The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will lay off 60 of its 358 employees under a reorganization plan that will go into effect February 1 of next year. Various units and offices will be downsized and consolidated.
"In 2008 after adjusting for inflation, the value of mission support income had declined by half since the founding of this church in 1988," (Presiding Bishop) Hanson wrote to the council. "From 2008 to 2011, estimated churchwide mission support dropped from $65.3 million to $48 million." The work of the design team is based on an estimated range of $45 million to $48 million in annual mission support income for the next three years, Hanson said.
This 17% reduction in staff is occasioned by falling receipts as a result of the general decline of religion in America, fallout from the ELCA's vote to roster partnered gays, and the on-going effects of the recession.
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