ELCA NEWS SERVICE September 27, 2004 ELCA Board Adopts African American/Black Outreach Strategy 04-181-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Outreach reviewed, adopted and forwarded an African American/Black Outreach Strategy that has been more than a decade in the making. The board met here Sept. 17-18 to discuss a number of issues and make decisions. The division "achieved a major goal" when it adopted the African American/Black Outreach Strategy, said the board's chair, Ronald J. Solimon, Albuquerque, N.M. "It drives a lot of decision-making in the church. It drives a lot of efforts in the field and gives everyone a common frame of reference to refer to as the church moves forward," he said. The outreach strategy remains "a work in progress." "It is designed to be flexible, dynamic and changeable as the context and need dictate," it said. The African American Lutheran Association (AALA) called for the outreach strategy in 1993, and the ELCA Division for Outreach undertook the project later that year. The division appointed a consultative team to develop the strategy, which was first received in 1996. The team continued to meet twice a year, working collaboratively with AALA, the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries (CMM) and other units of the church. The outreach strategy complements a Plan of Action for Ministry in African Descent Communities (African Descent Ministry Strategy) the commission is developing. The outreach strategy outlines methods for collecting updated information on the ELCA's African American and Black membership, starting new congregations, helping existing congregations, identifying and preparing lay and ordained leaders, and developing similar strategies throughout the church. Among the strategy's emphases, it listed "ministry with and among the growing African immigrant populations" and "greater collaboration with Black leaders in our partner denominations and with historically Black denominations." The board commended the division's African American/Black Outreach Strategy to the ELCA Office of the Treasurer and Office of the Presiding Bishop for implementation. The Division for Outreach board reviewed two ministry strategies that CMM is developing: the African Descent Ministry Strategy and the Arab and Middle Eastern Ministry Strategy. The board prepared favorable responses to both CMM ministry strategies and sent them to the ELCA Church Council, which will consider placing the ministry strategies on the agenda of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The council meets here Nov. 11-15, and the next assembly will meet Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla. The board recommended to the Church Council that the division's African American/Black Outreach Strategy be attached to CMM's African Descent Ministry Strategy as it is forwarded to the 2005 Churchwide Assembly for action. Solimon said the ministry strategies "are reflective of the diversity that we have in the United States. We rely on people from those specific ethnic groups to provide input and guidance for developing the strategies." Much of the division's board meeting was devoted to reviewing a "Plan for Mission" -- proposals to reorganize the ELCA churchwide organization and the church's governance structure. The proposals include replacing divisions with program units and using program committees instead of boards. Board members met in small group and plenary discussions. Responses to the proposals were generally favorable, Solimon said. The board sent a few requests for greater detail, especially on starting new congregations and the church's intentional involvement of young Lutherans, to the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, will present the proposals to the ELCA Church Council in November. In another action the ELCA Division for Outreach board asked the council to "grant delay of any review" of the division's acknowledged relationship with Lutherans Concerned/North America as an independent Lutheran organization until the council's "Legal and Constitutional Review Committee determines a position on the category of acknowledgement of independent Lutheran organizations and/or Churchwide Assembly action on the policy decisions to be made in 2005." In 2002 the division granted an acknowledged relationship with Lutherans Concerned because of its cooperation with the division in developing hospitality guidelines for ELCA congregations. Lutherans Concerned supports "the acceptance and full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities" in the church. The ELCA is involved in a study to result in recommendations to the 2005 ELCA Church Assembly on blessing same-gender relationships and on allowing lay and ordained ministers in such relationships to serve in the church. "It seems to me that any action on our part at this point, prior to decisions around governance with the Plan for Mission and how this church will relate to independent Lutheran organizations or churchwide decisions on the issues to be faced at the Churchwide Assembly in August 2005 would give the wrong signals, no matter what the decision," said the Rev. Richard A. Magnus, executive director, ELCA Division for Outreach. -- -- -- The homepage of the Division for Outreach is at http://www.elca.org/outreach/ on the ELCA Web site. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news