ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 19, 2004

ELCA Council Selects 2009 Assembly Site, Adopts Ethics Policies
04-220-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) designated the Minneapolis Convention Center as
the site of the 11th ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Aug. 17-23, 2009.  It also
adopted ethics policies for churchwide boards and employees, addressed
possible future health plan changes and determined a churchwide spending
authorization for 2005.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.  The
council met here Nov. 11-15.  Assemblies are held every other year; the
next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.
     The council designated Minneapolis as the site for 2009 "subject to
the satisfactory completion of negotiation(s) in the judgment of the
secretary."  As ELCA secretary, the Rev. Lowell G. Almen is responsible
for securing physical arrangements for churchwide assemblies.
     In a report to the council, Almen noted that the Minneapolis
Convention Center is located in the downtown area close to hotels,
restaurants and other attractions, and is next  to Central Lutheran
Church, one of the ELCA's largest congregations.  The convention center
was also the site of the ELCA's 4th Churchwide Assembly in 1995.
     At its April 2004 meeting, the council designated Chicago's Navy Pier
as the site of the 2007 Churchwide Assembly, Aug. 6-12, 2007.
     In other actions, the council:
     + adopted separate ethics polices for churchwide boards and
committees, and   employees.  Both policies address standards such as duty
of loyalty, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, care for the interests
of the churchwide organization, transactions and reporting, duty to
disclose and how violations of the policies may be addressed.
     + approved "in concept" a preliminary redesign of the ELCA health
plan for 2006.  From Jan. 6 to March 13, 2005, health plan members will
again be able to participate in a Web-based personal health risk
assessment, a partnership project of the ELCA Board of Pensions,
Minneapolis, and the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., said John G. Kapanke,
president of the Board of Pensions.  More than 10,000 members are already
registered on the site -- http://www.elcaforwellness.org -- on the Web,
Kapanke said.  The board offered a similar health risk assessment in early
2004 in which more than 4,500 people participated.
     + authorized current fund spending for the 2005 fiscal year of
$80,578,250, about $4.6 million less than was approved by the 2003
Churchwide Assembly.  Most of the reduction can be attributed to an
estimated decline in funds from congregational mission support made
available to the churchwide organization through synods.  It also
authorized world hunger spending at $16.5 million, the same as authorized
by the 2003 assembly.

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