ELCA NEWS SERVICE August 5, 2003 Committee Recommends ELCA Assembly Discuss Eight Topics 03-152-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will act on 76 memorials -- resolutions sent from the church's 65 synods. The assembly's memorials committee met here in June, organizing the resolutions into 40 categories and drafting recommendations to the assembly on how to deal with them. The assembly will be held August 11-17 in Milwaukee. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, meets every other year. Synods of the church hold assemblies each year. Synod assemblies may "memorialize" a churchwide assembly through resolutions. The memorials committee recommended the churchwide assembly deal with 24 resolutions in eight categories separately and another 32 categories "en bloc" -- in one action. It notes in its report to the assembly that 52 memorials fall into the "en bloc" categories because many "will come to the floor of the assembly for discussion elsewhere on the agenda." + Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers Four ELCA synods -- Metropolitan New York Synod, Slovak Zion Synod, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod and South-Central Synod of Wisconsin -- offered memorials on immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. They wanted the assembly to call upon the church's membership to ask Congress and the Bush Administration to increase the number of immigrants allowed into the United States, to protect the rights of all people regardless of citizenship and to provide better conditions for unaccompanied children and others seeking asylum. The memorials committee recommended the assembly follow the synods' advice. Its recommendation calls on the ELCA to ask President Bush to increase funding for the Migration and Refugee Assistance Fund, and to ask Congress to pass the Unaccompanied Child Protection Act of 2003. The recommendation also asked the ELCA to give greater support to the resettlement and advocacy work of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. + Peace in the Holy Land The ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod passed a memorial in 2002 asking the assembly to endorse the First Alexandria Declaration of Religious Leaders of the Holy Land, to assist financially the rebuilding of Palestinian civic structures and to work with Christians, Jews and Muslims to create an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. The memorials committee included a copy of the First Alexandria Declaration in its report to the assembly. It recommended the assembly affirm the declaration and interfaith activities while encouraging political negotiations under the current "road map" offered by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States. + Support for Lutheran Ministries in Palestine The ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod resolved to expand programs that educate its members on Middle East issues, to implement programs that foster communication with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine) (ELCJ) and to promote efforts to raise money to support ELCJ congregations and schools. It asked the churchwide assembly to do likewise. The memorials committee described the ELCA's relationship with the ELCJ and recommended the 2003 Churchwide Assembly reaffirm it. It also proposed the assembly commend the church's fund-raising and education programs, as well as its advocacy efforts related to the State of Israel's tax case against Augusta Victoria Hospital, which the Lutheran World Federation operates in Jerusalem. + Ecumenical Greetings The ELCA Upstate New York Synod noted that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) celebration of 100 years of Lutheran mission work in that African country will coincide with the ELCA assembly. The synod sent greetings to the African church, with which it has a "companion synod" relationship, and asked the churchwide assembly to do likewise. In its report to the assembly, the memorials committee included a June 23 letter from the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, to the Rev. L.M. Dube, bishop of the ELCZ, congratulating the church on its centennial. The committee recommended that the assembly "rejoice" with the ELCZ and remember that church in its prayers. According to the letter, the Rev. Marie C. Jerge, bishop of the Upstate New York Synod, will represent the ELCA during the ELCZ celebration Aug. 14-17. + Representation of Congregations in Voting The ELCA Montana Synod asked that its congregations keep their members informed of "all sides of constitutional issues being considered" in the church. The synod challenged the ELCA polity that assembly voting members represent the whole church, and they are not delegates, representing specific portions of the church. The memorials committee gave a history of the polity in its report to the assembly and gave examples of how it has applied to constitutional and other major votes in the ELCA. Its recommendation was for the assembly to encourage keeping all ELCA members informed of issues concerning the church and to affirm the church's existing "principles of organization." + Ratification of Policy and Governing Documents Six synods adopted memorials asking the 2003 Churchwide Assembly to institute a process of having the church's synods or congregations ratify certain decisions of the churchwide assembly. The ELCA Eastern Washington-Idaho, Northwestern Minnesota and Northeastern Minnesota Synods said changes to the ELCA Constitution should be ratified by the synods. The East- Central Synod of Wisconsin and South Dakota Synod said a majority of the ELCA's congregations should ratify changes in policy regarding the ordination of homosexuals. The Minneapolis Area Synod said formal relationships with other church bodies should be ratified by the congregations. The memorials committee report referred to four other synods that passed similar resolutions that were sent to the ELCA Church Council, the church's chief legislative authority between churchwide assemblies. The committee included a detailed analysis of each proposal, as well as precedence for and against ratification in earlier Lutheran churches, and recommended the assembly encourage congregations and synods to make full use of the study and response mechanisms the church provides prior to an assembly decision. + ELCA Studies on Sexuality Time Line The ELCA's 2001 Churchwide Assembly called for a study that would lead to recommendations to the 2005 Churchwide Assembly on whether or not to bless same-gender relationships and whether or not people in such relationships should be pastors or lay ministers of the church. The 2001 assembly also asked the ELCA Division for Church in Society to draft and propose a social statement on human sexuality. The ELCA Division for Ministry, which develops standards for the church's pastors and lay ministers, and the Division for Church in Society came up with a time line to conduct a joint churchwide study of issues related to homosexuality that would present recommendations to the 2005 assembly. That study would expand to include other issues related to human sexuality and inform the drafting of a social statement that the 2007 Churchwide Assembly would consider. Seven synods passed memorials about that time line. The ELCA Central-Southern Illinois Synod affirmed the time line; the other six synods said topics of human sexuality should be addressed before the church makes policy decisions regarding homosexuality. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod said the decisions should be made once a final report on sexuality is presented; the Allegheny Synod action on the social statement should come before other decisions; the Lower Susquehanna, Nebraska and Northwestern Pennsylvania Synods said a social statement on human sexuality should be adopted first; and the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod said policy decisions should be made two churchwide assemblies after the sexuality study is approved. The memorials committee recommended that the 2003 Churchwide Assembly commend the current ELCA Studies on Sexuality and "decline to alter the time line." + Commemorations The ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod and New England Synod each adopted resolutions to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Rev. Justus Falckner, the first Lutheran ordained in North America. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod designated June 3 as an official day of commemoration for the life and work of the Rev. William A. Passavant (1821-1894) in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. The synods passed memorials asking the churchwide assembly to direct that future calendars of commemorations include the names of Falckner and Passavant. The memorials committee reported that the calendar of commemorations is printed in the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) and that the ELCA is currently in the process of replacing the LBW. It recommended that the assembly remember the ministries of Falckner and Passavant, while referring the memorials to the editorial team responsible for developing the church's worship resources. + En Bloc The memorials committee placed 52 memorials in 32 categories and recommended they be dealt with in one action. Voting members will have the opportunity to remove items from "en bloc" to be discussed and acted on separately. Most memorials that the committee chose for "en bloc" consideration were received from individual synods, but the committee placed multiple memorials into several categories that it also chose for "en bloc" consideration. The Churchwide Assembly is to act on a proposed evangelism strategy. Nine synods sent resolutions asking the assembly to approve "Sharing Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." The memorials committee asked the assembly to affirm the intent of the resolutions and to refer to its own action on the strategy. Six synods sent resolutions on working against racism; the memorials committee asked the assembly to commend the ELCA's anti- racism work and to encourage continued efforts. Three synods sent resolutions on pastoral care for gay and lesbian people; the committee asked the assembly to express the concerns of the synods to the ELCA Conference of Bishops and to the Studies on Sexuality. It recommended that the assembly refer three memorials on requests for consideration by the ELCA Studies on Sexuality task force directly to the task force. The committee received three memorials on prison reform and recommended the churchwide assembly encourage study and advocacy for prison reform but not request a social statement on the topic. It also recommended the assembly not make any changes to policies on the installation of bishops and that the assembly refer as information two memorials suggesting constitutional changes. -- -- -- Information on the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is available at http://www.elca.org/assembly03 on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news