Title: ELCA Outreach Board Reviews Church Strategies
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 5, 2003
ELCA OUTREACH BOARD REVIEWS CHURCH STRATEGIES
03-040-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) Division for Outreach reviewed an evangelism strategy and
draft documents of an ELCA strategic planning process. The board also
elected officers and conducted other business when it met here Feb. 28-
March 2.
The Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop of the ELCA Northern Illinois
Synod, Rockford, shared a draft of the evangelism strategy, "Sharing
Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in the ELCA," with the
board. The document is the work of the ELCA Evangelism Strategy Task
Force, which Wollersheim chairs.
In small groups board members discussed the evangelism strategy
and then examined "Faithful Yet Changing: ELCA Planning for Mission," a
draft document of the church's strategic planning. Faithful Yet
Changing proposed a mission statement, a vision statement, a signature
phrase and five strategic directions for the ELCA.
Calling it more a grassroots "renewal movement" than a new
"program," the Division for Outreach board strongly affirmed the
evangelism strategy and commended it to the whole ELCA.
"The idea of evangelical outreach as a movement was critical in
our discussion," said Dorothy Baumgartner, DO board chair, Shoreline,
Wash. "It is our hope that this strategy will initiate an evangelical
movement -- a movement of spiritual renewal that encourages people to
witness their faith to their neighbor," she said.
"Changing hearts and lives is what the gospel is all about," said
Baumgartner. "That is foundational to anything that we do in the
church," she said.
The board supported the grassroots nature of the strategy and
suggested that the church develop an executive summary and other
materials to help ELCA congregations implement the strategy. It called
for all materials to be developed in as many languages as the ELCA
Commission for Multicultural Ministries may recommend, empowering
leaders for evangelical outreach in each of the ELCA's language
communities.
On the ELCA strategic planning document, the Division for Outreach
board asked the planning and evaluation committee of the ELCA Church
Council, which is managing the planning process, to "simplify and
clarify the content" of its current draft.
"It is our hope that there's a very clear biblical mandate in our
mission and in our vision and directions," said Baumgartner.
The board suggested the vision and mission statements could each
be reduced to a single phrase or sentence. It said, rather than five
strategic directions, the evangelism strategy could be received as the
first direction and that a second direction, which it called "faith in
action," could be developed in the next two years.
"As we looked at the evangelism strategy, we realized that kind of
movement in the ELCA is critical and foundational to anything else we do
as a church," said Baumgartner. "We acknowledge that the evangelism
strategy really needs to be the first part of the strategic direction of
this church, regardless of what the others may end up being," she said.
Even if the planning and evaluation committee doesn't make overall
changes to the strategic planning document, the board suggested adding a
strategic direction for the ELCA "to become an anti-racist and
multicultural church."
In other business, the Division for Outreach board received a
report closing the Institute for Mission at Trinity Lutheran Seminary,
Columbus, Ohio, and expressed "deep gratitude" to Carol Dixon, the Rev.
Kenneth Sauer and the Rev. Wayne Stumme for their work over the 18 years
of the Institute.
Board members commended the establishment of a Small Town and
Rural Ministry Alliance, after receiving a report that suggested housing
the alliance in the Division for Outreach.
The board elected Ronald Solimon, Albuquerque, N.M., to serve the
next two years as its chair. "Ron is a very fine man of God and a very
capable leader. I'm excited to see what his gifts will bring," said
Baumgartner, who leaves the board this year.
Deborah C. Wilson, Ellenwood, Ga., was elected vice chair. The
Rev. J. Elise Brown, New York, was elected secretary.
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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://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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