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The leadership of LP is not keen on focusing on money. It is therefore up to us as the LP community to address the topic responsibly. To be responsible, the community needs to be informed. All of us are participating in Logopraxis for free because the New Church in Australia [NCIA] board votes to subsidize Logopraxis by paying all its expenses: salaries for David and Sarah, all computer and website expenses.
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We in Bryn Athyn, both GC and LNC, have the historical experience that all things connected with religion are provided gratis because both organizations are centrally run from a rich endowment. The New Church in Australia has no such endowment and no centralized government. The NCIA is a small volunteer board created to meet legal requirements as a church in Australia and to legally handle its funds. There is no Bishop. There is a congregational form of government. It is up to each Society to independently find and pay its own minister, and also pay membership dues into the NCIA. These dues and our donations are the NCIA’s working treasury from which it funds the Australian New Church College (ANCC).
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In a way, the Logopraxis community functions as an Australian congregation. It is the only one that does not pay dues to NCIA, yet it takes the lion’s share of its benefits. Consider this: The NCIA, has three people on its payroll:
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- the Director of Spiritual Training for the Australian New Church College (at this time, David Millar)
- Assistant to the Director of Spiritual Training (at a part time paid position) (at this time, Sarah Walker)
- Secretary of the NCIA Board (a part time paid position) (at this time, Kevin Attwater)
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As the Director of the ANCC, David Millar develops, oversees and delivers the courses for the College. He supports the College’s students, including all those in the Logopraxis groups he facilitates, those in other Logopraxis groups, as well as independent practitioners. With Sarah’s assistance, David also supplies content and keeps up the LP websites. Sarah also runs online LP Groups. The ANCC currently has 4 students who take regular online academic courses and pay tuition. The ANCC supports 66 of us as students doing Logopraxis, tuition free.
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In recent years the New Church Societies loosely connected by the legal organization of the NCIA are rapidly collapsing due to the aging membership. When a Society collapses, the assets (sometimes a Church building and a manse) are sold, and after mortgages, etc are settled, any proceeds go to the NCIA.
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As a result, in the past couple of years when assets got sold there was a small swell in the NCIA coffers. This swell amounted to no more than a couple of years of payroll, but in contrast to the hand to mouth operation of the past, brought temporary stability. However, the regular membership dues from those defunct Societies have been lost forever.
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With the end of income from historic sources in sight, LP will only continue as its immediate participants shape it. The proposal here is to take seriously what LP is in the world: a meeting point and support for people who are interested in participating in life from the perspective that:
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- the Heavenly Doctrines as revealed through Emmanuel Swedenborg are the Word
- the Word is the Lord
- the essential of charity is self-examination and repentance
- of themselves, human beings are nothing
- a Divinely gifted as-of-self allows for individual reception of what is of the Lord
To the extent that the existence of Logopraxis has made a contribution to your life, we invite you to contribute toward its organizational existence through
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- participation in the deep work
- participation in the work of rising above proprium in community
- regular financial contributions appropriate to your means
By our calculation, the LP community’s minimum share of David’s trip this May is $3000.
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In the Logopraxis spirit we invite you to take note of what arises within your thoughts and feelings in response to the information in this letter, to its tone or to the writers. Raise your thoughts above person, time and space. Consider and do according to your best lights.
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Dianna Synnestvedt and Gray Glenn
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