Title: Aid Association for Lutherans Awards Grants to ELCA Synod Projects
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 27, 2001

AID ASSOCIATION FOR LUTHERANS AWARDS GRANTS TO ELCA SYNOD PROJECTS
00-204-MM*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) awarded 19
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) synod ministry projects
grants totaling $244,000 as part of the agency's Judicatory Grant
Program 2001 Project Awards.
     AAL is a fraternal benefit organization based in Appleton, Wis.
Recently, AAL announced plans to merge with Lutheran Brotherhood
Foundation, Minneapolis, also a fraternal benefit organization, by the
end of this year.
     The Judicatory Grant Program is funded annually by AAL for the
purpose of assisting the synods of the ELCA to develop and pursue
projects that impact the outreach mission of the church.
     "The projects awarded this year support synodical efforts in
evangelism and outreach, including 'ethnic specific' initiatives, family
and youth ministry, and leadership development and training," said Tammy
Jackson, associate director, ELCA Department for Synodical Relations.
     "The ELCA grant allocation decisions are made jointly by the
Synodical-Churchwide Relations Committee of the Conference of Bishops
and AAL," she said.
     "We are deeply grateful for AAL's partnership and the many ways
they support the ELCA's mission.  New synodical initiatives and visions
of future endeavors are made possible through the Judicatory Grant
Program," Jackson said.
     Proposals for grants were considered from 43 ELCA synods and
awarded as follows:
     + "Be an Inviting Place," ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod,
$9,000: This training seminar will include resource materials and media
outreach to help pastors and lay leaders build inviting ministries in
their congregations.
     + "Candidacy Web Cards," ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin,
ELCA La Crosse Area Synod and ELCA Northwestern Synod of Wisconsin,
$20,000: This grant will help produce a Candidacy Web Card -- a card the
size of a credit card that is inserted into the CD drive of a computer -- 
designed to interest young people in pursuing careers in ministry and
providing hyperlinks to the three synod Web sites.
     + "The Child in Our Hands Conference," ELCA Northeastern Minnesota
Synod, $6,000: This conference, conducted by the Augsburg College Youth
and Family Institute, will help congregations learn how to nurture and
teach the faith to young people more effectively.
     + "A Child in Our Hands Training Event," ELCA Southwestern
Washington Synod, $8,000: This project will provide scholarships for
congregational leaders to attend the "A Child in Our Hands" training
event to help congregational leadership teams develop action plans for
effective youth and family ministry.
     + "Come2go Ministries," ELCA Indiana-Kentucky Synod, $10,000: This
program will conduct satellite mission outreach among young adults in
the proximity of Resurrection Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind., to
engage people in worship, small group Bible studies and to encourage
each person to use his or her gifts and talents for serving others in
the community.
     + "Developing Healthy Congregations," ELCA Pacifica Synod,
$15,000: This grant will enable the synod to train and deploy pastor
representatives from each of the synod's 10 conferences to be
facilitators for Healthy Congregation Workshops.
     + "Evangelical Outreach in Latino Communities," Texas-Louisiana
Gulf Coast Synod, $9,000: This grant will be used to design and develop
resources for church leaders to reach out to the Latino community.
     + "Evangelical Partners," ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, $5,000:
This program will train 12 clergy and laity to serve as a group of
congregational leadership consultants.
     + "Faith-Based U.S.S. Congregation Preschool Ministry," ELCA Upper
Susquehanna Synod, $5,000: This grant will fund a series of meetings
that will help congregational and preschool leaders to understand,
promote and develop preschool ministries as an evangelism and teaching
resource of a congregation.
     + "A Movement for Mission," ELCA Oregon Synod, $20,000: This 12-
month consultation process will produce and equip congregational
missional strategies, start new congregations, initiate multicultural
ministries and equip leaders for contextual missional engagement in all
of the congregations of the synod.
     + "Multi-Synodical Leadership Training," ELCA North/West Lower
Michigan Synod, $20,000: This synod will use the grant to conduct a
leadership training event to help church workers reach out to an
increasingly multicultural unchurched population.
     + "Outreach and Evangelism through Service -- Morgan State
University," ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod, $20,000: Campus ministry
outreach to college students will be improved through promotion and
involvement in community service and justice-oriented activities,
including providing services needed by children at risk, the homeless
and addicted.
     + "SproutReach -- New and Through," ELCA South-Central Synod of
Wisconsin, $20,000: This grant will be used to train and deploy lay
ministers in 20 congregations to expand outreach ministries in cross-
cultural ethnic communities.
     + "Synod Resource Center," Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, $20,000:
This grant will be used to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of
the synod's resource center as a hub of accessible information for ELCA
synods and congregations.
     + "Synodically Authorized Ministry Program Development and
Implementation," ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, $20,000: This program
will develop and implement a ministry to train people to become lay
pastors by helping lay people fulfill their calling as the people of God
in unique leadership positions and to offer congregations of this church
trained leadership for mission.
     + "Tri-Synodical Latino Leader's Retreat," ELCA Southwestern
Texas, Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast and Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana
Synods, $9,000: These synods will conduct a Latino leaders retreat,
drawing together pastors and mission developers for the purpose of
developing mission strategy, holistic care, contextual ministry and
leadership development.
     + "Venture in Vocation," Northern Texas-Northern Louisianan Synod,
$3,000: Three different church worker recruitment open house events for
junior and senior high school youth will be conducted with the intent of
both nurturing and challenging the faith of young adults to become
active in professional church service as pastors, diaconal minsters,
deaconesses or associates in ministry.
     + "The Virginia Synod Academy for Ministry," ELCA Virginia Synod,"
$15,000: The synod will develop four Lay Schools of Theology that will
train students to be teachers and witnessing agents in their homes,
churches and communities.
     + "Young Adult Ministry," ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod, $10,000:
The synod will use this grant to create a unique ministry source and
resource to reach out to young adults (ages 18-35) in downtown
Minneapolis who comprise a larger proportion of residents in the city
than neighboring cities.
-- -- --
*Michelle T. Mills is a senior at Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.  This
summer she is an intern with ELCA News & Information.

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