Your offerings reach far and wide beyond the walls of your sanctuary. As you make your gift to your church, that money is allocated in a number of ways, congregational programs to synod-wide support, and even to the churchwide missions, both domestic and global.
In 2020, ELCA members gave $1.7 billion in unrestricted offerings to support God’s mission and ministry through the three expressions of the ELCA.
Each Year, ELCA congregations pledge to send a portion of the offerings they receive to fund ELCA ministries in their synods and beyond. In the ELCA, we call these funds Mission Support.
Cholita Narzary made history in November 2020 as the second woman ordained into ministry by the Bodo Evangelical Lutheran Church.
“Since the first woman’s ordination there were many silent years,” said Ichahak Muchahary, BELC bishop. “The church becomes a family only with the recognition of women as equal partners in God’s vineyard.”
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Your offering supports your congregation’s vital presence in your community. When your congregation votes to designate the percentage of your offerings it will share with your synod, your congregation is sharing Mission Support for ministries led by the wider church on your behalf.
Your churchwide organization uses Mission Support dollars to lead and support ministry on behalf of the whole church. This includes starting and supporting new ELCA ministries, training leaders, sending missionaries and growing the Lutheran church around the world.
Your congregation’s Mission Support dollars are stewarded by your synod leaders to nurture and equip ELCA congregations and rostered ministers. Synods support area ministry partners (camps, colleges, seminaries and more) and build relationships with global-companion churches. Synods designate a portion of the Mission Support funds they receive from congregations to be shared with your churchwide organization for ministries across our church.
Invidividuals and Families Your CongregationYour offering supports your congregation’s vital presence in your community. When your congregation votes to designate the percentage of your offerings it will share with your synod, your congregation is sharing Mission Support for ministries led by the wider church on your behalf.
Your Churchwide OrganizationYour churchwide organization uses Mission Support dollars to lead and support ministry on behalf of the whole church. This includes starting and supporting new ELCA ministries, training leaders, sending missionaries and growing the Lutheran church nationally and globally.
Your SynodYour congregation’s Mission Support dollars are stewarded by your synod leaders to nurture and equip ELCA congregations and rostered ministers. Synods support area ministry partners (camps, colleges, seminaries and more) and build relationships with global-companion churches. Synods designate a portion of the Mission Support funds they receive from congregations to be shared with your churchwide organization for ministries across our church.
*Unrestricted offerings do not include special offerings (e.g., congregational capital improvements or gifts to ministries such as Lutheran Disaster Response or ELCA World Hunger).
As Lutherans, we believe that Christ has freed us from sin and death, and even from ourselves, so that we can love and serve our neighbors. One way we turn our faith into action is by making a financial gift — an offering — to our congregation.
Each year, ELCA congregations pledge to send a portion of their offerings to fund ELCA ministries in their synods and beyond. We call these funds Mission Support.
Mission Support enables the ELCA’s more than 8,900 congregations and 65 synods to pool resources to love and serve our neighbors in ways that no individual or congregation can do alone. Mission Support is one way we are church together — it’s essential to who we are as the ELCA. Through Mission Support, we expand our participation in God’s life-changing work in our communities and around the world.