Title: ELCA Council Agrees to Observers Proposal, Sets 2005 Assembly Site
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 15, 2002

ELCA COUNCIL AGREES TO OBSERVERS PROPOSAL, SETS 2005 ASSEMBLY SITE
02-085-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) accepted a proposal for two additional
registration categories for the 2003 Churchwide Assembly. The new
categories, proposed by the ELCA Office of the Secretary, are
congregation observers and seminary faculty representatives.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies. The council met here April 5-7. Assemblies are held every
other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee.
     Under the plan, each ELCA congregation may send one observer to
the churchwide assembly. Observers must register with the ELCA
Secretary before May 31 in the year of the assembly. Congregation
observers will receive assembly materials, but will have neither voice
nor vote, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary.
     Registration, transportation, housing and other costs will be the
responsibility of the observer or the congregation, Almen said.
     The plan also allows for one seminary faculty representative to be
appointed to attend the assembly by the presidents of each of the ELCA's
eight seminaries. Faculty representatives will not vote, but will have
voice if the assembly rules allow, Almen said. Travel, food and housing
costs will be borne by the assembly, he said.
     The ELCA Conference of Bishops and ELCA seminary presidents
affirmed the proposal, Almen said. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an
advisory body consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, ELCA
presiding bishop and ELCA secretary.
     "The purpose is to have more people who are knowledgeable about
the church, and to allow individuals to see what the assembly is all
about," Almen told the council. He said the idea is a "pilot project"
for the 2003 Churchwide Assembly.
     "The message from this is that we are trying to open up this
church as much as we can," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding
bishop.
     The Rev. April Ulring Larson, bishop of the ELCA LaCrosse (Wis.)
Area Synod, said she hoped most of the observers would be pastors
because of their significant connection to the church.
     At future assemblies, it may be possible to accommodate additional
new categories of observers, Hanson said.
     In a separate action, the council designated the Marriott World
Center in Orlando, Fla., as the site of the 2005 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly, subject to satisfactory completion of negotiations.
     Sites in Pittsburgh and Tampa were also considered before the
council designated the Orlando site for 2005, based on costs, housing
availability, transportation and other considerations.
     The 2005 assembly will be held Aug. 8-14. The Marriott World
Center was the site of the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

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