ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 11, 2008  

ELCA Presiding Bishop Thanks Women of the ELCA for Church Leadership
08-109-JB

     SALT LAKE CITY (ELCA) -- In a wide-ranging presentation July
10 the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) thanked Women of the ELCA participants for the
"countless ways" in which they are leading the church, and he
commented on topics such as biblical literacy, evangelism and
diversity for the whole church. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson presented
a "State of the ELCA" address here to delegates attending the
final session of the Women of the ELCA convention.
     Women of the ELCA's Seventh Triennial Convention was held
through July 10 here at the Salt Palace Convention Center.  More
than 2,000 women are expected July 10-13 for the Seventh
Triennial Gathering of Women of the ELCA.  The event theme, "Come
to the Waters," focuses on the celebration of Baptism through
Bible study, speakers, community service and worship.
     Hanson thanked the women's organization for grants it gives
to support a variety of domestic and international projects,
including programs to address HIV and AIDS, and other diseases;
for making and delivering quilts to people in need; for
investments in the ELCA Mission Investment Fund so the ELCA can
plant new congregations and support new ministries; for the
organization's focus on wellness for girls and women; and for its
continuing work to address racism and racial justice.
     Hanson discussed the ELCA's Book of Faith initiative, a five-
year initiative adopted by the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly,
with a goal of helping members "become fluent in the first
language of our faith, the language of Scripture," he said.
     "We ... need the Women of the ELCA to lead this initiative
because this is not a new initiative for you," Hanson told the
convention delegates. "This has been core to the life and the
work and the gathering of women around Scripture.  But now you've
got to lead the way so that we can make this commitment something
realized."
     In his role as president of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF), a global communion of 141 churches in 79 countries
representing 68.3 million of the world's Lutherans, Hanson
returned last month from official visits to Lutheran churches in
Kenya and Tanzania. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania
(ELCT) is growing, and its membership may soon surpass the 4.8
million-member ELCA, Hanson said.  He cited two reasons for the
ELCT's growth: a strong emphasis on evangelism among the members
of the church, and "holistic" mission in which sharing the gospel
is coupled with action, such as operating health clinics and
schools, working for human rights and caring for the environment.
     "They get it, and they are now teaching us," Hanson said.
He said many people in the ELCA are spending "too much energy
being preoccupied with our survival.  Our global companions know
that what is called for is revival.  Something very different
occurs when you think the Spirit is stirring a revival rather
than hoping we can survive another five years or 10 years."
     Hanson also told the delegates that for the ELCA to be an
evangelizing church, it must plant new congregations. He urged
congregations "to wake up" in their settings and recognize their
communities as mission fields. "Congregations must claim and
shape their ministries in response to those mission fields, and
that includes planting new congregations," he said.
     Hanson challenged the ELCA, 97 percent of whose members are
white, to become more diverse. Congregations must be willing to
be reborn as "diverse, ethnically rich" communities and be
transformed by new members, he said.
     The ELCA is a wealthy church, Hanson said, pointing to
statistics showing that in 2006 members gave more than $2 billion
to congregations and congregations held another $2.5 billion in
investments, endowments or foundations.  "How do we use those
gifts for the sake of God's work in the world rather than hold
onto them to preserve institutions?  That's the challenge before
us -- to shift our mindset from being a declining, depleting
church to being a called, gathered, sent, rich church for the
sake of the gospel and life of the world," he said.
---
     Audio of Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson's Women of the ELCA
convention presentation is on the ELCA Web site at:
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/080710a.mp3
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/080710b.mp3

     Information about the Women of the ELCA Seventh Triennial
Convention is at http://www.womenoftheELCA.org/tg08/tc.html on
the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
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