ELCA NEWS SERVICE
September 29, 2003
ELCA Outreach Board Responds to 'Future Design' of Structure
03-175-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Division for Outreach weighed the
strengths and weaknesses of a proposal that would restructure
the churchwide organization of the 5 million-member church in
February. The "future design" appears to dismantle many of the
barriers that keep different units of the church from working
with each other, but it also seems to diminish grass-root
participation in the church, the board said when it met here
Sept. 26-28.
"In some cases, the proposal was seen as coming from the
top down. That was an honest opinion expressed by several board
members," said Ronald J. Solimon, board chair, Albuquerque, N.M.
On Sept. 15 the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop
unveiled a proposal that the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding
bishop of the ELCA, will present to the ELCA Church Council in
November.
The ELCA's six divisions would become five departments. A
Department for Congregational Life and Evangelical Outreach
would, under the proposal, assume many of the responsibilities
of the current Division for Congregational Ministries and
Division for Outreach.
The consolidation of programs was one of the proposal's
strengths, Solimon said, reducing duplication and sometimes
triplication in work. He said that may result in cost savings
that could be used in more positive ways in the church.
The proposal is to eliminate 41 of about 500 staff
positions and create 18 new staff positions under a new
structure. It would eliminate the positions of executive
directors for three current ELCA divisions: Division for
Congregational Ministries, Division for Higher Education and
Schools, and Division for Outreach.
The Division for Outreach board expressed "concern for the
individuals who are going to be affected by these personnel
changes and that we, as a church body, take care of those people
in as Christ-like a way as we can," Solimon said.
The board passed a resolution requesting of the ELCA Church
Council that at least 30 percent of those interviewed for
executive positions created in the "future design" be people of
color or whose primary language is not English.
The board affirmed the ministry of the Rev. Richard Magnus,
executive director, ELCA Division for Outreach, and commended
him to the Church Council for consideration as executive
director for the proposed Department for Congregational Life and
Evangelical Outreach. It also asked the Church Council to give
the Division for Outreach board a significant role in selecting
the executive director for the proposed department.
The "future design" would also phase out existing boards of
divisions, asking the Church Council to develop appropriate
amendments to the ELCA Constitution for presentation to the 2005
Churchwide Assembly.
Instead of the Church Council having a set group of elected
board and committee members to consult, the proposal is for the
council to host consultations of representatives from each of
the ELCA's 65 synods and from appropriate churchwide entities to
address a specific and timely topic.
The ELCA is governed by a biennial churchwide assembly.
Between assemblies, the Church Council acts on the assembly's
behalf as the church's board of directors.
Solimon called eliminating boards "one of the sacrifices"
of the proposal. He said the 21-member boards brought people
together from across the church to discuss and make decisions on
a variety of topics and to take the work of the churchwide
organization back to their congregations and synods.
Hanson will present the proposal to the ELCA Church Council
during its next meeting, Nov. 14-16 in Charlotte, N.C. The
council can accept, modify or reject the proposal, taking
responses to the proposal into consideration.
If the Church Council approves a new churchwide structure,
implementation would begin Nov. 17. Staff holding positions to
be eliminated would be notified according to the personnel
policies of the church. Hiring processes for new staff
positions would begin Dec. 1. The new design would go into
effect Feb. 1, the first day of the ELCA's 2004 fiscal year.
A merger of three Lutheran churches formed the ELCA in
1988. The churchwide organization underwent a restructuring in
1991; and no structural changes were made to the Division for
Outreach at that time.
The board approved the ELCA Division for Outreach's
"Purpose, Guiding Principles and Outcome." The fifth and final
draft of the document outlined the division's relation to the
churchwide mission statement, vision statement and strategic
directions. It stated the "biblical and theological foundations
for outreach" and described "leadership for outreach with the
gospel."
"That was one of the major pieces the board was working
on," Solimon said. He hoped the document would set the tone for
the ELCA's future outreach, adding that it represents the best
wisdom the board could offer at this time.
The board:
+ approved a cooperative evangelism agreement with the Japan
Evangelical Lutheran Church;
+ conducted a teleconference with ELCA mission developers of
western states, meeting in Ontario, Calif.;
+ affirmed the intent of a resolution from the ELCA Minneapolis
Area Synod to give greater budgetary emphasis to developing
inner-city ministries;
+ elected Mary Louise Frenchman, Whittier, N.C., and Victor M.
Guzman, Charlotte, N.C., to serve six-year terms as trustees of
the ELCA Mission Investment Fund;
+ elected board members Lance W. Webster, Wayne, Neb., and the
Rev. Linda Boston, San Jose, Calif., to serve two-year terms as
at-large members of the board's executive committee; and
+ affirmed the appointment of the board's vice president,
Deborah C. Wilson, Ellenwood, Ga., to act as liaison to the
steering committee of the ELCA Commission for Multicultural
Ministries.
-- -- --
The "Proposal for the Future Design of the Churchwide
Organization" is available at http://www.elca.org/planning/ on
the ELCA Web site.
The Division for Outreach home page is at
http://www.elca.org/do/ on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
