ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 27, 2005

Lutheran Men in Mission Takes First Steps in Three-Year Plans
05-204-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The first meeting of the Lutheran Men in
Mission (LMM) board after the 2005 LMM Assembly and Gathering was
a time of orientation and planning. Many of the board's four
officers and nine regional representatives were new to their
three-year positions when they met here Oct. 21-23. They began
planning the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), for the next three years, around the
organization's three emphases: resources, events and young men's
ministry.
     The regional representatives agreed to contact at least one
representative, in each of the ELCA's 65 synods, who will take
responsibility for distributing almost 90 Bibles, to men in 15
congregations, in the first months of 2006. Each "Master
Builders Bible for Men" includes Bible study helps and a "Men's
Ministry Leaders Supplement" -- step-by-step guidelines LMM
developed for starting or reviving a men's ministry in a
congregation.
     "Part of our three-year plan includes distribution of Bibles
this year to a thousand congregations," said Heber Rast, Cameron,
S.C., LMM president.
     "We are going to target congregations that do not currently
have a men's ministry and give about five to six Bibles to men's
leaders in those congregations to help them start small-group
Bible study, which hopefully will lead into activation or re-
activation of men's ministry in their congregations," Rast said.
     The Bibles "come with a cost, and that cost is that they use
them to do Bible study, to do men's ministry. Hopefully they
will see fit to become participants and supporters of Lutheran
Men in Mission," Rast said. "There is no monetary cost for these
first Bibles," he said.
     LMM has been engaged in some form of Bible distribution
since 1999. Rast noted that additional copies of the "Master
Builders Bible for Men" are available for purchase through
Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
     "A lot of our resources will be tied in with what our young
men are doing," Rast said. LMM's Young Men's Leadership Council
is working with the Youth and Family Institute, Bloomington,
Minn., to develop materials for boys and young men, he said. The
institute is an independent Lutheran non-profit corporation that
was related to Augsburg College, Minneapolis, one of the ELCA's
28 colleges and universities.
     "Coming of Age: Exploring the Identity and Spirituality of
Younger Men" will be released by Augsburg Fortress around the
first of the year, Rast said. The book summarizes the findings
of an LMM-sponsored study involving interviews with men ages 18
to 40 about their faith, relationships and the church.
     The LMM board evaluated the 2005 Assembly and Gathering held
July 21-22 and July 22-24 in North Charleston, S.C. It also met
with Les Robbins, who is coordinating local arrangements for the
next assembly and gathering, July 31-Aug. 1 and Aug. 1-3, 2008,
at the Qwest Center Omaha, Omaha, Neb.
     "We also hope to have some area events on a smaller scale
between now and the next major gathering in Omaha," Rast said.

Financial and Structural Independence
     Delegates to the LMM 2005 assembly approved a three-year
plan that will culminate in the organization's financial
independence and a close relationship with the church. The
transition coincides with a restructuring process for the ELCA's
churchwide organization.
     LMM received financial assistance through the ELCA Division
for Congregational Ministries. That assistance will be phased
out by 2008.
     The LMM assembly asked that the "LMM board pursue an
independent corporate structure that provides for optimal
ministry to men in the congregations and communities that
surround them." Another resolution accepted a "Building for the
Future" challenge.
     At the LMM board meeting "we did some planning on how we are
going to implement our Building for the Future campaign, which is
the big push for our endowment fund," Rast said.
     "The goal is to match a $500,000 gift two-for-one. We want
to immediately get $500,000 in cash gifts for our endowment fund
and another $500,000 in deferred giving," he said.
     "We have chosen 40 leaders, and they are to go out and
recruit five to seven more men and form a basic grass-roots
committee of 200," Rast said. The campaign will build from the
contacts those 200 men will make, he said.
     LMM board members met with the Rev. Charles S. Miller,
executive for administration, ELCA Office of the Presiding
Bishop, to discuss the place of the men's organization in the
ELCA's new churchwide structure.
     "We are going to put together a paper which basically
summarizes who we are, where we have been, what we're about and
what some of our goals and expectations are for the future," Rast
said. That paper is to be ready for presentation in April 2006
to the ELCA Church Council, the ELCA's board of directors.
     Rast said LMM is striving for independence while maintaining
a strong, healthy relationship with the ELCA. "We are
contemplating that this would give us a little more visibility
throughout the church" as a viable part of the church "that can
stand on its own two feet and contribute to the church," he said.
-- -- --
     The home page for Lutheran Men in Mission is at
http://www.ELCA.org/LMM/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news