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Helping Haiti

You want to help those affected by the Haiti earthquake. We want to join you.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will add $1 to every $2, up to a total Thrivent Financial contribution of $1 million, that our members donate to Lutheran World Relief and ELCA Disaster Response.

Donations will be accepted through March 31, 2010. Thrivent Financial will add a maximum of $250 per member donation. Visit Thrivent.com/helpinghaiti to learn more and make a donation.

For questions or to make a donation over the phone or via U.S. Mail, please call 800.236.3736 between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM, Central Time, Monday through Friday. When prompted, please say "directory" and enter ext. 83003.

Be a part of the Helping Haiti effort and make a difference for the victims of this natural disaster.

You can help !!

Here is what's happening .... Lutheran students at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville are working to form a formal, university-approved ELCA student group at that campus. They have been talking and working with other ELCA campus pastors in Illinois and Rev. Rich Zawostocki, the ELCA leader in Campus Ministry.

Now here is where you can help …. They are looking for the names and contact information of students from Central-Southern Illinois Synod congregations who are attending SIU in Edwardsville.

Please contact: Mr. Mike Davis at mikesmusicdreams@charter.net and/or Pastor Bill Veith, pastor at Trinity, Alton at bveith@charter.net Mike is the main student organizer for this endeavor; Pastor Veith is ELCA contact person supporting the potential group.

After nearly twenty years of faithful and challenging ministry in LeRoy, Faith Lutheran Church decided to disband as a congregation at a properly-called meeting on Sunday, January 10, 2010. Remaining council members at the time of the decision have agreed to become an Asset Management Team, assuming the responsibility to dispose of the remaining property of Faith Lutheran Church. In addition to the building and land, there are a number of items that were on the premises and were used for worship and administration that the congregation would like to make available to other congregations of our synod, and to full-communion partners.

Please click here to look at the items that are available and contact them if you have use for some of the items, or share this listing with others that you know of who might use what they are offering.

	TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT: An Example of Unintended Consequences of Withholding Mission Support

	Dear Friends, Here in the Central African Republic (CAR), the dry season is on the way. Rainstorms are becoming less frequent and shorter. Soon the rains will stop altogether until April. People hope that the crops they have stored will carry them through till the harvest next fall. It seems that dry season has also arrived at ELCA Global Mission. The church-wide office in Chicago foresees the possibility of a 30% reduction in giving. This is apparently in protest of actions taken in Minneapolis a couple of months ago. This reduction comes on top of a 10% funding cut earlier this year, due to the world-wide economic downturn. Losing so much funding in one year has required Global Missions to make some drastic cutbacks in personnel and programs. Regardless of anyone’s opinions regarding the actions taken by the General Assembly, protesting by withholding funds has serious consequences which are detrimental to the work of our partner churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the CAR (also known as the EELRCA, after its French acronym). Due to this sudden drop in funding, ELCA-GM has been forced to withhold the 4^th quarter grant to its partner churches. The EELRCA counts on these quarterly contributions of ELCA, which constitute almost half of the EELRCA’s annual budget of $670,000 (less than the annual budget of some larger congregations in the U.S.). Without ELCA’s promised 4^th quarter contribution, church projects are now out of money here in the CR. Salaries cannot be paid, and may not be paid for several months. With no money for activities or salaries, the development, education, and evangelization projects funded by ELCA in CAR cannot do their work and are closing their doors. Other programs continue, but without the necessary funds, how long will they be able to keep on providing services? For example, where Deborah teaches at the Theological School, students may have to go without their $40 a month stipend. Some of the students there gave up careers, such as teaching, to become pastors – and more pastors are desperately needed in the CAR. Now they may have to watch their children go hungry. Money for doctor’s fees for their families will be impossible to pay. Others who may suffer include AIDS patients, villagers waiting for clean water, and families who cannot afford medicines or school fees for their children. We don’t think the ELCA members who have decided to withhold funds from Chicago wish for these outcomes, or even know that as a result of their actions people are suffering in the CAR. Now is the time when you can help turn this situation around. We thank you for your continued support of our ministry, and ask your help to convince others to continue to support the work of Global Mission, especially in the neediest countries, such as the CAR. May God bless you as you serve Christ in your community and around the world. Your missionaries in the Central African Republic, Joe and Deborah Troester Joe is technical advisor for a water management project of the Lutheran Church. Deborah teaches Greek and English at the Theological School. Their daughter goes to boarding school in Cameroon. The link below is to their blog. If you subscribe by email to the blog, you will automatically receive their newsletter. http://africanwaterlog.blogspot.com

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