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The Altoona Mirror (which is distributed in Blair and Bedford Counties as well as in Contiguous Counties) on its Friday March 27, 2020 Religion page carried an article by AP entitled "Churches See offerings fall" with a subrtitle "Services canceled amid COVID-19 outbreak". The Article was authored by a David Crary. The article points out that the churches are seeing dramatic shortfalls in Offering receipts and cites a variety of Church groups. The first group cited is the liberal ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Metropolitan New York Synod Bishop Paul Egensteiner. The ELCA has 190 congregations in the New York City Metropolitan area which includes a range of geographical locations from Ulster and Dutchess Counties at its upstate boundary to Long Island at the Atlantic Ocean boundary side encompassing New York City and contiguous Counties such as Westchester and Putnam. Leading up to observations by Egensteiner of the ELCA and others Crary reports " As in person worship services are canceled or downsized amid the coronavirus outbreak, some churches across the U.S. are bracing for a painful drop in weekly contributions and possible cutbacks in programs and staff" Then he cites Egesteiner remarking that "some of the 190 churches in his region [being] unlikely to survive because of a two pronged financial hit. Their offerings are dwindling, and they ar losing income from tenants such as preschools which can no longer afford to rent church venues." Egenmeier is quoted in a final reference "As much as I'd like to help them [his 190 congregations] , everybody's reserves are taking a hit because of the stock market." The Challenge confronts not only the congregations of the liberal groups such as the ELCA but it also confronts congregations of the Biblical, Moderate/Conservative and Conservative Church Bodies such as LC-MS, WELS, AFLC, TAALC, and ELCM as well as Church Bodies in between such as the LCMC and the NALC. All Christian congregations need members to mail in regular Stewardship Support to their Congregations (unless their congregations have set up contribution via Internet to Banks). The Associated Press article by David Crary is a very important reminder to all.
What will our little ELCM Synod Do for its Triennial General Conference Synod Convention slated for Shrine Mont Retreat center in Orkney Springs, Virginia for the first week in August? No decision has been made at this time. When a decision is made it will be influenced on what progress has been made on halting the epidemic spread of the Virus and also what progress has been made upon restarting the Economy. Many of our Pastors and many of the representatives of the congregations who would be expected to attend the Synod Triennial Convention will be impacted very severely by the affects of the Shut Downs in so many of the States and areas. If we need to Cancel the Triennial we likely would then reschedule the Synod Convention for August of 2021. The ELCM (Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America, Inc. (ELCM) Executive Board would continue to connect via the Internet.
Will we reopen our Churches during Holy Week and Easter? Right now we closed down the Services at our 3 little ELCM Evangelical Lutheran Churches (7:45 A.M. at Faith, Duncansville, 9:30 A.M. at Barley, New Enterprise, and 11:00 A.M. at Faith, Hollidaysburg up until and including Palm Sunday (April 5). The President opined that he would like to get the closings to begin reopening by Easter but that will all depend on the State Government and developments with the containment of the Virus Infections. Pennsylvania is currently having the State Police visit unauthorized businesses and organizations that have gatherings of more than 10 People to issue fines and penalties. So it is looking very likely that our 3 ELCM Evangelical Lutheran Congregations will remain closed through Holy Week and Easter and for the best part of April at least.