ELCA Department for Communication, News & Information
8765 West Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL 60631 800/638-3522 ext. 2963
HEADLINES FOR ELCA NEWS RELEASE ISSUE #10, April 13, 1994
-- CHURCH COUNCIL APPROVES BUDGETS
-- PEACE STATEMENT FORWARDED TO 1995 ASSEMBLY
-- COUNCIL AFFIRMS REPRESENTATIONAL PRINCIPLES
April 13, 1995
CHURCH COUNCIL APPROVES BUDGET
95-10-034-AH
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, meeting here April 1-3, voted to recommend
budget proposals for 1996 and 1997 to the Churchwide Assembly in
August. The 1996 proposal totals $75,325,000. The 1997 budget calls
for $76,325,000. In addition the ELCA World Hunger Program will
administer $12,000,000 in 1996 and $12,200,000 in 1997.
The ELCA ended fiscal 1994 with a $3.3 million excess of income
over expenses in operating funds, Treasurer Richard L. McAuliffe told
the council. Receipts were up slightly, 1.2 percent, to $76.2 million for
1994. The excess income was used for the church's reserve fund. The
1994 budget had been set at $73,890,000 and the 1995 budget at
$73,925,000.
The church kept expenses almost a million dollars below budget in
1994.
Income from ELCA congregations was less than in 1993.
Financial gifts from congregations moved through the ELCA's 65 synods
in the form of mission support, totaling $62.8 million in 1994 compared
with $63.1 million in 1993.
The budget report reflected "stability and challenge," according to
the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, bishop of the ELCA. The decline in giving
was "somewhat less than what was feared and what we planned for,"
he said.
McAuliffe reported that income from other sources such as
missionary sponsorship, bequests, endowment income and Women of
the ELCA increased by $1.2 million in 1994 to total $13.4 million.
Contributions to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal increased in 1994
to $11.5 million. Gifts to the ELCA Disaster Response Funds totaled to
$2.4 million, a decrease of $1.6 million.
Chilstrom said, "As we look at the giving patterns of many of our
members we cannot help but feel great distress. In spite of the calls for
greater giving over many, many years, our average member gives only 2
to 3 percent of spendable income for all charitable causes, including the
church."
Citing "the needs of our 119 partner churches in the Lutheran
World Federation," Chilstrom added, "I can only remind our own ELCA
members how materially blessed we are compared to many throughout
the world."
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April 13, 1995
PEACE STATEMENT FORWARDED TO 1995 ASSEMBLY
95-10-035-AH
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "For Peace in God's World" will be
presented to the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America this summer based on Church Council action here
April 1-3. If adopted by the assembly the document, developed by the
ELCA's Division for Church in Society, will become a social statement of
the church.
The statement and its nine related recommendations to the
assembly for adoption call on the church's members to "renew our
prayer for peace, our identity as a community of peace, and our study of
the scriptural witness to the God of peace." Congregations are urged to
give more attention to how their liturgy, preaching, hymns and prayers
"embody God's will for peace and our calling for peace."
Katherine M. Kidd, Fairfield, Conn., co-chair of the task force that
developed the statement, told the council, "Many voices ... were urging
us to move toward pacifism, and while acknowledging the richness of
that gift, we continue to be in support of the Lutheran tradition of just
war (principles) if we would study and use them."
The ELCA is "not facing the situation of churches in the 1980s
during a nuclear buildup," Kidd said, "so rather than focus on conflict we
have focused on peace."
The statement addresses the tensions between the value of
non-intervention, respect for human rights and minority groups, and the
right of people to stand up and defend their rights, Kidd said.
"The Lutheran understanding of vocation makes us a peace
church," Kidd said. "The place of peace in our liturgy shows how
central peace is to us." The statement affirms the place of peace in
Lutheran worship, "God, who makes earthly peace possible, calls us to
gather in worship ... We are called to pray, and to live, for peace in God's
world."
The action going before the assembly commends education,
service and advocacy ministries of the ELCA that work for peace and
directs the church to plan programming that will strengthen its "witness
to global peace," specifically to provide resources for congregations
based on the statement.
The Divisions for Church in Society and Congregational Ministries
are directed to provide consultation and resources for ELCA
congregations based upon the statement. Members are urged to give
generously to the church's work for peace around the world, and youth
are to be supported as they "define their identity and vocation as present
and future peacemakers."
Kathy J. Magnus, vice president of the ELCA, called the Church
Council's affirmation of the statement "resounding." Magnus, Denver,
chairs the council which, she said, was pleased "to be reminded of the
wide range of persons who participated in writing ... this document. It
included everyone from a military general to peace activists within our
church; and their sense of being able to come to some middle ground on
issues that are incredibly important for our time was felt by the entire
council."
##########
April 13, 1995
COUNCIL AFFIRMS REPRESENTATIONAL PRINCIPLES
95-10-036-LC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Current representational principles or
"quotas" in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "do not
compromise the Gospel, but rather reflect an appropriate pattern for
good order within the practice of this church's ecclesiology and polity,"
according to a Church Council recommendation to the 1995 Churchwide
Assembly.
The principles lay out ratios of 60 percent laypersons and 40
percent clergy to serve as members of ELCA assemblies, councils,
committees and boards, and that 50 percent of the laypersons be
women. Ten percent of people in the above groups are to be "people of
color or whose primary language is other than English."
The 1993 Churchwide Assembly called for a review of the
principles after a number of synods asked the ELCA to disband the
"quota system." Critics have said the principles are without theological
basis and leadership choices are based on filling a "slot" rather than on
knowledge and experience.
The Church Council, meeting here April 1-3, recognized that the
current principles are not an end in themselves but are a "means
appropriate to this time in the church's history that have been chosen to
allow for more complete and more inclusive participation by members of
the ELCA in this church's decision-making processes."
The ELCA's Conference of Bishops, seminary faculties,
Commission for Multicultural Ministries, Commission for Women and
others provided theological study, experiences, analyses and historical
review of the principles. Many of those experiences included personal
reflections.
"I believe the representational principle is a major vehicle for
outreach to all God's people of `every tribe and nation,'" said Charlotte
Light, St. Louis, in her reflection. Light says the special gifts she brings
to the church include "my education, personal skills and professional
experience. Others, though, come from my culture: the African
American tradition of joy and involvement in worship, our particular style
of verbal expression and our willingness to embrace others." Light
teaches first grade in a gifted-child program.
"It is clear to me from my work with the Division for Global Mission
and through participating in synodical and churchwide assemblies that
the representational principles have given the church more inclusivity
and a wider, more diverse vision," said the Rev. William E. Lesher,
president, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
"Decisions now reflect this more inclusive vision and, given our
human nature, there is no way we would have that breadth of vision
without the representational principles," he continued. Lesher said he
wished the church would use the term "catholicity" rather than
"inclusivity." The second comes from secular society while the first is "a
sound theological term."
"In the church I am often asked to comment on and to share the
Asian-American perspective. It has meant lots of time, plenty of red
editorial comments, and much creative energy," said Lily Wu, manager,
promotion and editorial services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee and
Services, New York. "The representational principle is a way to help us
take a stand for the Gospel. Without a plan, without support, nothing is
likely to happen."
The resolution urges "continued attention to community outreach
and ministry by all congregations of this church so that each
congregation may grow in awareness of being a mission center within
its community as well as increase in commitment to the wider mission of
this church throughout the respective synods and the churchwide
ministries."
At its November 1994 meeting the council recommended a
constitutional change to "allow synod assemblies limited exceptions from
the present formula for male and female representation in synodical
assemblies." The 1995 Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis will vote on
the amendment.
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