovakia to Namibia, hungry for the gospel Word."
Vision for Mission materials, sent to individual members and
congregations of the ELCA every year, include bulletin announcements,
newsletter articles and vignettes, a poster, suggested hymns and
prayers, and "Live the Vision" offering packets and envelopes. The
third Sunday in May is designated as the day to launch the Vision for
Mission Annual Churchwide Offering, although "other dates can be
chosen," said Hetland.
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Information about Vision for Mission is maintained at
www.elca.org/dcm/stewardship/vision/background.html on the ELCA Web
site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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