Stewardship -
Allegheny Synod

You can be proud to be a member of the ELCA! 

Look at all the ministries YOU make possible through your congregation, synod and church-wide organization. When you hear the stories you will proudly say, "Wow, the ELCA is really doing a lot!"

Working together as the whole Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we are making Christ known in ways that no individual or congregation could do alone. We are 5 million members in 10,800 congregations across 65 synods in nine regions across the United States and Caribbean. We are one of 136 member churches that make up the Lutheran World Federation. We are third largest Lutheran church in the world. 

You support nearly 300 ELCA missionaries and volunteers in 47 countries. For example, you support the work of medical missionaries in Papua New Guinea. A church-supported hospital there provides affordable care to poor, rural patients. Recently one 10-year-old girl's life was saved. After a poisonous snakebite, her family rushed her to the hospital for the lifesaving antivenom. At $385 a dose, they could never have afforded it. But thanks to your support, they paid only $2. 

You train church leaders from around the world. Thanks to the generosity of members like you, the ELCA provides international scholarships to future leaders of other countries. For example, after completing a Master's Degree in Old Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Gideon Maghina was elected bishop of the central diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. 

You have educated more than 500 pastors, doctors, health workers, teachers and agricultural workers in Lutheran churches around the globe. You have trained 77 leaders in Tanzania, 33 in Namibia, 31 in India, 28 in Madagascar, 25 in Ethiopia and 16 in Brazil. After these leaders study at ELCA colleges and seminaries, they return to their homelands to bring the Gospel to life. 

You help plant new congregations at home, too. 358 ELCA congregations have been organized since 1988. Did you know that more than half of new starts are in ethnic specific and multicultural contexts? Plus, research shows that fast-growing congregations have a higher percentage of people who are newer to the faith - people who began worshiping within the last five years - than average congregations. Working closely with synods across the ELCA, you are helping start new congregations across the country, especially in fast-growing areas. 

You support a vast education network: 
28 colleges and universities 
170 Lutheran campus ministries 
20 high schools 160 elementary schools 
1,800 early childhood education centers 

You support 135 outdoor ministries that serve 450,000 people year-round. 

Your special support of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal makes a difference. For example, in rural Pennsylvania, folks with limited incomes are growing their own food. Even kids are learning about gardening and nutrition. They sell some of what they grow at a nearby farmers' market. Growing your own food encourages healthier eating. Learning a new skill encourages self-reliance. 

You help people break out of the cycle of poverty and hunger. Your gifts to the Hunger Appeal make a world of difference to this village in Haiti. You helped provide a new school, six coffee cooperatives, hearty breeding pigs and small businesses that mean a brighter future for these families. This is only one example of how the ELCA responds to hunger by providing relief, development, education and advocacy - all outside the church's regular budget. This ministry is made possible through extra-mile giving to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. 

How do we fund all that we together as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America? As a response to God's many blessings, you give your offering. Then your congregation gathers the offerings and uses some of that money to support its ministries. Some of those funds go to support your synod. Some funds support church-wide ministries across the United States and around the world. Here's a little known fact: Some church-wide funds come BACK to your congregation in the way of grants, services, programs and resources. 

You are making a difference in the world, and you can feel good about that. Thank you for your generosity through your regular and designated giving to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. These stories illustrate the ministries YOU make possible through your congregation, synod and church-wide organization. As you give your regular offering, remember that it is not just money - it is possibility! 

ELCA and other Stewardship Information:

http://www.elca.org/stewardship/
http://www.stewardshipoflife.org/index.htm 

Treasures in Heaven
Matthew 6:19-21
 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 25: 29
For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.