Answer: In both cases, no.
LCMS World Relief and Human Care is a giving opportunity with its roots and legacy going back to the days of the LCMS Board for Human Care, when it was a formally structured organizational department named LCMS World Relief and Human Care.
When the LCMS by convention action chose to implement a major organizational restructuring beginning in 2010, the Board for Human Care was dissolved. The mercy work previously performed under the name LCMS World Relief and Human Care was reassigned and co-managed under the newly established Office of International Mission and Office of National Mission, still using “LCMS World Relief and Human Care” or simply “Mercy.”
Due to the number of loyal contributors who remain passionate about this kind of ministry, the LCMS retains the use and ownership of LCMS World Relief and Human Care for branding and identifying LCMS mercy efforts aimed at humanitarian needs both in the U.S. and overseas. The aim, per convention mandate, is that this work is always accomplished in close proximity to Word and Sacrament ministry.
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is a separate nonprofit organization operating out of Baltimore, Md., and closely aligned with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), as well as with a conglomerate of social service and social justice agencies connected together under the name Corus. The LCMS is not an active partner in, nor a beneficiary of, Lutheran World Relief’s work. LWR does not, by its own statements, engage in Christian evangelism, and it performs its work solely in countries other than the U.S.
Similarly, the LCMS retains ownership rights to the brand LCMS World Mission (singular “mission”) even though the Board for Mission Services was dissolved in the Synod’s 2010 restructuring. The work previously performed by the Board for Mission Services through the formally structured department named LCMS World Mission is now carried out through both the Office of National Mission (domestic) and the Office of International Mission (overseas) as the chief Gospel-proclamation and outreach-focused mission and ministry of the LCMS.
Contributors are cautioned that another organization exists with a similar (but not identical) name: Lutheran World Missions (plural “missions”) located in Upper Marlboro, Md. (Washington D.C. area). That organization is a separately governed, independently operated nonprofit that does not hold any official status with the LCMS; it neither coordinates nor collaborates on any of its efforts with the LCMS Office of International Mission or the Office of National Mission.
Because this situation may cause confusion among contributors, by policy the LCMS considers every donation mailed to 1333 S. Kirkwood Road or to Post Office Box 66861 in St. Louis, Mo., as gifts intended by the donor for the support of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, EIN 43-0658188. We strongly urge donors to verify the address they wish to use in conjunction with the organization’s Tax/Employer Identification Number (EIN) to ensure they are sending their donation to the organization they wish to support.
| Organization |
LCMS (also LCMS Foundation) |
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) |
Lutheran World Missions |
| Pre-restructuring names |
LCMS World Relief & Human Care; LCMS World Mission |
|
|
| EIN/Tax ID number |
43-0658188 |
13-2574963 |
80-0356194 |
| Location |
St. Louis, MO |
Baltimore, MD |
Upper Marlboro, MD |
| PO Box |
66861 |
17061 |
400 |
| Zip code |
63166-6861 |
21297-1061 |
20773 |
| Affiliation |
LCMS |
ELCA |
Independent |
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