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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 24.03.2007 |
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| LWF Treasurer Urges Church Leaders’ Support to Membership Fees’ Payment |
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PRESS RELEASE No. 06/2007
Strengthening the Communion Through More Financial Solidarity
LUND, Sweden/GENEVA, 24 March 2007 (LWI) – The Treasurer of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Mr Peter Stoll has appealed to church leaders attending the LWF council meeting to support the payment of their churches’ full fair membership fees to the LWF, as well as fees for the 11th Assembly in 2010.
Presenting the Treasurer’s Report to the Council at its 20-27 March meeting in Lund, Sweden, Stoll also requested the church leaders to encourage their churches to contribute toward the LWF Endowment Fund. This year’s Council meeting includes a Church Leadership Consultation and celebrations to mark the LWF’s 60th anniversary.
In his report titled “Living Together – Strengthening the Communion Through More Financial Solidarity,” Stoll explained that the calculation of a fair membership fee takes into account the respective country’s gross national income and the number of church members. Since 2005 the total request has been USD 3.5 million, which represents a steady increase of the membership fee received.
The treasurer however noted that there are still around 50 member churches that do not pay any membership fees, and some churches that pay only a small share of their fair fee. He explained that if all member churches would pay the full fair fee, it would amount to an additional income of USD 530,000, which would to a great extent stabilize the Geneva coordination budget. “The commitment to pay the membership fee is a direct indication of the commitment to the communion. I sincerely hope that the church leaders here will encourage each other to pay the full membership fees,” he said.
The support from the member churches and related agencies goes to the Geneva Coordination budget (A-budget) and to the LWF program/project budget (B-budget). Around 80 percent of the A-budget includes salaries and other personnel costs for the LWF secretariat in Geneva, even if the person works for programs or projects, thus the A-budget is not just administration, explained Stoll. In the last years, the share of the A-budget expenditure has been around 10-12 percent of the total expenditure.
The LWF treasurer explained that the reduction of the LWF Geneva coordination expenditure had been considerable since 1989, but had slowed down during the last seven years. As 80 percent of the secretariat’s coordination budget are staff-related costs, the reduction directly reflects the decrease in the number of staff, with direct implications on the LWF’s programs and projects. As the programmatic work had not been reduced at the same rate as the number of staff, it meant that the staff had been under more pressure lately, he noted.
Stoll said such a drastic change over the years necessitated a strategic plan to review and realign the available resources with realistic goals. He expressed appreciation that the LWF Strategic Plan was now ready for discussion in the Council. The next phase will be to transform the implications of the strategic plan into operations. “We also need to realign the Geneva Secretariat to the new context,” he stressed.
On the understanding that the churches, their agencies and societies directly raise funds for the LWF in their respective member church countries, Stoll pointed out that the question could still be asked, to what extent “these owners of the LWF actually commit themselves to the communion. Sometimes it seems as if the awareness of the LWF among the constituency of the member churches could be better,” he noted. He said the LWF Sunday—Reformation Sunday—for example, could become a common awareness campaign for the whole communion, and thereby also increase the ownership of and the support to the LWF in future.
Stoll pointed out that the LWF Endowment Fund, formally established in 1999 to help to stabilize the LWF Geneva coordination budget, reached its first goal of CHF 10 million in October 2006. The next goal is to raise CHF 20 million by 2017. The treasurer extended his gratitude to all those who had donated to the fund so far, and stressed the responsibility of all member churches in contributing their fair share to the fund. “I hope that every church leader gathered here will bring either a substantial pledge or donation to the fund,” he said. The Board of the Endowment Fund has set a realistic goal for each member church based on the fair membership fees.
The LWF treasurer explained that the 2006 financial statement was not available yet as last year’s accounts were being closed only now, and would be audited in May. He however stated that the Geneva Coordination budget in 2006 had a surplus due to currency exchange gains.
For more information about the 2005 LWF budget, please see: www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1945.EN.html (788 words)
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An estimated 500 people including over 100 church leaders are attending this year’s Council meeting, church leadership consultation and the LWF 60th anniversary celebrations. Also attending are officials from LWF partner organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff, accredited media, and participants in the three-year LWF international training program for young communicators.
During the Council meeting, the LWF Office for Communications Services can be reached at mobile tel nos. +46/76-276 1311
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