ST. LOUIS -- Declining revenue has led The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod World Mission to cut 17 staff positions and prepare to lay off missionaries around the world.

The cuts were made to offset a $1.6 million income shortfall during the first quarter of the fiscal year that began July 1, according to a news release.

The layoffs reduce the size of the mission board's International Center staff in St. Louis from 55 to 38. More staff reductions are expected before the end of the year, when LCMS World Mission plans to notify at least 20 missionary units that their positions are being eliminated. Missionary units are individuals or families on the mission-board payroll who serve in overseas fields.

About 100 missionary units and more than 100 volunteers currently serve World Mission or its partners in 68 countries.

In a Dec. 2 letter to missionaries explaining the staff reductions, executive director Robert Roegner said World Mission was faced with cutting $3 million from its current $29 million budget and an additional $6 million from the spending plan proposed for next year.

"Please note that this is not a problem of over-spending our spending plan," Roegner's letter said. "We have done a great job of staying within our spending plan. Rather, it is a problem of not enough revenue coming in to support our approved spending plan."

Nearly 80 percent of World Mission's funding comes from contributions from individuals, congregations and districts, Roegner said.

"When the economy is down, people have less to give," he said.