LCMC and Benevolence

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One of the questions that often come up for congregations looking to join LCMC relates to money. Questions such as: how much should we give to LCMC? How does mission support, or “benevolence” work in LCMC? Is there a set amount for congregations to send to LCMC?

In brief, we have no set guidelines. LCMC is an association that seeks to serve the member congregations. We don’t dictate giving, but simply ask that congregations remember that we have some expenses associated with running the association, such as: planning the annual gathering, running the colloquy process for new pastors, salaries for the two employees of LCMC, hosting and updating the website, producing informational DVDs, brochures and mailings.

So we ask each congregation to look at their giving, their mission support and their budget and come up with something that works for them. Some congregations give a $1,000 a year, while others give less and some give more. In any case, setting aside a percentage of your congregational budget for LCMC makes good Biblical sense. What we know is this: God has been good, and even in tough economic times we have balanced books and have always been able to meet our expenses!

Finally, it’s important for congregations to know we have a few directed giving opportunities. One is a Seminarian Fund to support recent seminary graduates with loan repayments, and another is a mission church loan fund overseen by LCMC Lutheran Men. The third is to direct financial support to one or more of our many international congregations. All of these are great opportunities for directed giving outside our general budget. We’ve been blessed with a surplus of seminarians and a great number of mission starts in our young association, so we anticipate continued needs in those areas. Moreover, we anticipate even faster growth in our international partnerships.