ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 19, 2007  

ELCA Secretary Calls for Continued LCMS, ELCA Conversations
07-131-JB

     HOUSTON (ELCA) - Noting the diverse histories of the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the secretary of the ELCA
called for continued conversations between leaders of the two
Lutheran church bodies.
     Speaking to the LCMS 63rd Regular Convention on July 19, the
Rev. Lowell G. Almen, who will retire later this year after 20
years as ELCA secretary, said the different histories "shape the
distinctive characteristics of the ELCA and the LCMS."
     "Therefore, we need to talk.  We need to listen.  We need to
seek understanding," he told the delegates.
     The theme of the July 14-19 convention here is "One Message
-- Christ!  His Love is Here for You!"
     Almen greeted the more than 1,200 voting delegates on behalf
of the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, the ELCA's 4.8
million members and the more than 10,000 ELCA congregations in
the United States and Caribbean.
     When the ELCA was formed in 1988, the Lutheran Council in
the U.S.A. ceased to exist, Almen said.  He said he was
"convinced of the need for a systematic, continuing point of
contact between leaders of the ELCA and LCMS."  Almen said he
urged the establishment of the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation
(CLC), of which he has been a member for two decades.  The CLC
brings together leaders of both churches, generally twice a year,
and alternates meetings in St. Louis and Chicago, cities in which
the two church bodies of the LCMS and ELCA, respectively, are
based.
     The ELCA Churchwide Assembly, that church's highest
legislative authority, meets Aug. 6-11 in Chicago.  Almen shared
a portion of his report to that assembly with Synod convention
delegates.
     "I have worked hard in trying to keep as many doors and
windows as open as possible between the ELCA and the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.  The task has not been easy, and at times
the prospects have seemed discouraging.  Yet I remain convinced
that, for the sake of clear Lutheran witness in this land, these
two church bodies need to work together in as many ways as
possible, now and in the years to come," Almen wrote.
     "We need to do so not just for ourselves, but we need to do
so for the sake of our children, our grandchildren and our great-
grandchildren," he said.
     He told the delegates of areas of cooperation that "we can
treasure together" -- Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Immigration
and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America, and the Inter-
Lutheran Coordination Committee for Ministry in Chaplaincy,
Pastoral Counseling and Clinical Education.
     Almen noted the two churches' cooperation in Lutheran
military chaplaincy.  Support and recruitment of military
chaplains is essential, he said, adding that the ELCA has lost
one-fourth of its active-duty military chaplains in the past
three years to retirement.
     "Will we as Lutherans leave the pastoral care of our members
in the armed forces only to religious groups who have no
understanding or appreciation of our heritage?  I certainly hope
not," he told the convention.  Almen asked for prayers for
chaplaincy leaders and chaplains in both churches, some of whom
serve on the front lines in war zones.
     "May God continue to bless our faithful proclamation of the
gospel throughout our churches.  We confess together that 'God
sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through
him. ... Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to
love one another,'" he concluded.
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     Information about the LCMS Convention is at
http://www.lcms.org/?8410 on the Web.

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