ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 16, 2005

ELCA Churchwide Assembly To Meet In Orlando, Fla., Aug. 8-14
05-106-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Voting members of the 2005 Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly will act on
several proposals -- including plans for restructuring and
governance changes for the ELCA churchwide organization, new
worship resources, interim Eucharistic sharing with the United
Methodist Church, proposals emerging from the ELCA Studies on
Sexuality and two ethnic ministry strategies.  The assembly will
be held Aug. 8-14 at the World Center Marriott Resort and
Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.
     About 2,000 people -- including 1,018 voting members elected
by synods -- are expected to participate in the ELCA's ninth
biennial assembly. The theme is "Marked With the Cross of Christ
Forever," taken from the ELCA's mission statement.
     The Churchwide Assembly is the ELCA's chief legislative
authority and represents the 5 million members of the ELCA across
the United States and Caribbean.  The ELCA is the fifth largest
Protestant denomination in the United States and is organized
into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop.
     The ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod, led by its bishop, the Rev.
Edward R. Benoway, is hosting the assembly, and volunteers from
the synod have been involved in making local arrangements.  A
committee of the churchwide organization is planning details of
the assembly and is chaired by Myrna J. Sheie, executive
assistant to the presiding bishop.
     Daily worship, Bible study and prayer are planned. Bible
study will focus on the assembly theme.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, in his fourth year as ELCA
presiding bishop, will chair the assembly.  Hanson is also
president of the 66-million member Lutheran World Federation,
based in Geneva, Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of the LWF.
Assisting Hanson during plenary will be the Rev. Lowell G. Almen,
ELCA secretary, and Carlos Pena, ELCA vice president, Galveston,
Texas.
     Continuing with a program established at the 2003 assembly,
official "congregational observers" may attend by registering
with the ELCA Office of the Secretary.  Each of the ELCA's 10,657
congregations may send one representative. Observers will have
reserved seating in the plenary hall, and receive reports and
materials. Official observers have no voice or vote in assembly
discussions.
     The ELCA constitution requires a churchwide assembly every
two years. Significant funding for the assembly is provided by
the churchwide organization with some financial support from
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a not-for-profit financial
services organization based in Minneapolis.

Restructuring, Governance Changes Proposed for Churchwide
Organization
     Last November, the ELCA Church Council transmitted to the
assembly for final consideration a report and recommendations for
restructuring the work of the churchwide organization, as well as
a report on proposed governance changes.
     The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies.
     If the restructuring plan and corresponding amendments to
governing and policy documents are adopted, the churchwide
organization will enter the design's implementation phase.
     The proposal organizes the work of the churchwide
organization into seven program units: Church in Society;
Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission; Global Mission;
Multicultural Ministries; and Vocation and Education.  Augsburg
Fortress Publishers, the ELCA publishing ministry, and Women of
the ELCA, the church's women's organization, remain as separately
incorporated units.
     The Office of the Presiding Bishop will retain its present
functions and be responsible for ecumenical and interreligious
relations, human resources, research and evaluation, synodical
relations and worship.  The Office of the Treasurer will retain
its present functions, including information technology and
management services. The Office of the Secretary will retain its
present functions.
     There are six service units in the proposal: Communication,
which includes a new relationship with The Lutheran, the magazine
of the ELCA; Development Services, including the ELCA Foundation
and the separately incorporated Endowment Fund; and the
separately incorporated Mission Investment Fund and Board of
Pensions, both of which would retain their current roles.
     As for proposed governance changes, the council and ELCA
Conference of Bishops will provide a "systematic and
standardized" process to enable members in synods to discuss and
respond to significant decisions to be made by the assembly,
beginning in 2007.  The churchwide organization and council will
be committed to consult regularly with synods, particularly in
years when there is no Churchwide Assembly.
     The Church Council will remain at 33 voting members plus the
four churchwide officers: the presiding bishop, vice president,
secretary and treasurer. Council members would be nominated by
synods and elected by the Churchwide Assembly beginning in 2007.
     A number of new advisors would be formally welcomed at
council meetings.  Existing boards and committees that relate to
divisions and departments of the churchwide organization would
become program committees with advisory responsibilities.

Worship Proposal Result of Significant Participation in Project
     The ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries and Augsburg
Fortress Publishers are coordinating the ELCA's Renewing Worship
project.
     The assembly will act on a proposal that directs the ELCA
Office of the Presiding Bishop to complete a liturgical review of
proposed content for a new book of worship. It calls on the
presiding bishop to work with the church to further the
development of worship resources and commit to ecumenical
cooperation in the development of these resources.
     The "next generation" of resources for Renewing Worship
involves the development and availability of a "family" of
resources that has at its center a new primary book of worship.
     The proposal acknowledges the widespread participation of
Lutherans in the worship project, including development of
provisional resources, testing and responding to proposals,
participation in worship events and congregational engagement on
issues related to worship.

Interim Eucharistic Sharing an Interim Step Toward Possible Full
Communion
     The Church Council recommended that the assembly approve a
relationship of "Interim Sharing of the Eucharist" between the
ELCA and the United Methodist Church.
     The United Methodist Church's Council of Bishops approved
the interim agreement in May. The two churches have been involved
in theological dialogue for nearly 30 years.
     With an interim commitment, congregations and judicatories
of both churches will be encouraged to study theological
documents, participate jointly in Holy Communion and explore new
opportunities for shared ministry.  Eventually, the two churches
may achieve a relationship of full communion, which would allow
for clergy of one church body to serve in congregations of the
other church and would create opportunities for joint ministry.

Sexuality Proposals Result of a Four-Year Effort
     The Church Council developed and forwarded resolutions to
the assembly which address whether or not the church will bless
same-sex relationships and whether or not the ELCA will allow
people in such relationships to serve the church as professional
lay and ordained ministers.
     The proposals were developed during the first part of a six-
year study process known as the "ELCA Studies on Sexuality."  A
study director and a task force developed a report and
recommendations, and made them public Jan. 13.  Church members
were encouraged to respond to the recommendations; responses were
provided to the council as it considered resolutions for assembly
action.  The council offered three resolutions:
     + In keeping with a task force recommendation, the council
drafted an assembly resolution "that the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America -- its members, congregations, synods,
churchwide organization, and agencies and institutions -- be
urged to concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully
in the midst of disagreements, recognizing the God-given mission
and communion that we share as members of the body of Christ."
This proposal requires a majority vote for adoption.
     + A second assembly resolution proposes "that the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continue to respect the
guidance of the 1993 advisory statement of the Conference of
Bishops" and "that this church welcome gay and lesbian persons
into its life . and trust pastors and congregations to discern
ways to provide faithful pastoral care to same-sex couples."
This proposal also requires a majority vote for adoption.
     The 1993 advisory statement said the Conference of Bishops
finds no basis in Scripture for blessing homosexual
relationships, and that conference members do not approve such a
ceremony as an official action of the ELCA's ministry.
     + The third resolution would "create a process for the sake
of outreach, ministry and the commitment to continuing dialogue,
which may permit exceptions to the expectations regarding sexual
conduct for gay or lesbian candidates and rostered leaders in
life-long, committed and faithful same-sex relationships who
otherwise are determined to be in compliance" with the conduct
the church expects of its ministers.  This proposal requires a
two-thirds vote of the assembly for adoption because
constitutional bylaws must be amended.
     "Rostered" leaders of the ELCA are lay and ordained
ministers of the church. Lay ministers are associates in
ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.
     The council drafted specific bylaws that the assembly will
consider, defining the process for exceptions.
     The council's recommendations serve as a starting point for
the deliberation and decisions of the Churchwide Assembly in
August.  The assembly also will have resolutions from synods and
from its own voting members, and the report and recommendations
of the task force for the ELCA Studies of Sexuality to consider.

Two Ethnic Ministry Strategies to be Considered
     The assembly will consider the "Arab and Middle Eastern
Ministry Strategy: Bridges Across History, Lands and Cultures"
and the African Descent ministry strategy -- "Many Voices Tell
the Story, Create the Vision: Build the Future" -- in an effort
to intensify outreach and recommit the ELCA to partnership with
existing Arab and Middle Eastern and African Descent
congregations.
     The Arab and Middle Eastern ministry strategy outlines a
plan to start five new congregations in the next 10 years and
seeks a deeper partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Jordan and the Holy Land.  Other components of the strategy
are a mission statement, historical background on the ELCA Arab
and Middle Eastern community, theological and biblical
foundations, and goals and strategies.
     Of the ELCA's five million members there are 55,000 members
of African descent.  The strategy is intended to help sustain the
strength of the 240 African descent congregations, so that they
can be a model for the wider church on how to engage in ministry
among people of African descent.
     The strategy features a theological statement, comments on
vision, mission opportunities, goals and "mission actions"
regarding pastoral leadership, worship, witness, discipleship,
stewardship, family ministries, social justice, and unity and
diversity.  It builds on the work of the African American
Lutheran Association of the ELCA.

Assembly to Consider Middle East Action Steps, Budgets, Conduct
Elections
     Several other reports and actions are expected at the 2005
Churchwide Assembly:
     + The assembly will consider adoption of action steps
related to the "Churchwide Strategy for ELCA Engagement in Israel
and Palestine," adopted by the Church Council in April 2005.  The
proposal calls for the ELCA and related agencies and institutions
to participate in the churchwide campaign for peace, "Peace Not
Walls: Stand for Justice in the Holy Land," through awareness-
building, accompaniment and advocacy activities.  Voting members
will also be asked to "link" the 2005 assembly with 2006 synod
assemblies by sharing communion ware made in Bethlehem with
congregations, as a  demonstration of the ELCA's solidarity with
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
     + The ELCA churchwide organization's budgets for 2006 and
2007 will be presented for adoption. The Church Council
recommended that the assembly approve an income proposal of $81.2
million for 2006 along with a spending plan of $16.75 million for
the ELCA World Hunger Program. For 2007 it recommended an income
proposal of $81.5 million and a $17 million spending plan for the
World Hunger Program.
     + The four ELCA officers -- Hanson, Almen, Pena and
Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer -- will each report to
the assembly.
     + The assembly will elect some members to the Church
Council, and to various boards and committees that work in
partnership with the churchwide organization.  The election
process will depend on the outcome of the churchwide
restructuring and governance proposals.
     + Several constitutional amendments will be presented for
consideration, along with resolutions from voting members and
synods.
     + Representatives from the ELCA's ecumenical partners, other
church bodies and church organizations will greet the assembly
participants at plenary sessions.
     + The Church Council and Conference of Bishops will meet
prior to the start of the assembly; the Conference of Bishops
will also meet after the assembly Aug. 14-15.
     + A youth convocation is planned for Aug. 8-11, and a young
adult convocation is scheduled Aug. 11-14, both at the Orlando
World Center Marriott. The ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries provides leadership for these events.
---
     Information about the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and
proposals to be considered is at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/05
on the ELCA Web site.

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