ELCA's Finances - The Canary in the Coal Mine

Christina Jackson-Skelton has served as ELCA treasurer since February 2002. She will begin a new position as executive director for the Mission Advancement unit on Sept. 1.

“Since I last addressed the assembly, we have gone through a difficult financial period for this church, but I am pleased to begin by reporting that the churchwide organization completed fiscal years 2009 and 2010 with revenue exceeding expense in its current budgeted operations,” she shared with the Churchwide Assembly.

As part of her report, Christina shared slides that contained condensed highlights of financial results. Here’s some highlights of the treasurer’s report:

Total revenue available for current operations decreased from $76.5 million in 2009 to $66.8 million in 2010 – a negative variance of $9.8 million or 12.8 percent, she said.

Operating expenses of approximately $64.2 million in 2010 reflect a decrease of $8.4 million from 2009. These expenses were favorable to the operating budget in both years, meaning expenses were kept within the approved spending level.

“Revenue minus expense resulted in a positive variance of approximately $3.9 million in 2009 and $2.6 million in 2010. Net revenue in excess of expense – a positive bottom line – is important to us financially because it maintains cash reserves, assures sufficient liquidity and covers capital expenditure needs. Careful budgeting, contingency planning and controlled spending have been essential over the past three years in order to maintain a positive balance of income to expense,” she said.

Mission support income – the unrestricted income from congregations through synods to the churchwide organization – declined from $59.7 million in 2009 to $52.6 million in 2010, a negative variance of $7.1 million or 11.8 percent.

“Mission support is the foundation upon which the churchwide operating budget is built, representing almost 80 percent of total current fund revenue in any given year,” she said.

All other categories of revenue, representing the remaining 20 percent of total revenue available for current operations, decreased from $16.8 million in 2009 to $14.1 million in 2010.

A pie chart on revenue illustrated that the percentage of income received in 2010 by major source featured that mission support represented approximately 79 percent of current revenue available for budgeted expenses in 2010. Other major sources of current revenue included missionary sponsorship, endowment distributions, bequests and trust income, Vision for Mission appeal, the Mission Investment Fund, grants, investment income and other.

Following four years of consecutive increases in ELCA World Hunger (which is not part of the current operating revenue and expense), 2009 and 2010 income was down, with 2010 closing at $17.7 million, a decrease of $1.8 million from 2009. “Some of the prior increases were driven by extraordinarily high levels of gifts from bequests and trusts for ELCA World Hunger – beyond what would be considered a sustainable budget level,” Christina said.

With ELCA World Hunger income down in the first three quarters of 2010 and critical program support at risk, a call went out to church leaders and through ELCA networks and you, the church, responded, resulting in all-time best for December ELCA World Hunger income, so that the year closed down, but considerably better than earlier projections with vital program support protected, the treasurer said.

Bishop Martin Stephan Forum Linked

I have linked the Bishop Martin Stephan Forum with the blog URLs. The Stephan book, which I have read, is quite illuminating about the origins of Missouri Lutherans. 

 

The Stephan migration was organized by a Halle Pietist, including his mistresses and two kidnapped children on the passenger list, but not Mrs. Stephan. She stayed home.

Here is an early account of the society's many scandals, which were not exactly a secret.
Synods are the product of their histories. The LCMS presents a fantasy as its history and denounces any factual accounts. For instance, the Stephan website is managed by a self-described lesbian. But the issue remains - is the material factual or not?

Here is an honesty test for Walther's heirs. Everyone should read the LCMS-ELS-WELS accounts of the current ELCA convention. Gape in awe as all three church bodies mourn the sad decline of ELCA, even though all three sects work with ELCA, pay ELCA money, and repeat ELCA's bromides about homosexuality.

Pope John the Malefactor - A Grabau Disciple

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Loehe Gets a Hall at Ft. Wayne, But Who Is Grabau?...":

If anyone is a disciple of Grabau it would be ELS President Moldstad who violently usurped Christ's authority and maliciously undermined Pastor Preus' ministry and eventually had him removed from the Pastoral office.

I was mocked by ELS Pastor Dalke for describing the heinous actions of President Moldstad as violent.

After a little research I produced the following quote which I believe vindicates my use of the adjective and condemns the apathy shown by the ELS clergy.

(C.F.W. Walther’s article posted in Der Lutheraner, 1867), “As our readers know, Pastor Grabau shamefully dismissed and expelled his former so-called 'Deacon' (Diakonus), Pastor Hochstetter, from his office when he no longer wanted to allow himself merely to be Grabau's compliant slave. Grabau himself dismissed Hochstetter with no "appearance of right," without any due process, simply by the brutal authority of his trustees whom he urged on and mislead into such action. This was all the more shameful because earlier Pastor Grabau himself had battled against this sort of thing as if against a barbarism when the Trustees here in America had ventured to establish and dismiss pastors, to open and close churches, to promise church property according to their own wishes to this or that party that pleased them, and in addition to misuse the authority given to them thorough the civil laws in several of our states. Pastor Grabau, who earlier apparently battled for the holiness of the preaching office, committed a horrendous crime against a sacred thing, a robbery of the church, when against all right he carried out this violent expulsion of a Christian preacher, a minister of Christ and His church. It appears to him also, now that the deed is done, not to have been an especially praiseworthy thing to do. It seems his conscience accused him and bit at him and the thought came to him that he had revealed and branded himself before the entire church, indeed, before the entire world to be an enemy of all divine and Christian order (wherever these stand in the way of his plans and especially of his desire to rule).

In light of Walther's own history this also seems self condemning.

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GJ - The ELS condemned itself by re-electing the Mankato Mauler. One early writer in American Lutheranism said this about removing a pastor, paraphrased - There are three valid reasons to remove a minister:

1. Failure to do his pastoral duties.
2. Leading a scandalous life.
3. Teaching false doctrine.

However, he also cautioned that when valid reasons are provided, there must be due process, to avoid the papal actions of a Moldstad or the supine attitude of a Little Sect on the Prairie.

WELS DP Buchholz bragged that he could remove any pastor at any time, by fiat. His predecessor did that eight times. Somehow all the Church and Change Shrinkers survived, as they have under Buchholz.

The same disgusting violence has been used against various laity recently, no longer kept as a secret, as the evil and corrupt leaders used to command.

Name a Shrinker leader and I will show how he prospered under the leadership of SP Mark Schroeder and Jon Buchholz. Kelm? Gunn? Witte?

29A wrote: "I remember my mother was never treated right by these clowns. They are like Luther said they destroy men's souls."

Loehe Gets a Hall at Ft. Wayne, But Who Is Grabau?

narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "Hoosier Daddy":

Thanks for the Loehe articles. Were it not for a hall named after him at Ft. Wayne, who would know anything about him? On the other hand, the mere mention of Walther's name results in mass prostrations in the LCMS.

There's not much info on the web regarding Grabau/Buffalo. Were they theologically solid? The only info I can find is the bad-mouthing for episcopal polity (Hint: Hyper-Euro).

The life of Grabau can be found here. He is identified with the Buffalo Synod, which merged into the old ALC of 1930 (Iowa, Ohio, Buffalo merger). 
People will enjoy reading more about the Buffalo Synod. Here is more information.

More about the old synods can be found here.
 
Buffalo is probably most influential as a foil for Missouri's attitude about the ministry, carried over into WELS. Seeing these controversies at a distance, one is reminded of cardboard cut-outs on sticks, each one flailing away at the other. Many would be happy to be in the old Buffalo Synod today. Instead they find the Syn Conference a pathetic imitation of Willow Creek. Walther went out of his way to alienate other Lutherans and denounce them, but that worked so well in the past for him, in getting rid of Bishop Stephan.

Next I will be identified as a Loehe fan or Grabau disciple. That is the contentious spirit that Walther bequeathed to his sect and its imitators. If I quote Lenski, who is still a favorite exegete across synod lines, I "worship Lenksi."

Walther earns the credit for the toxic legalism of the Syn Conference, especially in its remnants. The CLC (sic) worries that the American Legion is a church, so no one can be a member of the American Legion. Incest is not a problem, but the American Legion is anathema. Likewise, Thrivent is bad - unless one belongs to a big congregation that enjoys Thrivent benefits. Fleischer excommunicated Wehrwein on the spot for daring to question the double-standard. Does that sound familiar to Syn Conference victims?

Everything is available on the Net. Lutherans are interested. The daily page-reads here are around 1700 in the midst of summer vacations. The Intrepids are standing up to the pathetic leadership of The Sausage Factory. Simply discussing things in the open is a new experience for many Lutherans.

I appreciate the questions.

Missouri's position on ordination is blatantly anti-Confessional. That has no effect on the Bronze Age Missourians. Notice how Melanchthon connected ordination to the efficacy of the Word. 

 

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rlschultz said... 

 

"Simply discussing things in the open is a new experience for many Lutherans."
This was difficult to do before Al Gore invented the Internet. The syn conference bullies could get away with murder, and less, because so many of their antics were done in secret. If a mere lay person caught a whiff of it and tried to go public, or at least ask for clarification, they were promptly beaten down. Like true victims of abuse, they found it difficult to break the cycle. Progress is being made because the cost of knowledge has been lowered significantly.

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Sherlock Holmes 2929 has left a new comment on your post "Pope John the Malefactor - A Grabau Disciple":

As I leafed through the Grabau articles, one name leaped out at me: "Kudu Don" Patterson. Patterson seemed to take his cue on treating congregational members from Grebau. What do ya' think, Joe? 

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Sherlock Holmes 2929 has left a new comment on your post "Loehe Gets a Hall at Ft. Wayne, But Who Is Grabau?...":

I must agree with rischultz here. I think about how "California" and the Kokomo families suffered their persecution alone. At least Rick Techlin and the Krohns can tell the world. I know it may not be much comfort, but at least it's some. Some light, no matter how small, has been shown on the Syn Conference bullies

The Wisconsin Sect Has Not Changed in 100 Years

From the Protes'tant Conference

The Protes'tant Conference developed out of a series of controversies within the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States. These controversies revolved around various actions of synodical officials and reached their climax in 1926, with the Beitz Paper, a conference paper in which the Rev. W. F. Beitz protested what he saw as spiritual tyranny and dead orthodoxy in the life of his church. The controversy eventually resulted in the suspension from the Synod of forty pastors. The suspended men, known as Protes'tants because of their protest against conditions within the Synod, organized the Protes'tant Conference in 1927.

Today it is clear that the controversy had been building up for a long time. There were in the Wisconsin Synod two divergent approaches to theology, and the final rupture came because of a rejection by the Synod of the theological viewpoint that had developed at its theological seminary at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

The Wauwatosa Theology, as it has been called, developed under the leadership of Prof. J. P. Koehler, whose work was mainly in the direction of historical and exegetical emphasis over against the then dominant stress on dogmatic theology.

Since the turn of the century the Wauwatosa Seminary had been veering away from the dogmatical approach. Koehler pointed out that since the 17th century, Lutheran theology had tended to draw its life from the scholastic method of the orthodox dogmaticians. Thus Scripture was approached with preconceived notions and a methodology that made free exegetical work psychologically impossible. Only when Lutheranism liberated itself from this approach could the life of the church be revitalized and the doctrinal controversies, which had continually plagued American Lutheranism, be transcended.

An earnest attempt was made at Wauwatosa to teach church history in terms of the total history of culture and to bridge the gap between sacred and secular. But what was involved in the Wauwatosa Theology and in the Protes'tant Controversy was much more that a method in theology, viz., a strong emphasis upon self-analysis and self-criticism. The life of the church must in all its manifestations be continuously subjected to thorough analysis. Especially must there be an effort to cut through surface manifestations to understand the influences that are molding the essential character of the church.

The Beitz Paper was a sharp and concrete expression of the self-criticism embodied in the Wauwatosa Theology. It asked the pointed question whether the life of the Synod was not being governed more by the Law than by the Gospel. It did not attack the doctrinal position of the Synod, although the effect was certainly to challenge the prevalent view that evangelical practice is somehow guaranteed by precise and orthodox doctrinal formulations.

The general reaction within the Synod was unfavorable to the Beitz Paper. Charges of false doctrine and slander were leveled against the author, especially by synodical officials. The Protes'tants, on the other hand, maintained that the intent of the Beitz Paper was obvious and contended that it was only part of a much larger question, and that it must be judged in its historical setting. Protes'tants have denied that either Beitz or his supporters were at variance with the objective doctrinal position of the Wisconsin Synod and have insisted that the slander charge was not substantiated.

The officials of the Synod took the position that a paper must be judged by its bare words and not by its antecedents. The Protes'tants' desire to discuss the Beitz Paper only in terms of the larger issues was denied. In essence that was a repudiation of all the Wauwatosa Theology represented. The Wisconsin Synod suspended Pastor Beitz for false doctrine. All who supported him were likewise suspended, some for false doctrine and others for insubordination. This verdict included also those who protested the action of the Synod. Even J. P. Koehler, although he had been critical of the Beitz Paper and of certain actions by Protes'tants, was ousted from his professorship and from the Synod. In the end the Wisconsin Synod repudiated the total thrust of the Wauwatosa Theology.

The Protes'tant Conference has existed since 1927, as a loose organization of the suspended men. The conference has made no attempt to organize itself as a new Lutheran Synod or to carry on any program of expansion. By means of its bimonthly periodical, Faith-Life, it has rather sought to preserve, cultivate, and develop the heritage of the Wauwatosa Theology.

Additional sources of information:

The Faith-Life Society

"A Brief History of the Protest'ant Controversy" by Pastor Philemon Hensel is contained in the pages of Faith-Life, September/October and November/December 2000 (LXXIII, No. 5 and 6)

The History of the Wisconsin Synod
The introduction of the above mentioned title by Prof. Leigh Jordahl is especially noteworthy.

Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church
Vol. 3 p. 1978. Augsburg, 1965.

--Leigh Jordahl

Hoosier Daddy

Here is an ELCA article about Loehe.
 
The practical seminary in Ft. Wayne was founded because of Loehe, who was also responsible for starting Wartburg Seminary, home of the Iowa Synod.

Loehe is supposed to be bad, bad, bad, and St. Walther is regarded as the ultimate Lutheran. Otten was miffed that Loehe was getting a little bit of publicity, with a conference devoted to the founder rather than the kidnap-usurper.

Was there a Loehe League to compete with the Walther League?
Is there a shrine to Loehe like Walther's?


Loehe was a true leader, serving in a no-account location but changing it through his investment in church missions. He began the group that invited the Stephanites to join.

Modesty set aside, as it always was among the Walther disciples, the new group was eventually called the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

But if anyone asks a Missouri Synod member, "Who's your daddy?"
The honest answer is, "Loehe."

I wonder when SP Harrison will come clean about Walther's criminal activities.

To Die For - As Tyndale Did?, Or To Moo with the NNIV?

"The NNIV from Murdoch or the ESV from the Calvinists/National Council of Churches? I am double-minded! There is no third choice, right? right?"

The document can be downloaded here, if it does not kelm properly.

Philemon

Special Thanks to John Dyer’s Exhaustive Comparison of NIV 1984, tNIV, and NIV 2011

	NIV1984	NIV2011	ESV	NIV84 à 2011 notes & general translation notes
1:1	Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker,	Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker , —	Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker	Neutral
1:2	to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:	also to Apphia our sister , to and Archippus our fellow soldier — and to the church that meets in your home:	and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:	Neutral “and” better reflects Greek καὶ
1:3	Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.	Grace and peace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.	Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.	Neutral Better English word order
1:4	(same in NIV2011)	I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,	I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,	Neutral
1:5	because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.	because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints .	because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,	Unsure Substitution of “his holy people” for “the saints” – τοὺς ἁγίους.
1:6	I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.	I pray that you your partnership with us in the faith may be active effective in sharing deepening your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in share for the sake of Christ.	and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.	Slightly Stronger “partnership” reflects κοινωνία - KJV:  “communion”. “deepening your understanding” reflects ἐπιγνώσει – KJV: “acknowledgement”. “for the sake of Christ” reflects an elliptical use of εἰς Χριστόν. Don’t know how “we share” is a better English/accurate translation. Would prefer rendering “in us for the sake of Christ.” (See ESV)
1:7	Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.	Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints Lord’s people .	For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.	Unsure Substitution of “the Lord’s people” for “the saints” – τῶν ἁγίων. Weakness: Would much prefer ESV’s correct use of the passive voice “refreshed through you”. We are mere tools of God’s good work.
1:8		Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,	Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required,	Neutral
1:9	yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—	yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—	yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—	Slightly Stronger “prefer to” reflects μᾶλλον Τοιοῦτος ὢν ὡς Παῦλος – Lit: “Being such a man as Paul”.
1:10	I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.	that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.	I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.	Neutral
1:11		Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.	(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)	Neutral
1:12		I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.	I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.	Neutral (Both NIV and ESV are valid renderings of the metaphor.)
1:13		I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.	I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel,	Neutral
1:14	But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced.	But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and would not seem forced but would be voluntary.	but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.	Slightly Stronger “not seem forced” reflects μὴ ὡς κατὰ ἀνάγκην – Lit: “Not as concerning necessity”. “voluntary” reflects κατὰ ἐκούσιον – Lit: “concerning willingness”.
1:15	Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good—	Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good forever —	For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,	Stronger “forever” reflects αἰῶνιον. A better word to use, in light of faith.
1:16	no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.	no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.	no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.	Slightly Weaker Not necessarily bad, but inaccurate: “fellow” does not exist in the Greek. καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ ἐν κυρίῳ - Lit: “both in flesh and in [the] Lord. (see ESV & KJV)
1:17		So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.	So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.	Neutral
1:18		If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.	If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.	Neutral Martin Luther notes as Paul takes over the entire debt of Onesimus, so did Christ take over our entire debt.
1:19		I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.	I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.	Neutral
1:20		I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.	Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.	Neutral
1:21		Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.	Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.	Neutral ὑπακοή is not necessarily best translated “obedience”. (The Greek does not imply being given a command, as “obedience” does. Paul has not given any commands.)
1:22		And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.	At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.	Neutral
1:23		Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings.	Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,	Neutral
1:24		And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.	and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.	Neutral
1:25		The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.	Neutral

Mequon, you are not worthy to hold Tyndale's Bible (the KJV). We all know you hate anything connected with Luther or Melanchthon.