Title: ELCA Bishops Hear Positive Financial Report for Fiscal 2001
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 15, 2002

ELCA BISHOPS HEAR POSITIVE FINANCIAL REPORT FOR FISCAL 2001
02-049-JB

     VANCOUVER, B.C. (ELCA) -- Current operating fund income exceeded
expenses by $3.3 million in fiscal year 2001 for the churchwide
organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said
Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, in a report to the ELCA
Conference of Bishops.
     Receipts to the ELCA churchwide organization totaled $86.5 million
in current operating funds for the fiscal year which ended Jan. 31,
2002, while expenses totaled $83.2 million for the same period, said
Jackson-Skelton. Both figures were up nearly 2 percent from one year
ago.
     Jackson-Skelton, who became treasurer Feb. 1 following her
election by the ELCA Church Council, made her first report to the
Conference of Bishops. The ELCA bishops met here March 7-12 at the
invitation of the bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
     The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body to the church.
Its members include the church's 65 synod bishops, ELCA presiding bishop
and ELCA secretary.
     Receipts exceeded the budget forecast by $1.5 million, while
expenses were below budget by nearly $1.9 million, Jackson-Skelton said
in her report. Income from synods in the form of mission support was
$69.5 million, virtually unchanged from one year ago, she said.
     A significant factor in the church's positive showing was $5.1
million in income from bequests and trusts.
     "Overall, we felt very good about how we closed the year, and we
had a strong December and January," Jackson-Skelton said.
     ELCA members gave $10.8 million to ELCA Disaster Response funds,
well over the $2 million contributed in the previous fiscal year.
Nearly $7 million was designated for disaster response efforts of the
church following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States,
the ELCA treasurer reported.
     Financial gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal totaled $15.6
million, down from $15.9 million contributed one year ago. Gifts to
"Stand With Africa" totaled nearly $329,000.
Stand With Africa is a three-year campaign that focuses on HIV/AIDS,
food security, and peace and reconciliation. It is coordinated by the
ELCA World Hunger Program, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) World
Relief, and Lutheran World Relief, the overseas relief and development
agency of the ELCA and LCMS.



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