and he was re-elected too.
He had to start five rump congregations to replace
ones fleeing his tender mercies and gay agenda.
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 21, 2010
ELCA Leaders to Revise 2010 Churchwide Budget, to Create Restructuring Plan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will prepare a revised 2010 budget and spending plan for consideration in August, and they will create a plan to restructure the churchwide organization in 2011 in response to continuing declines in income, said the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration, in a June 21 e-mail to churchwide staff.
Bullock wrote that the churchwide organization's Administrative Team, the Cabinet of Executives, ELCA Church Council, the ELCA Conference of Bishops and other partners will work with the presiding bishop and staff on the restructuring plan.
In her message to staff, Bullock wrote that she wanted "to inform you of challenges we are facing related to the work of the churchwide organization as we move forward in mission with decreased financial resources. I also want to let you know how we plan to respond to those changes."
"As of the end of May, mission support income continues to decline," Bullock wrote. "You may recall that mission support represents approximately 80 percent of our churchwide organization's general operating budget." Mission support is income sent by congregations through synods to the churchwide organization.
"We anticipate preparing a revised 2010 budget and spending plan for action by the ELCA Church Council at its August meeting. The reduced budget plan will incorporate the underspending plan already implemented earlier this year," she wrote. The council will meet by conference call Aug. 4, she said.
"As we plan for 2011, given the depth of the changes necessary, we will be creating a plan to restructure the churchwide organization to align our work with anticipated income," Bullock wrote.
"Over the past 12-18 months we have faced significant changes in the churchwide organization. We are also mindful that challenges are being faced by synods, congregations, institutions, agencies and ecumenical partners. I continue to be thankful for your partnership and commitment to serve this church. Our prayers for one another and this church are needed as we walk together in the days ahead," she added.
She explained that the reasons for the income declines include a 30-year trend in declining revenues, the struggling U.S. economy and declines in congregational income due to the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly's decisions on human sexuality.
Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, said in an April 30 report that declines in mission support income in 56 of the ELCA's 65 synods, compared to the first quarter of 2009, "merits careful attention."
"The annual mission support budget for 2010 was reduced by $4.6 million or 7.7 percent from the amount received in 2009," Jackson-Skelton's report said. "The decline of 12.5 percent in the first quarter 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 exceeds the rate anticipated in the budget proposal and is unfavorable to budget by 3.5 percent."
Jackson-Skelton added that in 35 synods, mission support at the end of April was down by more than 10 percent compared to the same period in 2009.
The churchwide organization began its 2010 fiscal year with a current fund spending authorization of $69.3 million, including $55.1 million in mission support funds.
I love the smell of compost in the morning.
***
GJ - Unfortunately, ELCA is making everyone look wise, prosperous, and confessional.
WELS and Missouri should be saying, "This is where we will be in a few years."
I never expected a migration out of ELCA by entire congregations. Even less did I think bishops would leave. Too bad some of you did not lay bets with me. I would have bet a million that Ken Sauer would never leave, and he is a leader!
I need Scott Jungen's prophesy stone.
Bishop Gary is blowing up his district and getting re-elected to do more. See a pattern?
Deputy Doug Englebrecht was also re-elected.
This just in - Pope John the Malefactor was elected to another term. The Little Sect on the Prairie remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of Church and Change.
