To Exempt District Campus Congregations From Sale

WHEREAS the Pacific Southwest District Board of Directors at its January 2012 meeting decided to place all 17 real estate holdings of the district up for sale in the hope of offsetting a $6 million real estate debt, and

WHEREAS included among these 17 properties are three campus congregations at University of California – San Diego, University of California – Los Angeles, and Arizona State University – Phoenix, and

WHEREAS these campus congregations were purchased and developed by the PSW district expressly and intentionally as campus congregations and not as real estate investments, and

WHEREAS these campus properties are all paid in full and do not contribute to the $6 million real estate debt of the PSW district, and

WHEREAS these campus properties are home to vital and viable ministries serving their respective campus communities, and

WHEREAS “brick and mortar” campus congregations serve as tangible mission and ministry posts for outreach to students, faculty, and the surrounding community of these important secular campuses, and

WHEREAS the sale of these properties would signal a retreat of a significant Lutheran presence at these campuses, and

WHEREAS the spiritual welfare of our college students is a high priority in the Pacific Southwest District, and

WHEREAS campus congregations are often located in high dollar areas and offer a tempting solution to the district’s debt crisis at the expense of mission and spiritual care of campus communities that are both vulnerable and valuable; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Pacific Southwest District Board of Directors remove the campus congregations at UCSD, UCLA, and ASU from its list of properties available sale, and be it further resolved,

RESOLVED, that the PSW District exempt its three campus congregations from any future sale by the district’s board of directors or any other entity of the district without the express authorization and approval of the district in convention, and be it finally

RESOLVED, that the PSW District affirm its commitment to and support the ministry of these campus congregations as long-term, open-ended mission and ministry to the students, faculty, and surrounding community of these campuses.

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