ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 2, 2009  

ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks Lutherans to Focus on Hope, Prayer
09-079-MRC/SH/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The presiding bishop of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) urged members to focus on signs
of hope and prayer in the midst of economic difficulty and
uncertainty, as the church prepares for its spring legislative
assemblies, culminating in the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this
summer.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson made the comments in remarks to the
ELCA Church Council.  The council is the church's board of
directors and legislative authority between churchwide
assemblies.  It met here March 27-30. The next assembly is
Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis.
     Hanson called on church members and ecumenical and global
partners to study Scripture over the 50-day period preceding the
churchwide assembly, focusing on biblical texts to be used at the
assembly.
     He urged members to name their fears without becoming
trapped by them.  "Fear can easily turn us inward ... focusing
our own survival," he said. If people of faith become preoccupied
with themselves, Hanson said he worries they will become
immobilized or "become our fears altogether."
     Because Jesus Christ is the source of hope, Hanson said he
looks forward to the next few months "in confident hope."
     The ELCA has "matured in the past eight years" because
members have discussed questions related to human sexuality, he
said.  He reminded the council of the 2005 Churchwide Assembly
action that called for ELCA unity despite disagreements over
policy issues.  The gospel, the world and the ELCA deserve what
the church becomes when members are "true to each other as
sisters and brothers in the one Body of Christ," Hanson said.
     The council also acted on a series of proposals and heard
various reports:
+ The council adopted an ELCA Strategy on HIV and AIDS. The goal
is for the ELCA to become "an HIV and AIDS-competent church" and
contribute to efforts of the wider global community by working to
halt the spread of HIV through prevention, treatment and care;
eliminate stigma and discrimination experienced by people who are
HIV-positive; and reduce conditions of poverty and
marginalization that contribute to the spread of HIV.  The
council requested the 2009 Churchwide Assembly approve a
$10 million fundraising goal over a three-year period beginning
in 2009 to support the strategy.
+ The council approved continued development of a Lutheran
Malaria Initiative (LMI) with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod,
Lutheran World Relief and the United Nations Foundation. The
council also asked that a report and recommendations for a
possible churchwide LMI campaign be brought to the 2011
Churchwide Assembly.
+ The council began a process to evaluate the ELCA's governance,
organization and the church's "interrelationships" among the
churchwide office, synods, congregations, partner agencies and
institutions.  A study group will be appointed to create an
evaluation plan. A report and recommendations from the group is
anticipated for the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  More than 20
years have passed since the ELCA came into existence, Hanson told
the council.  Despite restructuring efforts, the underlying
"ecology" of the church and its partners has not changed
materially, he said.  The current economic recession has posed
"pressures for each of the (church's) eco-systems and their
viability," Hanson said.
+ The council heard an update on the Book of Faith Initiative, a
five-year effort to strengthen ELCA members' knowledge and
understanding of Scripture. Dr. Diane L. Jacobson, the
initiative's director, said nearly 700 of the ELCA's 10,448
congregations signed up as Book of Faith Congregations through
the Web.
+ David D. Swartling, ELCA secretary, said the ELCA recognized
and received eight congregations in 2008. Twelve congregations
withdrew. He reported that 1,044 voting members are expected at
the churchwide assembly -- 404 clergy, 640 laypeople.
+ The ELCA has made only "modest gains" toward its multicultural
ministry goals, said the Rev. Sherman G. Hicks, executive
director, ELCA Multicultural Ministries. The proportion of the
overall racial/ethnic membership in the ELCA remains steady at
about 3 percent. The ELCA's constituting convention in 1987
called for 10 percent of its members to be people of color and/or
whose primary language is other than English by 1997.
+ The council received a summary of a feasibility study for the
possibility of a "comprehensive churchwide fundraising
initiative."  Citing the economic recession and other reasons,
the council deferred consideration of the initiative to 2011.
The council requested a report with recommendations for a
possible churchwide campaign be brought to its April 2011
meeting.
+ The council elected the Rev. Philip R. Wold, Trinity Lutheran
Church, Sheridan, Wyo., to fill a council vacancy.  The Rev.
David W. Peters resigned from the council to become director for
evangelical mission in the ELCA Montana Synod.  Wold's term on
the council expires in 2013.
+ The Rev. Susan C. Johnson, national bishop, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), said the ELCIC has reduced its
churchwide staff by 30 percent because giving to the national
church has declined.  The ELCIC council appointed a task force to
study the church's structure, Johnson said, adding there will be
fewer synods in the ELCIC and "different ways of operating the
future."

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