Mission Creep(s) 7/22/08

(from Mollie) I can’t remember how large the six-figure salaries are that the bureaucrats in St. Louis make each year. Some certainly are worth more than others in terms of how much they help the church at large. Either way, they are never expected to raise their own funds.

Would that this were true for missionaries. Many of us are waking up to the fact that ordained pastors who are sent into the mission field are forced to raise almost all of their expenses — or even more than their own expenses — while serving abroad. It boggles the mind.

Anyway, Pastor Joel Brondos, from whom I stole the title to this post, reports that things might be even worse than imagined:

Did you know that, ON THEIR OWN, overseas missionaries in the LCMS have to collect 85% of the cost to operate their missions? The Synod graciously picks up the other 15%.

Oh, there’s one exception. NEW missionaries have to collect 100% of their operating expenses.

Brondos suggests that the Synodical and District Presidents raise 100% of their expenses — schlepping their PowerPoint presentations from congregation to congregation in a search for funds — and that we fully fund missionaries instead. Which is a fantastic idea. I’d add a few synodical bureaucrats to that list as well. Seriously, I’ve seen them in action. You would not be impressed.

Anyway, Brondos has more information that may interest you. For instance, his district is not following its own constitution when it comes to mission funds. While the constitution gives the authority to review and approve grants to the district’s board for missions, that authority has been unconstitutionally passed to, you guessed it, the district’s Ablaze! Grant Team.

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