ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 7, 2005

Women Of The ELCA Share Common Interests
05-113-MRC/KB*

     SAN ANTONIO (ELCA) -- From high school principals to global
advocates, Lutheran women in these roles and others are sharing and
learning from one another how to encourage women in their local settings
to “Act Boldly” in their faith, vocation and life.  To help bring together
women with common interests, Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) organized eight “affinity” or special interest groups here
July 6-7.
     Women of the ELCA's Sixth Triennial Gathering is meeting here July
5-10 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.  The organization's
three-year theme, “Act Boldly” is being unveiled at the convention amid
Bible study, keynote presentations, workshops, community service, business
sessions and elections.  More than 2,100 women from across the United
States and around the world are participating.
     The affinity groups are young adult women; clergywomen, who are
celebrating the 35th anniversary of the ordination of women in the ELCA;
global advocates -- women who have had international travel experiences;
health field workers; people living with disabilities; editors and
communicators; paid and volunteer educators; and “Way-Making Women” -- 
women of color who are gathering to explore the gifts of culture and
community.

Beyond the Ramp
     In “Beyond the Ramp,” women living with disabilities shared and
learned how environmental and cultural barriers affect their lives, and
they discussed the importance of ministry with youth who are disabled.
     “We are all people.  God created us with differences, and those
differences are not necessarily bad,” said the Rev. Lisa T. Cleaver,
director for disability and deaf ministries, ELCA Division for Church in
Society, and affinity group leader.
     During a question-and-answer session, one participant asked Cleaver
if a possible new ELCA hymn book will be accessible to visually impaired
people.  The book is part of a plan to develop new worship resources, a
component of the ELCA’s “Renewing Worship” project.  Cleaver said she has
been working with the worship staff during the development of the
resources.
     “They [new worship resources] are going to be in Braille and may be
on tape, too,” Cleaver said.
     In her role, Cleaver also works with the Definitely Abled Advisory
Committee (DAC), a group that represents youth with physical and mental
disabilities in the ELCA.
     “They would tell you that they have abilities and gifts as others do,
and they want to use these gifts as anybody else,” she said.
     Heidi Hagstrom, director, ELCA Youth Gathering and DAC liaison, said
youth with disabilities “are powerful, powerful witnesses” to God’s love
and compassion. Yet, Hagstrom said she has heard many stories from young
people with disabilities who have been excluded from youth activities in
congregations.
     In response, Hagstrom and Cleaver applied for grants to help educate
the ELCA about this problem with a goal to help youth with disabilities be
included in local activities.   Through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans,
a fraternal benefit organization based in Minneapolis, they secured a
grant, “Drawing Out Extraordinary Gifts.”  The grant made it possible for
Hagstrom and Cleaver to invite 12 regional teams of youth with
disabilities and adult sponsors to meet together with a facilitator to
talk about their experiences and to discuss how they can interact with the
church.  Each team was trained and is available to congregations and
synods to provide “a learning experience” on living with disabilities,
Hagstrom said.
     Cleaver and Hagstrom got a second grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries,
Itasca, Ill.  The grant, “Born to Serve: Empowering Youth With
Disabilities,” provided funding for the trained teams to get into
congregations and synods to present their programs.
     Hagstrom encouraged participants to talk to young people in
congregations and to bring them into the congregation community.  “I
encourage you to talk to youth in your congregations, but particularly
youth with disabilities,” she said.

'Way-Making Women'
     African American and Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian
and Pacific Islanders, Latina, Middle Eastern and Arab, and European
American Lutheran women gathered to share and celebrate God's gift of
culture and community in an affinity group called “Way-Making Women:
Working Hard, Acting Boldly.”
     The purpose of this group “is to encourage women in their faith
journey, looking to our baptism as a source of strength,” said the Rev. M.
Wyvetta Bullock, executive for leadership, ELCA Office of the Bishop.
Bullock served as a facilitator of the Way-Making Women affinity group.
“We are incomplete without each other.  What God is doing in the church
and in the world requires all of God's people to participate together,”
she said.
     The Rev. Ivis LaRiviere-Mestre, associate director for Latino
evangelism and outreach, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries,
highlighted the biblical stories of Naomi and Ruth, two women who
experienced suffering.  LaRiviere-Mestre outlined four types of
suffering -- unjust suffering, transforming suffering, evil suffering and
social suffering -- weaving these into the experiences of Naomi and Ruth.
She also serves as group facilitator.
     “God is in solidarity with our suffering,” LaRiviere-Mestre told
participants.  “That is a message to be understood by way-making women.
     The group participated in a “life-mapping” exercise, where women
identified and noted on paper significant events and experiences in their
lives.  “We asked women to look for clues or patterns among their life
experiences that would show how God is leading them into the future,”
Bullock said.

35th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in the Lutheran Church
     Dr. Jeanne L. Porter and Dr. Audrey L.S. West led an affinity group
on the 35th anniversary of the ordination of Lutheran women in North
America that attracted women in a spectrum of church leadership roles -- 
seminarians, retired chaplains, new pastors, veteran pastors, associates
in ministry and other lay leaders.
     Porter, an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the
World and associate professor of communication arts at North Park
University, Chicago, wrote two books published by Augsburg Fortress, the
publishing ministry of the ELCA, Minneapolis -- “Leading Ladies:
Transformative Biblical Images for Women’s Leadership” and “Leading
Lessons: Insights on Leadership from Women of the Bible.”
     West, associate professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of
Theology at Chicago, wrote a Bible study series, “Everyday Surprises: The
Parables of Jesus,” published in Lutheran Woman Today, the magazine of
Women of the ELCA, and was a keynote speaker at events across the United
States to introduce the Bible study.
     Modeling a collaborative method of leading, Porter and West shared
goals for the affinity group -- building relationships among women in
pastoral and other leadership roles, helping women get a sense of the
assets they can use and share to deal with “roadblocks” that all
ministries face, and “retooling” the women with new ways of seeing their
roles, especially in light of lessons on leadership in the New Testament.
     “We've had fun putting the program together,” Porter and West said,
hoping the participants were empowered, were refreshed and had fun, too.

Young Women Acting Boldly
     More over 60 young adult women of the ELCA joined in the affinity
group called Young Women Acting Boldly and discussed physical, mental,
sexual and spiritual health.  Three speakers led presentations,
discussions and activities on these topics.
     Barbra Swanson, a dietitian at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center
in San Antonio, told the women “that the choices they make today about
what they eat or don’t eat is going to profoundly affect their future
health. (This) will go a long, long way to keeping them looking young and
staying healthy and preventing degenerative disease.”  Swanson spoke about
the science behind how the body reacts to certain foods and advised the
women on the right food choices or “power foods.”
     The second speaker was Carolyn Turner, a visiting psychology
instructor at Texas Lutheran University, who discussed how psychology and
faith go together.  “They are not one or the other, you take care of your
positive mental health when you take care of your faith and vice versa,”
Turner said.  Optimism is a life-long process in which you have to
challenge yourself with and practice to maintain a balance of optimism and
hope in your life, she said.
     The Rev. Lori M. Ruge-Jones, campus pastor Texas Lutheran University,
Seguin, discussed spirituality and sexuality with the young women.  She
conversed with them about “how (to) talk about these things and how they
integrate.”  Ruge-Jones said, “We are people with bodies and souls and
need to discuss spirituality and sexuality together as people of God.”
     Laura Johnson, a participant of the Young Women Acting Boldly
affinity group, said she felt “empowered by the surrounding community,
with lots of young women in the ELCA who are passionate about the same
things.”
- - -
     Information about the Women of the ELCA's Sixth Triennial Gathering
is at http://www.womenoftheELCA.org on the Web.


 * Kirsten H. Boettner is a senior communication major at Luther College,
Decorah, Iowa.  This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.

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