ELCA NEWS SERVICE November 15, 2005 ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Hopes for Council's Work 05-219-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spelled out his hopes for the ELCA Church Council, as the 37-member body -- with 11 new members elected by the 2005 Churchwide Assembly -- met for the first time in the 2005-2007 biennium. Several new advisors representing ethnic associations in the ELCA and other Lutheran institutions were at the meeting. The new advisors were included through governance proposals adopted by the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11-13. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-12, 2007. In his report to the council, Hanson expressed what he called "Advent hopefulness" for the members. He focused on six points: + that the council would be a "worshipping, praying, Word- centered" body + that the council would always "tend to our identity as Lutherans and our interdependence." The ELCA does not fully understand the church's interdependence among congregations, synods and the churchwide organization, with institutions, and with ecumenical and global partners, Hanson said. + that the council will always focus on mission, thinking strategically, "contextually immersed" and imaginative in its planning + that council members would serve as models of how to conduct personal stewardship and discipleship + that the council will support staff of the churchwide organization and programs. Hanson said the churchwide staff has endured a great deal through a multi-year restructuring process that culminated in approval at the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando. "My colleagues in this building (the Lutheran Center) have done an amazing job, often without recognition," he said. + that the council will focus on the church with a wide- angle lens and remember that the 2005 Churchwide Assembly "raised the bar" in its expectations for the ELCA. Hanson also reported on his recent travels as both presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Last week Hanson met Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City. In their conversation, Hanson said the two leaders reaffirmed the foundation that had been laid in the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), and agreed that the JDDJ should be a "living letter" for Roman Catholics and Lutherans. Following the meeting, Hanson said staff of the Vatican and the LWF discussed how to prepare for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Instead of talking about it as a significant date for "division," Hanson said they discussed how both churches could mark the date as a significant moment in the church, and discuss what Reformation means and how both will move forward. This fall Hanson also traveled to Brazil and Chile, where he witnessed the "profound impact of church-to-church relationships," he said. The trip also gave him a chance to see how a "companion synod relationship" works, he said. The Rev. Callon W. Holloway Jr., bishop of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus, accompanied Hanson in Brazil. Holloway's synod is seeking a companion relationship with a synod of the Igreja Evangelica de Confissao Luterana no Brasil (IECLB). Hanson also thanked ELCA members for their "generosity of money and spirit" this year in responding to the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami disaster in South Asia and the U.S. Gulf Coast hurricanes. More than $10 million was given for relief and recovery work in the wake of the tsunami; some $18 million in gifts were sent by members for relief and recovery following the hurricanes. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news