Should Your Congregation Establish a Special Endowment Fund to Enable Donors to Reap Unprecedented Tax Benefits?
by Craig M. Johnson, CPA, Fargo
The 2007 and 2011 North Dakota Legislatures have passed legislation which allows a significant income tax credit for certain gifts to “permanent, irrevocable” endowment funds of qualified North Dakota charitable organizations (including religious organizations). This legislation pertains to certain “business” gifts made in a taxable year beginning after December 31, 2006 and also to certain gifts made by individuals and “businesses” made in taxable years beginning after 2010. Qualified donors will likely find that well over 50% of their gifts will be “subsidized” through State and Federal tax incentives! Continue reading…
from Bishop Rindy
Abundance… if there is one thing Americans are used to it is abundance. This year, it is an abundance of fresh river water and rain. The past two years we experienced some of the most abundant crops and prices Midwestern farmers have ever experienced. We are used to abundance. The funny thing about abundance is that it can be good or bad depending on how it is shared or distributed. Continue reading…
Char Grant (St. John, Fargo) has designed a backpack style book bag for LWR School Kits. Using upholstery fabric samples with grommets, Char offers a step-by-step tutorial for sewing the bags.
Download the pattern (download pdf file) and share it with others in your congregation.
Thanks Char! Continue reading…
Meeting the Needs of a Hungry World: Nourished and More at God’s Table!
by Julie K. Aageson
Synod assemblies are a lot of work. Planning committees, speakers, worship and workshop leaders, voting members, synod council members and synod staff prepare for months for this annual event. It’s a bit like a very large Sunday dinner gathering with all the family around the table—voting members, visitors and others from all the congregations of the Eastern North Dakota Synod family. It’s a place for learning and growing, for doing synod business, for thinking more intentionally about what it means to be the church. It’s also a place, perhaps even a table, where all are fed and nourished. Continue reading…
from Bishop Bill Rindy
Ah, Spring! The words sound so sweet… Yet the Lenten journey continues. The way of the Cross is still before us.
Dr. Harry Wendt, of Crossways International, says, “If we want to follow Jesus, we need to look good on wood.” I see the cross manifesting itself in the lives of those who give of themselves for the sake of others; often times for people they don’t even know. It’s what a child of God does in following Christ. Some are laying sandbags, others give of their life and time by feeding those doing the heavy lifting. The cross of Christ for each of us can take many shapes. Yet the mystery of it all is that when we lay down our lives for the sake of others, we truly find life. Sometimes we are even able to be joyful in our giving and in so doing, we reflect the image of the God by whom we were created. Imagine that.
Water may threaten buildings, but the Church stands strong. Continue reading…
Veteran Community Outreach Initiative:
Helping Connect Veterans and Families with Services
10th Annual Seminary on the Prairie
June 3-4, 2011
Red Willow Bible Camp – Binford, ND
An ecumenical event, open to all clergy and lay workers.
Seminary on the Prairie is a cooperative education offering between Tri-County Ministry (external link) and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN (external link). This annual event brings seminarians, clergy and lay people together for a week of learning and sharing ideas. It will be held at Red Willow Bible Camp (external link) of rural Binford, ND. Continue reading…
A Creative Prayer Retreat
Pre-Assembly Event
May 13, 2011
9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church – Moorhead, MN
All who wish to participate are invited. This year we wish to shift our focus and claim that we are not just the future of the church but we a vibrant expression of the body of Christ right now. As such we know that it is good for us to gather as the body of Christ, to pray and dwell in the presence of God and of one another, and to join the Holy Spirit in a time of creativity and expression. All of this combined will come together to create a worship experience that is completely unique to this day.
If we define worship as the creative expression of what God is up to in our lives then our worship may or may not look different than it does now. If we were free to express worship through artwork or gratitude through poetry what might a worship experience be like? Continue reading…
ELCA members, individuals and congregations, are responding to the destructive earthquake and devastating tsunami that hit Japan and other parts of Asia last week. In addition to the country, its people and leaders, prayers are requested for the 22 ELCA global mission personnel and their families who are ministering in Japan.
Donations may be sent to ELCA Disaster Response, designated for the Pacific Earthquake & Tsunami, and will be used entirely (100%) in response to this disaster.
Continue reading…
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