ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 19, 2007  

ELCA Council Recommends Adoption of 'Our Calling In Education'
07-064-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended that the 2007 ELCA
Churchwide Assembly adopt "Our Calling in Education" as a social
statement of the church.
     The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies.  It met here April 14-16.  Assemblies are held every
other year; the next is here Aug. 6-11.
     Adopted by ELCA churchwide assemblies, social statements are
social policy documents that address significant social issues.
The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly called for a statement on
education.  The ELCA Task Force on Education, first assembled in
2003, produced an 82-page booklet, "Our Calling in Education:  A
Lutheran Study," to assist the church in its study of education.
     Dr. Paul J. Dovre, task force co-chair and retired president
of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., addressed the council
April 15 by telephone.  Concordia is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the ELCA.
     Dovre told the council that the "statement comes at a
particularly appropriate time in the life of this church and this
society.  In public schools across the country there are
continued issues related to quality, equity and access.  Lutheran
parochial schools are, on the one hand, one of the mission
success stories of this church and on the other are challenged by
a variety of resource issues.  Parents and congregations are
struggling with issues related to faith formation of their
children, and young people seem to leave the church in alarming
numbers.  Lutheran campus ministries, on the campuses of public
universities, too (are) struggling for viability.  For these and
many other reasons I think it is an important time for this
church and for each of us to discern again our calling in
education."
     Dovre said the key message of the statement is that "in
gratitude to God we live out our vocation through education in
the faith" and "through education that serves the neighbor and
advances the common good."
     The proposed statement is grounded in the Lutheran
tradition, said Dovre.  It is comprehensive.  At 59 pages the
document is "easily the longest social statement considered by
the church," he said.
     Dovre shared key themes and "accents" about the proposed
social statement, which include an emphasis on the roles of
families and congregations in the faith formation of youth and
children; the affirmation and encouragement of Lutheran early
childhood education centers and schools; a strong emphasis on
equitable access to quality public education for all students; an
encouragement of Lutheran colleges and universities; an
affirmation of Lutheran campus ministries and the need for new
efforts to sustain them; and advocacy on behalf of expanded state
and federal financial aid for low-income and middle-income
students in higher education.
     The most difficult issue the task force faced is the series
of conflicts and controversies nestled around public education
and equity in the funding of public schools, said Dovre.  The
most promising theme in the statement is the theme of
collaboration among families, congregations and public schools,
and among communities with Lutheran schools, he said.
     In its action to transmit "Our Calling in Education" to the
2007 Churchwide Assembly, the council considered "a host of
implementing resolutions," according to the Rev. Joseph G.
Crippen, Northfield, Minn., council member.  The 23-point
resolution included sections on faith formation and lifelong
learning, public educational institutions, Lutheran institutions,
and social statement reception.
     More than 200 elementary and 20 secondary schools are
operated by ELCA congregations throughout the United States and
Caribbean.  More than 2,000 of the ELCA's 10,549 congregations
operate early childhood education centers.  The ELCA has eight
seminaries and two seminary extension centers.
- - -
     Information about the ELCA social statement on education is
at http://www.ELCA.org/socialstatements/education on the ELCA Web
site.

     Information about ELCA schools and early childhood
education, colleges and universities is at
http://www.ELCA.org/vocationeducation on the ELCA Web site.

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