A Wisconsin congregation with a vision— and a new addition, thanks to an MIF loan.F

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T H E M U STA R D S E E Dm i s s i o n i n v e s t m e n t f u n d

New spaces make this church building more welcoming for newcomers and members.

English Lutheran Church, a 115-year-old congregation located in the heart of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, has a clear vision for where it’s headed. In fact, the congregation transformed its church council into a “vision board.” Separate small leadership teams are empowered to make administrative decisions without vision board approval so that the larger board can focus more fully on what God is calling the congregation to be and to do.

With a growing number of young families with children, English Lutheran knew it needed more modern fellowship and education spaces. Deteriorating pipes had made the bathroom in the 50-year-old education wing unusable. The church kitchen was dated. The education spaces were too small to accom-modate the congregation’s large Sunday school and confirmation class sizes. And the fellowship hall was located at the far end of the building, discouraging newcomers and members with mobility issues from attending coffee hour.

In creating a master plan for pursuing its mission, English Lutheran’s vision board met with Mission Investment Fund Church Building Consultant Director Patricia Dever to discuss options for improving its building. “Pat walked us through the different financial scenarios. She gave us the confidence that we had the means we needed to move forward with a ma-jor project,” said English Lutheran’s pastor, the Rev. Mark Solyst.

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Clockwise from left:Each month, volunteers serve breakfast burritos in the congregation’s new fellowship hall; a prominent exterior sign featuring the congregation’s worship times and web address helps welcome visitors; English Lutheran’s Sunday school program serves 196 children.

Front cover:The Rev. Mark Solyst welcomes congregants to Confirmation Sunday at English Lutheran Church in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Sixty-three youth participated in English Lutheran’s Confirmation program this year.

This airy new fellowship hall adjacent to the sanctuary makes coffee hour–and Breakfast Burrito Sunday–more inviting and easier to access.

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Ultimately, the congregation added more than 5,000 square feet of new space and renovated existing spac-es. The project includes a new fel-lowship hall adjacent to the sanc-tuary, new education spaces, a new kitchen, new bathrooms, a new entry and a new music and youth room. There’s also a special room designed for use by a number of community groups.

Architecturally, the church’s exte-rior, with a soaring steeple, blends into the surrounding neighborhood of large historic homes. “We wanted

to be a good neighbor from a design perspective,” says Bill Newburg, chair of English Lutheran’s finance com-mittee. “Our new building was de-signed to fit into the neighborhood just like the homes do.”

To finance the project, English Lu-theran chose the Mission Investment Fund, the same organization that helped it think through its building options. “We were delighted to go with MIF because they’re a ministry of the church,” Pastor Solyst explains. “We felt we were dealing with our brothers and sisters in the church, all working

toward the same goal. It was a unique and refreshing experience.”

Using MIF also saved English Luther-an money, because MIF has fewer fees – and offers more assistance – than other lenders. “A church doesn’t have its own legal expertise,” Pastor Solyst says. “It was comforting to have MIF say, ‘we can help you with that’ with difficult things along the way.” Bill Newburg agrees. “MIF has been a partner with us,” Newburg says. “They’re church people and they’re willing to work with churches on what they do.”

Clockwise from left:Children gather for Sunday school in one of English Lutheran’s new classrooms; volunteers in the congregation’s new state-of-the-art kitchen; the loan also helped create a new, more visible main entrance to the church building.

When the Mission Investment Fund switches over to a new operating system on July 1, plenty of enhancements will await you. They’re all designed to make your MIF experience more convenient.

• Would you like to go paperless? You’ll be able to request only e-statements for all of your MIF accounts. Of course, we will continue to send you paper statements and notices, if that’s your preference.

• Do you prefer to do your banking online? You’ll continue to have 24/7 access to your account information and bill payments. Soon, you’ll be able to open most MIF in- vestment accounts online.

• Do you prefer to use MIF by Phone? Within a few months, our updated system will offer easy-to-use menus with options that provide the detailed, real-time account information you seek.

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Come Summer, your life is going to get a little easier as MIF introduces a state-of-the-art operating system

• Every MIF investment and loan account number will change slightly. If you have an MIF Demand Investment With Check Writing account, you can continue to use your current supply of checks. No other action is required by you.

• At the time of the July 1 system conversion, your online user name will remain the same, but MIF’s new online system will prompt you to change your password when you first sign on.

• To prepare for the system conversion, MIF’s online and telephone banking systems will be temporarily unavailable from noon, Central Time, on Friday, June 28 through noon, Monday, July 1. If you have bill payments scheduled through MIF BillPay, the payments will process as usual.

• MIF’s new system, with many enhancements in place—and more to come—will be up and running on July 1. Watch for more details in the coming weeks.

As MIF’s new system goes live July 1, we ask your cooperation with a few necessary changes

m i s s i o n d e v e l o p e r s c h o l a r s

Graduating seminarians on a mission, thanks to MIF Mission Developer Scholarships

“Every congregation is constantly un-der development, always re-forming,” points out Ben Hilding, a recent graduate of the Master of Divinity program at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. “Each congregation must ask themselves: How is God leading us to a new future?”

These are the issues that interest young seminarians concentrating on mission developer work—raising up new-start congregations and injecting new life into well-established congregations. The ELCA’s Fund for Leaders pro-gram supports these young semi-narians in their special calling with much-needed MIF Mission Developer Scholarships.

“We are pleased with the partnership between the Fund for Leaders and the Mission Investment Fund in this scholarship effort. I am very proud

of this first group of scholarship re-cipients coming out of seminary this year. They are a wonderful group of young pastors,” says MIF President and CEO Eva M. Roby. MIF offered a $1.5 million challenge grant for funds raised toward these scholarships. Since 2009, 13 MIF Mission Devel-oper Scholarships have been awarded. “Providing Mission Developer Schol-arships supports our mission of help-ing build the church by sharing in the development of the next generation of leaders of this church.”

Four seminarians who have received these MIF Mission Developer Schol-arships completed their studies this Spring and are moving on to be or-dained as Lutheran pastors accepting their first calls.

Montana native Stacey Siebrasse, a graduate of the Master of Divinity program at Pacific Lutheran Theolog-ical Seminary in Berkeley, California, is joyfully accepting her first call in mid-July as mission developer at La Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria y San-ta Marta in San Francisco’s Mission District, the site of her very rewarding teaching parish.

“This is a vibrant congregation in a lively part of the city,” the bilingual Siebrasse says. “This congregation is ready to start new projects and develop new visions for their families and com-munity. They are looking to become more of a presence in the community, and I will accompany them in mission development and community organiz-

ing work.” Siebrasse is eager to work with the leaders and full membership of the church. She is concerned about social and economic justice issues and hopes to introduce some “out-of-the-box” ideas for development in this Latino community.

Ben Hilding, the recent graduate of Luther Seminary, focused more close-ly on his call as mission developer as he prepared for the interview required to merit the Mission Developer Schol-arship. “I learned more about how God was calling me to use my gifts. I looked backward and realized that God had prepared me for this call in ways I hadn’t expected. What an epiphany!”

In July, Hilding and his wife, Alicia, will both be ordained and installed as associate pastors at Bethel Lutheran Church in Hudson, Wisconsin. Hilding will serve in youth and family ministry.

Abigail Letsinger, a graduate of the Master of Divinity program at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, is energized about making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth. “What impact can the church have with at-risk youth? How

“I am coming out of seminary debt-free. This is so important to me. I won’t be worried about financial debt, and this will free

me up to be a better pastor. I can continue doing the work of the church—God’s work—without a financial burden.”

-Stacey Siebrasse

“The Mission Developer Scholarship has been life-changing. The scholarship has truly shaped my entire

experience in seminary; it has made a profound difference in every class, every discussion.

The scholarship has made me focus on my call as a

mission developer. I can’t say thank you enough.”

-Ben Hilding

New pastors (from left): Ben Hilding; Stacey Siebrasse; Abigail Letsinger; Joe Brosious

“It means so much to us to know that there are people supporting this scholarship fund…to know that there are people who care. That’s invaluable.”

-Joe Brosious

can we start at the ground level?” She wants to focus on key developmental assets for raising healthy, responsi-ble children—including self-esteem, caring, integrity, a healthy lifestyle and positive adult role models. “If the church took on a communi-ty-centered role, in addition to its worship role,” Letsinger promises, “we could provide many of these key assets for children.”

Letsinger served a pastoral intern-ship in the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin and is awaiting final word on her first call. She is anticipating a strong redevelopment opportunity in a city where she can lend her enthusi-asm to sharing ministry, influencing children and youth, and building a community.

Joe Brosious, too, feels called to an urban setting, an inner city, where he

can put his special mission developer gifts to work in redevelopment. “Where there is neighborhood change, we must reconnect with the people,” says Brosious, a graduate of the Master of Divinity program at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

Brosious is awaiting his first call. “Wherever we go, we must get the church reconnected to the community that surrounds it. We must talk about our faith in the community. We must show where Christianity fits in—and why it matters.”

Donations to the ELCA Fund for Leaders’ MIF Mission Developer Scholarships help support young men and women in seminary who are called to develop new-start congregations and inject new vitality into redeveloping congregations.

You can make a contribution online at community.elca.org/fundforleaders. In the drop-down list for designations, choose the listing: MIF Mission Developers Seminary Scholarship Endowment.

If you make a gift by mail, make your check payable to ELCA Fund for Leaders and add MIF Mission Developers to the memo line. Send your donation to: ELCA Fund for Leaders, P.O. Box 71222, Chicago, IL 60694-1222

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“I am incredibly grateful for this scholarship. This has made a world of difference for me. A huge thank-you to all the donors for their support.”

-Abigail Letsinger

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