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ELCA Foundation Legacies November 2004

Stand with Africa: Remain Standing! Efforts continue to banish hunger, withstand HIV/AIDS, and build peace

Working with African people to help them combat the devastating effects of disease and poverty is the focus of ELCA World Hunger Appeal’s Stand with Africa emphasis. Begun as a three-year campaign of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod World Relief, and Lutheran World Relief, Stand With Africa continues in the ELCA as an ongoing emphasis under the theme: Remain Standing!

Recently, nine ELCA communicators traveled to three countries in East Africa—Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia—to view firsthand the work that is being carried out to change and save lives through Stand With Africa and ELCA World Hunger efforts. In Tanzania, the group visited families served by HUYAWA (“Services for Children”), a program of the Northwestern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, and supported in part by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. The program provides relief such as food, clothing, bedding, and medical help, as well as development assistance through educational scholarships, vocational training and legal help for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The group visited children receiving HUYAWA services in their homes. Some of the households are headed by a child, others by a grandparent; some of the children are also HIV positive; all of the households face the challenges of extreme poverty.

In Ethiopia, we visited a food distribution station organized and run by the Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) and supported in part by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal through Lutheran World Federation. Once a month, between 300 and 400 people receive a ration of wheat and corn oil that will supplement their nutrition and keep them from having to sell their assets and leave their homes in search of food.

In Uganda, the group spent a day with the women of the Katosi Women Fishing and Development Association, a project supported by World Hunger Appeal funds through Lutheran World Relief. A six-month ban on fishing in Lake Victoria due to pollution forced the women to diversify their efforts to include farming, raising cows and pigs, and small businesses, including one that sells rope made from beyond-repair fishing nets. The association’s mandatory savings and micro-loan program allows the women to improve their family’s lives with improvements for their homes through water reservoirs, latrines and fuel-efficient wood stoves, and for their farms with animal sheds, wheelbarrows and new crops.

Efforts like these in East Africa, supported by your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and Stand With Africa, are examples of the many efforts across the continent to banish hunger, withstand HIV/AIDS, and build peace. There is much to celebrate: great faith, great hope, and measurable progress. And, too, there is still much to be done. The many who continue to struggle with the devastation of hunger, conflict, and HIV/AIDS are in need of help and encouragement. Your support is vital as the ELCA continues to faithfully live out Christ’s command to reach out to the sick, the hungry, and the poor.

You can make a difference: through your support of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and Stand with Africa, vital ministries can grow to combat the problems of hunger, disease, and poverty. Your gift to the ELCA World Hunger Fund Endowment leaves a legacy that continues to fight hunger at home and around the world. To make a gift or for more information, contact Nathan Ruby, associate director—ELCA World Hunger Appeal, at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970, e-mail: nathan.ruby@elca.org

Find pictures, devotions, music, and more from the East Africa trip at www.elca.org/hunger/stories/EastAfrica.html Learn more about the ELCA World Hunger Appeal at www.elca.org/hunger

The Fund for Leaders in Mission: Support New Leaders, St. John’s Lutheran Church creates endowed scholarship

Urgent and growing opportunities to proclaim the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ have called the ELCA to make identifying, nurturing and sending forth a new generation of leaders a key strategic initiative. Gifted women and men discern their call to seminary-trained leadership in many ways. However, most of those who pursue ordained and rostered lay ministry identify significant ways in which their congregation nurtures them as they respond to that call, including providing financial support of their theological education.

A growing number of congregations throughout the ELCA are responding to the church’s call to raise up a new generation of leaders by participating in the Fund for Leaders in Mission seminary scholarship program. St. John’s Lutheran Church in Knoxville, Tennessee recently completed a capital campaign for ministry that will contribute $100,000 to a permanent scholarship endowment within the Fund. The church raised $100,000 toward the endowed scholarship, and that amount was matched with $50,000 from the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation as part of a challenge grant to the Fund for Leaders in Mission. During the period of the Challenge, which is in effect until August 31, 2005, every $2 given to the fund is matched with $1 from the Thrivent Foundation to a maximum of $1 million.

St. John’s campaign, Creating Christ Connections, included three components: Mission Freedom, to reduce debt and free up resources for new ministries; Mission Outreach, to develop partnerships with neighborhood ministries; and Mission Leadership Development, to create an intentional approach to discipleship, based on the understanding of leadership development as a fundamental call. The Mission Leadership Development component of the campaign included $100,000 for the Fund for Leaders in Mission and $150,000 for the Lutheran/Episcopal Campus Ministry Center at the University of Tennessee in recognition of the significant ways in which campus ministry develops future leaders.

“St. John’s has a strong history and deep commitment to developing and encouraging leaders,” says Pastor Steve Misenheimer. Over the past 10 years, five members of St. John’s have been ordained and an additional four college-age members are currently planning to attend seminary. “The congregation has a real willingness to encourage people to learn about and use their God-given gifts,” Pastor Misenheimer says. In addition, members have a strong desire to support people as they prepare for leadership, including a commitment to provide financial support. “We’re aware that the lack of resources can discourage gifted leaders from pursuing preparation for leadership in the church,” he says.

The congregation approaches its ministry and its development of leaders both lay and ordained, within the scriptural emphasis of Ephesians 4:15-16, in which the church promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. Given the opportunities for sharing the good news of the Gospel, “we’ve got to be creative in finding ways to engage people in leadership experiences and encourage them to use their gifts in ministry,” says Pastor Misenheimer.

Help raise up new leaders: The Fund’s goal is to support full tuition assistance to every qualified candidate attending an ELCA seminary with a goal of ordained or rostered lay ministry. Since the first scholarships were awarded in 2000, 98 students have received some level of scholarship assistance for their seminary education, for a total of $1.2 million. You can help the ELCA bring forth and support a new generation of leaders with your gift to the Fund for Leaders in Mission. Between now and August 31, 2005, every $2 of your gift to the Fund will be matched with $1 from the Thrivent Challenge up to $1 million. To make a gift or for more information, contact: Fund for Leaders in Mission, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL  60631, 800/638-3522, ext. 2970 or visit the Fund Web site at www.elca.org/fo/fundforleaders

Leaving a Legacy for Ministry…Receiving through Giving

Matthew 25:40…I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

Giving back is a theme that runs through Marvin Falk’s conversation about his gifts through the ELCA Foundation to numerous ministries. The other theme that peppers his conversation is enthusiasm for the way in which his gifts have provided a number of benefits to him.

Marvin and Marjorie, his wife of 50 years, grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota. After school, Marvin began farming and he and Marjorie married. The Falk’s farmed, had three children and stayed active in First Lutheran Church in Brainerd, where Marvin served in leadership roles and loved to play on the church softball team. In the 80s, the Falks began spending the winter months in Lakeland, Florida, and as their children married they enjoyed the four grandchildren that came along. They stayed active, serving as house parents to children from a local orphanage in Florida for several years, and attended Faith Lutheran Church in Lakeland.

During the years on the farm, the Falks didn’t accumulate many cash assets, but they did accumulate property that appreciated in value. They began considering how they might make a gift to the church and to other charitable organizations they had supported through the years. In the early 80s, they read about the possibility of making a gift through a charitable remainder trust, in which their gift would be made to the church through a trust from which they would receive the income on the principal for life. At their death, the principal in the trust would go to the ministries they had designated. In addition, they would receive significant tax benefits.

“We felt we wanted to give something to the church and then we found out that we could benefit as well!” Marvin says. Through gifts of real estate and stocks, the Falks established three charitable remainder unitrusts with different recipients. “Our first priority was to give something back to the church and to the community,” Marvin says, “but there were also so many advantages for us. We had a very good feeling about it.”

The trusts also proved to be an incredible help when Marjorie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Although Marvin was able to care for her for 10 years at home, she ultimately required specialized nursing care in a residential facility for the last eight years of her life. While the income from the trusts could be used for her care, the principal was protected from depletion, leaving Marvin with assets to depend upon in his remaining years. “The trust protects that principal against catastrophic loss, and the rate of return is greater than ordinary interest rates at banks,” Marvin says.

While the Falks used the charitable remainder unitrust, there are many gift vehicles that allow people to make a gift and receive benefits during their lifetime. “I really think the churches should promote these types of gifts more,” Marvin says.

“It’s important to give back. We were blessed with these gifts in the first place and we need and want to give back. Through these types of gift vehicles, you get the experience of giving back and you’re receiving as well. It’s the greatest thing.”

Real Estate and Your Legacy

If you have a home, farm, or other real estate that you are planning to sell, consider ways in which your property could allow you to make a substantial gift to ELCA ministries. Gifts of real estate can be a significant way to remember your favorite ELCA ministries. Your home, condo, duplex, rental property, farm or undeveloped real estate can make a wonderful gift to benefit ELCA ministries, including your congregation and other ELCA ministries that are important to you.

On behalf of any ELCA affiliated ministry, the ELCA Foundation accepts environmentally-clean, real property for outright gifts, life estate or charitable remainder unitrusts.

For more information, you can visit the ELCA Foundation Web site at www.elca.org/fo/realestate.html or contact the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970.

Giving Through Stock

Do you or members of your congregation have stocks or other appreciated securities that have grown in value? Are you looking for ways to remember ministries of the church with a charitable gift…and receive tax benefits?

Consider a gift of stock, mutual funds, or other securities. Through this type of gift, you can give more to ministries of the church than you originally invested and take a deduction for the current market value on the date of the gift.

To take a deduction for gifts of securities at their current value, you must have owned them for at least one year and a day. Such gifts are deductible up to 30 percent of your adjusted gross income in the year of the gift.

The ELCA Foundation can assist with gifts of stock for all ministries of the church. You can transfer securities into an ELCA account and we will distribute to ministries you name. So, in one transfer you can make gifts to your local congregation, your synod, and churchwide ministries such as World Hunger Appeal and the Fund for Leaders in Mission.

For more information on how you can give stock for the benefit of ELCA ministries, contact the ELCA Foundation at 800/638-3522, ext. 2970 or e-mail shawn.greene@elca.org

End of Legacies November, 2004  issue