ST. LOUIS -- The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's (LCMS) initiative for recruitment and retention of church workers will proceed despite the cancellation of its kickoff event.
According to the denomination's news agency, the March event was scrapped "when it became clear that we do not have the funding at this time to support it," said L. Dean Hempelmann, chairman of the initiative's working group.
"We have modified our strategy," Hempelmann said. "We feel that we can do much better beginning the initiative by using our financial resources to develop a set of central resources."
The initiative, called What a Way, is meant to encourage church members to serve as workers within their congregations. While the kickoff has been canceled, the program will go on, Hempelmann said.
The LCMS' board of directors has allocated $250,000 this fiscal year to support the program and has indicated it will support a multi-year initiative. What a Way was the only project to get new funding from the board in the 2002-2003 Synod budget, according to the report.
Hempelmann said resources planned for the initiative include:
- a new Web site for recruitment and retention;
- printed resources for congregations;
- and support teams, or cabinets, in LCMS districts to help implement the initiative for their congregations.
