Each week a slide pops up before worship that says, ‘10% of our income goes beyond our doors.’ I wonder how many people wonder why we would do that? The church has a long history of giving a portion of their income away and usually to their denomination. ELCA Lutheran churches give to their geographical synod and they in turn give to the ELCA. This multiplies our impact. Back in the early days of the church in the US, churches would give 20% or more for missions that extended the reach of the local church. We have some vestiges of this- the ELCA works with hospital systems (like Advocate), colleges (like Augustana), seminaries (like Luther), and more of the same all over the world- providing education, health care and disaster relief. In the past few decades, churches have shifted their giving to focus more on their own needs, some have stopped giving to the wider church. GLC believes that greater work is important and that giving 10% away is important. We are acknowledging that there are many organizations that meet needs and many of them are local. Prior to 2021, we gave 10% of our regular offerings (what comes in the offering plate) income to our synod. In 2021, we decided to give 10% of ALL of our income (PDO, space use donations, etc) away, 2% in our local community and 8% to our synod. In the last year, we have begun splitting the 8% to support an ELCA ministry that is our neighbor, St. Andrew, West Chicago. They have been a good neighbor to us in many ways and many, many people from GLC worked at the Covid food distributions they ran. We can see and have been part of their good work and our financial support is helping them to do it. Our financial support inspired other congregations in the area to help, too. Sounds like generous living! – Pastor Trudy Stoffel
