ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 26, 2004

ELCA Global Mission Board Recommends International Action
04-051-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission (DGM)
recommended the ELCA Church Council consider resolutions on
international mission and ministry, and attended to other
business when it met here March 19-21.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies.  It will meet here April 16-19.
     The DGM board recommended that the council acknowledge the
Rev. Munib A. Younan's call for the ELCA to advocate peace and
reconciliation in the Middle East under the theme "No More
Walls."  Younan is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Jordan (ELCJ) and Palestine.
     In a letter to the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of
the ELCA, Younan said the wall designed to separate Israeli from
Palestinian territories in the West Bank is "not needed and its
construction and growth are steadily destroying our hope for a
two-state solution in this land."  The board used Younan's letter
to craft its resolution.
     The Rev. Said R. Ailabouni, director for Europe and the
Middle East, DGM, told the board that the separation wall
"prevents patients from traveling to Augusta Victoria Hospital.
It is an evil, and the church cannot remain silent.  The 'Road
Map' for peace hasn't gotten us anywhere."  Augusta Victoria is a
hospital of the Lutheran World Federation -- a global communion
of Christian churches based in Geneva, Switzerland, of which the
ELCA is a member.
     Christoph Schneider-Yattara, associate director for
companionship education and advocacy for Asia, Europe and the
Middle East, DGM, shared with the board his experience of growing
up in the former East Germany.  "We never prayed for the [Berlin]
wall to be torn down.  It never entered our minds.  We did pray
for peace for many, many years.  In November 1989 it was a
miracle when the wall came down.  It made me realize how God
answers prayers.  We asked God for a more democratic society, but
what we got was freedom."
     In the same resolution, the board cited the construction of
a wall along the United States and Mexico border, near San Diego
and Tijuana.  It stated that "existing and new" U.S. immigration
policies and procedures "create barriers between people" and
foster "discrimination against the poor" and "against people of
color."
     Kamy Moghbeli, DGM board member, Baldwin, N.Y., said, "The
wall along the United States-Mexican border is just as awful as
the one in Palestine."
     The board also requested that the ELCA Office of the
Presiding Bishop work with DGM and the ELCA Division for Church
in Society, in consultation with the Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service (LIRS) and other relevant churchwide units, to
prepare a report with recommendations for action on the
construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border for
presentation to the DGM board at its October meeting.
     LIRS is a ministry of the ELCA, Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod and Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
     In a separate resolution, the DGM board asked the council to
express its commitment to "walk with the Lutheran Church in
Liberia" and "express its deep appreciation" to Liberians, who
are taking leadership in rebuilding their country after 14 years
of civil war.  A peace accord reached on Aug. 18, 2003, created
an opportunity for Liberians to rebuild communities and
relationships.  Lutheran mission personnel began returning to
Liberia for service in October.
     The board's resolution asked the council to call on members
of the church to learn more about Liberia and pray for its
people, contribute to the reconstruction of the African country
through mission support and give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal,
and to advocate for the United States to monitor the peacemaking,
reconciliation and reconstruction processes through the ELCA
Division for Church in Society.
     The council will receive a resolution about "Stand With
Africa:  A Campaign of Hope" from the DGM board.  Stand With
Africa began as a three-year Lutheran campaign in 2000.  It was
designed to focus on issues significant to Africa, including
HIV/AIDS, food security, and peace and reconciliation.  The
resolution affirmed the continuation of Stand With Africa as a
"second mile" giving opportunity and reaffirmed the ELCA's
commitment to accompany companion churches and partner agencies
in Africa.
     In other business, the board:
     + reviewed the division's work plan for this year. The Rev.
Rafael Malpica Padilla, DGM executive director, reported to the
board on a number of spending reductions and staff changes to
manage the ELCA churchwide organization's declining income.
     "These are critical times," said Malpica Padilla in his
written report to the board.  "The serious financial situation
and the deep budget reductions for fiscal years 2003 and 2004
threaten to result in significant reductions in programs that are
central to mission at home and abroad," he wrote.
     + participated in a process to redesign the ELCA churchwide
organization.  Next steps for "Faithful Yet Changing:  The Plan
for Mission in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America"
outlines the restructuring process based on the mission statement
and strategic directions affirmed by the 2003 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly.  The presiding bishop is expected to recommend a
proposal for the reorganization of the churchwide structure,
budget and staff to the Church Council in November 2004.
     + received presentations from two international guests:
Maria Soledad Puebla, a member of the Evangelical  Lutheran
Church in Chile, and the Rev. Julius Filo, general bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Augsburg Confession in Slovakia.
-- -- --
     An audio report on Filo's presentation is available at
(Real) http://media.elca.org/ramgen/audionews/040325.rm
 or
(MP3) http://media.elca.org/ramgen/audionews/040325.mp3
on the ELCA Web site.
     Information about the ELCA Division for Global Mission is
maintained at http://www.elca.org/dgm/ on the Internet.

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