Title: Lutheran Men in Mission Shipping Bibles Across ELCA
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 14, 2003

LUTHERAN MEN IN MISSION SHIPPING BIBLES ACROSS ELCA
03-006-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's
ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), hopes to
start and engage men's ministry programs in up to 975 congregations by
putting the "Master Builders Bible for Men" into the hands of six men in
each of those congregations.  In January LMM is distributing up to 5,800
Bibles to ELCA congregations across the United States and Caribbean.
     "The plan is to identify 15 congregations in each of our 65
synods," said Douglas Haugen, LMM director, with priority given to new
and developing congregations.
     LMM is prepared to give Bibles to six men in each of those
congregations, he said, with the understanding that those six men will
study the "Men's Ministry Leaders Supplement" -- a 32-page section at
the front of each Bible -- and use it to start a men's ministry program
in their congregation.
     "We believe, if they follow that section step by step in their
congregation, it will help them build the foundation for a very
effective men's ministry," said Haugen.
     Leaders in each synod will maintain contact with those who
received a Bible, creating a network of men's ministry leaders across
the synod, said Haugen.  By the end of March, all the Bibles should have
been delivered and a network of thousands of men formed across the ELCA,
he said.
     Now in its second edition, about 13,500 copies of the Master
Builders Bible for Men are already in circulation, said Haugen.  LMM
published the Bibles in cooperation with Serendipity House Publishers,
Littleton, Colo.
     The Bible program would not be possible without the generosity of
individual donors, he said.  Doug Larson, real estate investor,
Menomonie, Wis., and Bill Sapp, truck stop owner, Omaha, Neb., were
principal donors in the effort, said Haugen.
     In addition to the New International Version of the Bible, each
hard-bound book includes about 20,000 questions written into study notes
"designed to help men build relationships within their groups as well as
to get to know God better," said Haugen.
     "The style of small-group Bible study that you have in the Master
Builders Bible is really non-defensive.  People are not going to be
there and be embarrassed because they don't have the right answer," said
Haugen.   "It's set up in a way that it opens doors to relationships,"
he said.
-- -- --
     The Lutheran Men in Mission home page is at
http://www.elca.org/LMM/ on the ELCA Web site.

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