Outreach and Benevolence Ministry Objectives:

1. Bethany Outreach is to be Active and Action Oriented; to place our congregation out into the Community where they would gain an understanding of our neighbors and their lived life, environment, and challenges, etc.

2. Bethany Outreach should provide opportunities for the congregation to be personally and actively involved in the community, in addition to providing financial and in-kind contributions.

3. Bethany Outreach should ideally be centered on a strong, two-way partnership between the Congregation and the Local and Global Non-Profit organizations and ministries it supports.

4. Outreach and Benevolence should also consider and support Bethany member driven initiatives/projects/missions.

5. Partnerships with outside organizations and ministries, and Bethany member driven initiatives/projects/missions should align around and be consistent with Bethany mission, values and priorities.

Outreach and Benevolence Ministry Priorities and Guidelines:

1. An Outreach calendar that contains many “Living the Blessing” projects/events throughout the year is a priority. Benevolence budget should be set aside to help fund these “Living the Blessing” projects every year.

2. Although not required or necessary, there is a strong preference and priority to consider organizations/ministries/projects for Outreach/Benevolence funding support, where there is already a champion, point of contact, or a member in the congregation who has a relationship with that organization/ministry/project.

3. Bethany Outreach/Benevolence teams should incubate and nurture partners and champions. Champions should be recruited from the congregation, community, the partner, or an annual survey of the congregation.

4. It is important to not have too many Outreach partnerships and projects in-play simultaneously, as this may dilute support and may strain the bandwidth and resources of the Bethany staff, ministry teams, and members.

5. Strong consideration should be given for funding our partner organizations and ministries initially for only a given period (three years, five years), with a periodic reassessment of the partnership before renewal or termination.

6. There is a strong preference to partner with organizations whose mission and ministry parallels Christ’s ministry on earth (i.e., focus on homelessness, hunger, health and well-being, integration into the community, education, incarceration, etc.). Each focus area might include a large, mature organization/partner, as well as one or more smaller and less established partners.

7. There is a preference for supporting partnerships with outside, non-profit organizations whose ministries and programs are transformative in nature.

8. Our Benevolence budget allocation should also allow room for funding of some larger, multi-year initiatives and projects by our local and global partners. This may involve Bethany as part of a larger coalition of congregations and donors.

9. Direct support for galas is not the most effective way to channel Benevolence to our partners. Instead, we should use our Benevolence budget to fund more specific needs and programs of our partners. There can be some exceptions to this. For some local non-profit partners, a gala or other fundraising event is a key component of communicating their mission and programs to the community. Partner galas can be best supported, by advertising the gala details in our Bethany Lutheran news, email blasts, bulletins, and Outreach web page.

10. Bethany Lutheran Church and the Bethany Foundation are separate organizations. There is, therefore, not a need to have each organization have the same Outreach/Benevolence objectives/partners, etc. It is important that the two organizations remain in periodic communication, but it is not necessary to have alignment and coordination across the two organizations. The Bethany Foundation distributes grant funds in November and scholarship funds in May/June.

What is a Champion and What are Their Possible Roles at Bethany?

1. Someone who may identify with, has a connection or interest in, and/or has a passion for the mission of a local or global non-profit organization or ministry.

2. Somebody who may already have a relationship with a local or global non-profit organization or ministry, either through volunteering, financial support, employment and/or board membership, etc. They most likely have an understanding of the organization’s mission, programs, organization, needs, etc.

3. They could organize fundraising, Living the Blessing, and volunteer projects at Bethany for the local and global non-profit organizations.

4. They could coordinate communication between Bethany and the outside organization or ministry. They could help create communication at Bethany (email blasts, bulletin announcements, Beacon articles, web page updates, Facebook) to highlight volunteering opportunities, fundraising events and galas, tours, education, collection of in-kind donations, etc.

5. They could make the outside partner organizations aware of the various Benevolence opportunities at Bethany. They could coordinate the delivery of the partner grant requests to the appropriate Bethany ministry teams.

6. They could make the Bethany congregation aware of the available services provided by the Partner organizations to our members if needed.

7. They should communicate periodically with the Outreach Ministry Team as needed for planning and coordination of partner related activities.

This version of the Benevolence Ministry Team Objectives, Priorities and Guidelines was published on February 2023, was developed by a team made up leaders from the Ministry Council, Outreach Ministry Team, Global Missions Ministry Team, Benevolence Ministry Team, and the Bethany Foundation.