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Report of the Vice President This past year, my second as your vice president, was a year that can clearly be defined by one word: stewardship. It has been a year of hard work on the part of your synod council. In addition to, and as a part of, the ongoing tasks of budget oversight, program support, and policy development, three areas directly related to stewardship have emerged in the past twelve months. The first area, and I place it first because it is the area of my greatest concern, is that of financial stewardship. Part of that concern comes from the facts and figures of mission support trends. One year ago, I was able to announce that due to frugal spending, this synod was able to both “make the budget” and have a surplus to disburse in a proportional manner to expressions of the church who had suffered budget cuts on our part. This year, I can not announce that there will be extra funds to pass along to those in need. Our spending has remained conservative with one example being that your council has cut postage by substituting email communications, but this conservative spending has been matched by conservative income. As the NWOS is affected, so also is the ELCA, as we have fewer funds to share with them. That translates into fewer dollars for leadership development, less support for social justice ministries beyond the scope of individual congregations, and so on… It can be a vicious cycle. But that cycle is less a concern for me than the way our conservative giving contrasts with God’s gracious blessings. For it is only when we give away ourselves, our time, and our possessions that we can notice that God continually fills us with all these good things. Giving is an exercise in coming to trust God for all we need, a spiritual discipline that results in deeper faith, and the mark of a Christian life. To that end, those elected to your synod council passed the following resolution this year:
It is our hope that in practicing gracious giving, other lay leaders and their congregations will be encouraged to see mission support, and more importantly, generous giving in all areas, as a key element in our life of faith. Personally, I would like to thank the members of the synod council for the generous giving of themselves, their time, and their possessions as they have served this church in the past year. A special thank you must be made to the late Rev. Norman Bosse and his family. On Pastor Bosses’ death, a generous bequest to this synod was revealed. What a wonderful way for this saint to make known his priority for giving of himself, both through a life of ministry and this gift of faithful stewardship. He continues to be an example for all of us. The issue of stewardship is seen in a whole new light when we contrast it to the plight of our companion synod, the Dodoma Diocese in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Last year, this assembly instructed the synod council to study both the feasibility and advisability of assisting with salaries of ELCT clergy. A task force was established which spent many hours trying to come to grips with this dilemma; their recommendation will come before this assembly. Stewardship of our time was also an area of focus this past year – especially the time that we as individuals spend in study and reflection. A number of opportunities for study were offered within the synod. Sessions on Lutheran Hermeneutics were presented in Fall 2003 by Bishop Lohrmann and were well attended. The Lay Academy for Mission presented their initial programs, also well attended. The weekend study retreats connected to the Synodically Authorized Ministry program were full. The stewardship of our time seems to be marked by a priority for study, and for that, I give thanks. One post-offering prayer in the Lutheran Book of Worship lists self, time, and possessions as the three areas of offering. I have heard it said that those are listed in decreasing order of difficulty – meaning that giving of ourselves is the most difficult. Giving of one’s self means that we give up our own desires, choosing instead to make personal decisions based on the good of the many, instead of the good of the self. It means replacing our will with the will of God. This is indeed the defining mark of the family of faith. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” we read in Mark 3:35. This giving of self is the third area of stewardship focus. Many times in this past year the council has been faced with difficult discussions and hard decisions. None of us, individuals or individual congregations, are immune to such dilemmas. We struggle to set aside our own opinions and to seek the will of our God in prayer, conversation, and study. But it is in this struggle that we truly come to be family; it is in the giving away of the self, our own will, that we are most marked as Christians. I think it especially important to remember this as we select those who will serve as voting members for the 2005 Churchwide Assembly. These individuals will be required to give of their possessions and time, but most importantly of their selves, as they seek the will of God in the matters before the church. One final note---this was a year when these areas of stewardship have become very personal for me. I have continued my work towards a graduate degree in Theology, and in addition, have taken employment as the Community Life Coordinator at Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay. In August, I was privileged to represent our synod at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly held in Milwaukee. This was my first such assembly and the diversity of our church and her opportunities certainly impacts the way I look now at Northwestern Ohio. Along with all of you, I acknowledge a need for intentional stewardship of time and talents within the church universal --- and within my personal life. My byword continues to be “grace” for it is only by the grace of God that any of us are strengthened to be good stewards of all that God has given to us. Serving in grace, Jeannine Grimm |
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