Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has given the Synod a $1,425,000 churchwide grant this year for seven Synod projects, programs, or events.
Three representatives from Thrivent’s Gateway Regional Office in St. Louis were at the LCMS International Center June 1 to present the check for 2005 to Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick.
Last year, Thrivent gave the Synod a $1,425,000 churchwide grant for 18 projects.
Amounts allocated for this year’s grant range from $7,000 for meetings of Synod leaders to prioritize specific projects they propose to receive the grant funds, to $490,000 for the Synodwide circuit counselors’ conference set for Sept. 12-14, 2006.
The other projects receiving funds from the churchwide grant are:
- $330,000 to help LCMS World Mission and LCMS districts partner with local congregations for developing new congregations in the United States. This is in response to the 2004 Synod convention resolution calling for 2,000 new missions nationwide by 2017 — the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
- $230,000 for “Catching the Vision,” a “branding” proposal in which LCMS Communications and Public Affairs is working with a communications/marketing firm and other Synod departments to identify and clarify how the LCMS can best present itself to its audiences.
- $153,000 for “Communicating the Vision,” another proposal from LCMS Communications and Public Affairs using a communications audit and other findings to streamline Synod publications and information-distribution channels.
- $125,000 for LCMS District and Congregational Services — School Ministry’s National Lutheran School Portal. This is a Web-based link to help Lutheran educators across the Synod share and receive resources and ideas.
- $90,000 to the Synod president’s office for a summit next March of LCMS leaders, to focus on the Synod’s vision for the future.
“On behalf of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, I thank Thrivent for this generous grant, and for all the ways it supports mission and ministry throughout the Synod,” Kieschnick said.
“This grant each year makes possible programs, events, outreach, and emphases that otherwise might not receive support — especially from budgets that are already tight,” he said.
Kieschnick referred to the churchwide grant as “living proof of Thrivent’s catchphrase, ‘doing well to do good.’ Thrivent indeed does a tremendous amount of good throughout our Synod, its congregations, schools, and related organizations. For that, we say a great big thank you.”
Posted June 30, 2005
