The Larger Life Foundation is celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2020. While this has been a difficult year for many – not the best time to celebrate anything – 100 years of aiding the Moravian Church, Northern Province shouldn’t go unnoticed.
The Larger Life Foundation’s purpose is to aid specific benevolent, charitable, education and missionary undertakings in the Moravian Church, Northern Province. Originally the Foundation supported nine ministries and agencies. Through the years, church needs evolved and increased, as did the growth of our funds and contributions, so that the Foundation was able to expand its reach. In 2020, the Larger Life Foundation supports 20 core agencies with substantial, semi-annual payments in fixed proportions in four-year commitments.
The core agencies are located in all Districts of the Province—Eastern, Western and Canadian—and include these ministries:
- Moravian Church Pension and/or Supplemental Healthcare Fund
- Northern Province provincial administration
- Canadian, Eastern and Western District programming
- Northern Province ministerial training
- Moravian Open Door
- Board of World Mission
- Moravian Archives
- Four Moravian camping ministries across the Northern Province
- Four Moravian retirement communities across the Northern Province
- Moravian College and Theological Seminary
- Two K-12 Moravian education private schools
In its 100 years of growth, the Larger Life Foundation has distributed over $12,000,000 to the core agencies. In 2019 alone, the Foundation distributed over $400,000.
Ultimate decision-making authority for the core ministry program resides with the Northern Province Provincial Synod and the Provincial Elders’ Conference during intersynodal years. Eighty percent of the portion of the funds distributed each year is allocated to the 20 core agencies. (The remaining 20 percent is allocated to smaller discretionary grants, now totaling 144. In addition, funds are kept available as needed for loans to churches for capital projects). The Board regularly reviews the core agency program, and each year the recipients provide the Larger Life Foundation Board with a report on how the funds supported their organization.
The following are excerpts from some of the responses to the Larger Life Foundation:
Moravian Archives:
“For us, the support from LLF is essential to fulfill our ministry of preserving the history of the church, providing educational programming to the church and the community, and of being a part of the life of our church.”
Moravian Open Door (MOD):
“In the Northern Province of the Moravian Church, MOD is the only social service ministry of its type that focuses on working with homeless individuals age 50 and over, who are most at risk for neglect and violence. MOD provides a safe space as well as a ‘family’ experience for many who have nowhere else to go, or no one else to turn to. The funds that we receive from the Larger Life Foundation help to offset the actual operating costs for this ministry, but more so, they provide us the opportunity to change lives for the better and to help our homeless clients to help themselves.”
Northern Province Ministerial Training:
“The Province uses these funds for direct tuition payments for approved ministerial candidates as they attend Moravian Theological Seminary …. without the generous support of LLF, the Province would have to sacrifice other ministries in order to fund seminary education.”
Moravian Academy:
“The funding from the Larger Life Foundation is important to Moravian Academy as it is one of the school’s larger Annual Fund donations and helps to inspire others, including parents, alumni, faculty and staff, to support the school.”
The 20 core agencies have been grateful to receive consistent funding for their programs. It has been a reliable and much-needed financial stream for their ministries. Larger Life Foundation support encompasses a wide range of critical needs, serves as a valuable connection to the greater Moravian Church and greatly strengthens the Moravian Church in its mission.
How blessed we are that our founding brothers who had the foresight and proposed to the Synod of the Northern Province the establishment of an endowment fund to support the educational, evangelical and charitable causes of the Moravian Church, Northern Province. The Larger Life Foundation now looks to the future with faith and gratitude.
The Larger Life Foundation relies exclusively on gifts from individuals, both large and small, to carry out its responsibilities. Gifts include cash, stocks or planned gifts. If you would like additional information on how you can support this on-going ministry, please refer to our website at www.largerlifefoundation.org or contact Tammy Curcio, treasurer for the Larger Life Foundation at 1-800-732-0591. n
Wendy Brockert is a trustee of the Larger Life Foundation and a member of Lake Mills Moravian Church, Lake Mills, Wisconsin