St. Pauls Lutheran Church

These opportunities provide for your joyful participation in Christ's worldwide mission and ministry through St. Paul's Lutheran Church. God bless you as you seek to serve Him.

This page allows you to explore the various financial ways of supporting the ministry of St. Paul's. Making your weekly cash tithe or offering online, for example, may simply add convenience to your support of the church's ministry. Other ways, such as using stock or property for your tithe or offering, or automating your support through the creation of an endowment, may not be as familiar.

St. Paul's partner in ministry, The LCMS Foundation, can help support both your family and the ministries your care about. The LCMS Foundation's core belief is that God has developed a Christian Lifetime Plan for Giving in each baptized believer's heart. As Christ is a giving God, so we in our new creation at baptism are also giving people.

From setting across the table from thousands of people over the past fifty years, we at the LCMS Foundatio

n have found that God's people in Christ have in them a Lifetime Plan for Giving to their family and the ministries they love. This plan can be developed and fulfilled through the assistance of a gift planning counselor, so that you are making the very best gift to your family and heirs as well as the best gift to the ministries you love. "You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit...fruit that will last!" John 15:16.

I encourage you to contact Kirk Mueller, the gift planning counselor in the Missouri District to answer your questions. Call Kirk at 314-741-3700 or email him. His charitable expertise and services can help expand the ministry of St. Paul's through direct gifts used immediately for ministry, and deferred gifts, such as a bequest or gift annuity, that can be used for future benefit.

Kirk will begin your planning with prayer. He will discuss with you the people you want included in your planning and record the assets God has entrusted to your care. He will listen to the plan that God has placed in your heart for your family and the Lord's work and will work with your legal advisors to complete the plan.

The Gift Planning Counselor will help you through your plan as you discover your stewardship goals for a Christian estate and gift plan; design plans using your assets as the best gifts possible; outline your plan on paper; and help you accomplish the plan you wish to establish.

Below are listed several charitable instruments that can be part of your gift plan as you develop your distribution plan through a will or living trust. The LCMS Foundation's counselors promise that they have the charitable expertise and services to help you develop your passion for giving to family and all ministries of the church, today, tomorrow and forever.

Developing a plan is an important part of the Christian steward's life. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Those who complete their Lifetime Plan for Giving know that the plan God has placed in their heart will bless their family and ministry.

Click here to make an online gift to St. Paul's. A receipt for your gift will be immediately emailed to you upon completion of the gift.

Click here to read about the LCMS position on online giving and to learn about more automated giving opportunities through your bank or Simply Giving.

Want to make a direct gift of publicly traded securities or property? Please contact Kirk Mueller to learn how easy this is accomplished.

The LCMS Foundation can help you create a planned gift to support St. Paul's. The Foundation is able to use cash, publicly traded securities, property, etc., to establish a planned gift benefitting St. Paul's, or a gift through your estate (bequest) established when the Lord calls you home.

Below are common deferred gifts, how they work, basic tax and other financial benefits, and how deferred giving might be a good option for you. The LCMS Foundation will answer any questions you have and review your situation for designing the best gift for your family and St. Paul's.

An endowment fund is a gifting agreement between you and the Foundation where you designate St. Paul's Lutheran Church to receive your gift over a period of time. The timing and the amount of the distribution can be tailored to meet your specific ministry goals. The fund is managed by the LCMS Foundation, which invests the funds and makes the distributions to the selected ministries.

A Family Gift Fund is a descriptive name for an LCMS Foundation donor-advised fund. This is a form of endowment fund where you, or someone you choose, may offer advice as to when, how much, and to which charitable organization gifts should be made. A Family Gift Fund is a great gifting instrument if you are 1) seeking continued involvement with ministry, 2) looking for a simplified way to give to many different ministries or other charitable organizations, and 3) wanting to involve your family in the decision-making process of making gifts.

A Charitable Remainder Trust is a descriptive title for a trust that makes payments to you or your family and when the trust terminates, whatever is left in the trust (the remainder) is distributed as gifts to ministry. There are several types of trusts, but your stewardship goals and assets would determine the best type. A trust may be funded with cash, publicly traded securities, and/or real estate.

A bequest is a gift from your estate plan. It may be a specific gift amount, a specific asset, or even a percentage of your estate. One common technique is to adopt St. Paul's as "a child" and name St. Paul's as an additional beneficiary

To include St. Paul's Lutheran Church in your estate plan, we recommend the following language:

A Gift Annuity is a contract between The LCMS Foundation and the donor. The donor transfers property (cash or publicly traded securities) to The LCMS Foundation and the Foundation promises to pay the annuity for one life or two lives. After the death of the annuitant(s), the remainder of the gift is given to St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

These charitable instruments can stand alone, but are most effective when interwoven into your total Lifetime Plan for Giving design. Part of the service of the LCMS Foundation Gift Planning Counselor is to prepare an at-a-glance design to show your complete plan for your family and for ministry. Contact Kirk Mueller for assistance.

God bless your desire and passion to transfer to your family and to ministry the blessings entrusted to you.