Welcome…
A Letter from Bishop deFreese
Greetings to you in the name of our Savior,
With deep sadness, this past week I wrote to the rostered and lay leaders of the Nebraska Synod and to the executive heads of our synodical mission partners sharing with them the news of an across-the-board 5 percent reduction in funding from the Synod budget. I feel it is necessary to share a word with you, too.
These across-the-board reductions represent reduced support for ministries here in Nebraska as well as in our churchwide partnership domestically and globally. However, based on mission share offerings for 2011 and pledges from you for 2012, this action was necessary to budget with integrity.
Some important points to ponder as we move forward:
From support for world hunger relief and malaria eradication efforts abroad to ministries serving our brothers and sisters in need in our Nebraska neighborhoods and communities, mission share makes ministry possible. More than 80 percent of the money received by the Nebraska Synod through mission share goes on to do ministry “outside the walls.” The remaining dollars are used to resource our local mission centers to help them do their own mission and ministry effectively.
Like so many organizations and agencies today, economic pressures, difficult conversations within the church family and a troubling trend toward designated giving have made it more difficult to carry out the ministries that we have collectively agreed to do. All too often, designated gifts result in lower mission share offerings, meaning there are fewer dollars available to fund our shared ministries.
Now more than ever is the time for us to ask ourselves once again, “What does it mean to be the church?” What does it mean that we are those who in Jesus’ words are called to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NRSV)
I pray that all of us will reflect on these questions and seek ways in which we can do more together. I applaud the faithful efforts and sacrifice that many of our mission centers make to partner with the Nebraska Synod through mission share and ask that we seek ways to fund and resource the essential ministries we do together in Jesus’ name.
May God bless us and our ministries in God’s name.
Blessings!
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| 8 Events on January 8, 2012
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