ELCA Department for Communication, News & Information
8765 West Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL 60631 800/638-3522 ext. 2963
HEADLINES FOR ELCA NEWS RELEASE ISSUE #03, February 6, 1995
-- MANILA CONFERENCE ON PORNOGRAPHY
-- ELCA PASTORS PLAN TELECONFERENCE
-- ELCA TO DISCUSS SACRAMENTAL PRACTICES
-- WOMEN OF COLOR GATHER
February 6, 1995
MANILA CONFERENCE ON PORNOGRAPHY
95-03-008-LC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Last summer a man in the Rev. Mary Ann
Moller-Gunderson's suburban Chicago neighborhood was arrested after
sexually abusing and videotaping hundreds of children. With two
children of her own, that experience "pierced the denial" and
Moller-Gunderson saw how pervasive the pornography industry is.
Moller-Gunderson, executive director of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America's Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM), was
one of 160 participants at an international conference on pornography in
Manila, Philippines, Jan. 17-20. People representing more than 35
countries and 40 religious groups took part.
The conference was organized by the Religious Alliance Against
Pornography (RAAP), a U.S.-based coalition of churches and faith
groups, to draw attention to the increasingly grave problems of
exploitative, hard core and child pornography.
Pornography is an 8-billion to 10-billion dollar industry in the United
States alone, said Moller-Gunderson. "Just imagine what the church
could do with just one of those billion dollars in terms of mission and
ministry in this nation alone."
At the conclusion, participants issued a "Manila Declaration on
Pornography" in which they said sexuality is a gift from God that
pornography tragically distorts.
The statement said the "important values of freedom of speech
and increased communication are not compromised by ensuring that
children, women and men are protected from sexual exploitation."
It pledges action through prayer, reflection, education within faith
communities, and advocacy through law enforcement authorities, child
welfare organizations and women's organizations.
The statement calls for a new religious initiative, new and
stronger legislation, coordinated international action against the use of
new technologies for pornography distribution and consumption,
recognition by governments of the seriousness of this problem; and
increased cooperative international law enforcement efforts.
Congregations can be involved in educating their communities and
advocating for law enforcement and legislation. Also, "advocating for
treatment for those abused by the producers of pornography as well as
those addicted to its use," said Moller-Gunderson.
Also representing the ELCA were Loretta Horton, DCM director
for congregational social ministry, and Josselyn Bennett, director of
age-span ministries Division for Church in Society.
Horton said DCM plans to work in cooperation with the ELCA
Division for Church in Society to develop educational resources that help
congregations talk about pornography and the impact it has on their
communities.
"You can't talk about pornography without looking at it as a justice
issue. In a climate of sexism, materialism and racism, pornography
proliferates," she said. "We have to work on creating societies where
human dignity is affirmed."
In addition to the ELCA, delegates were drawn from the Vatican,
the Salvation Army, Orthodox churches, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, World Council of Churches, and other organizations
concerned about pornography.
##########
February 6, 1995
ELCA PASTORS PLAN TELECONFERENCE
95-03-009-AH
MAHTOMEDI, Minn. (ELCA) -- About 45 pastors of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America's larger congregations met here Jan. 30-31
to discuss the future of the church and lay out a vision for the kind of
leadership it needs. The group plans to produce an April 22
teleconference at 60 sites to bring as many as possible of the ELCA's
5.2 million members into the conversation.
Participants in the teleconference will "raise up ... a vision for the
future ... one that will come from the very roots of our church,"
according to a proposal adopted by the group. They will review the
process by which a bishop is elected in the ELCA and adjourn to explore
possible candidates off the air.
The meeting at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church was hosted by senior
pastor the Rev. Roger C. Eigenfeld and a steering committee that grew
out of a similar meeting in November.
The cost of the teleconference was projected to be $60,000. Before
closing the meeting participants pledged $12,500 from their
congregations.
In January the steering committee approached the Rev. Herbert W.
Chilstrom, bishop of the ELCA, for his participation and endorsement.
They were told that since news reports of the group's November
meeting included names of possible candidates he could not be involved.
Further, he has indicated that churchwide staff cannot support this
effort as it might present the appearance of alliance with a group that
has presented names for consideration.
The event is "not a way of controlling the election of a new bishop by
the larger congregations," the proposal states; "instead it is a gift to the
wider church and will involve congregations of every size in dialogue,
especially those who would never have a chance to attend a synod
convention." The ELCA Constitution requires each congregation to send
at least three representatives to the synod assembly.
Eigenfeld outlined an ELCA process already in place for reflection at
synod assemblies on the role of the churchwide bishop. He called the
effort "too little, too late." The ELCA's 65 synods meet in assembly
throughout the spring. The bishop will be elected by ecclesiastical ballot
at the churchwide assembly in Minneapolis Aug. 16-22. Eigenfeld calls
the teleconference "an exciting first step to the process already
announced by the ELCA for dialogue."
The pastors expressed concern that the ELCA is "wandering and
waning," shaped by contemporary culture rather than providing clear
leadership. "It feels like our church is on hold, fragmented and
polarized," said one pastor. "We lack a shared vision, and our
congregations are marked by suspicion and individualism."
The church faces demographic challenges, according to one pastor:
"The majority of our congregations are in rural areas, and the growing
population is urban." Another added, "We don't know how to handle our
diversity."
The group acknowledged the ELCA's strength in disaster relief, care
for its clergy, and summer global mission events. Pointing to the church's
strong theological heritage, the Rev. Eric J. Gustavson Jr., Mound, Minn.,
said the ELCA no longer gives enough attention to pastoral care and
theology. "Our pastors are busy reading church growth books instead
of theology."
A recurring theme was the "irrelevance" of ELCA leadership. In
discussion of the teleconference the Rev. David K. Johnson, Fargo, N.D.,
asked, "Is someone going to ask the question, `Why do we need Chicago
(churchwide offices) in the 21st century?'" Johnson is a member of the
ELCA Church Council, the chief governing body between churchwide
assemblies.
The Rev. Gordon D. Thorpe, Eau Claire, Wis., said 40 years ago the
role of the church was clear -- "support for seminaries and colleges,
global mission and American missions. Now we have abandoned what
our older folks recognized as the national church in favor of new stuff
like a women's commission and social statements."
Eigenfeld said the ELCA could double its membership in 10 years.
"We have the best product, the best trained leadership, the
communication capability, and we are a young church."
Together with participants in the November conference, the group
claims to represent the 105 largest congregations in the ELCA. In the
next few weeks they plan to approach synod bishops and ELCA
congregations for support. Sites for the teleconference might include
Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, Moorhead, Minn., Columbia, S.C., and
Dallas.
##########
February 6, 1995
ELCA TO DISCUSS SACRAMENTAL PRACTICES
95-03-010-LC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
is preparing the first public draft of a statement on sacramental
practices. The ELCA's Sacramental Practices Task Force completed its
work on that first draft, meeting here Jan. 26-29.
"We hope this statement will encourage congregations to look at
their practices -- not just baptism and communion, but the whole practice
of worship and the proclamation of the word," said the task force chair,
the Rev. Karen G. Bockelman, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Circle
Pines, Minn.
The Lutheran church recognizes the Lord's Supper and baptism
as sacraments -- sacred religious acts instituted by Jesus Christ. There
is a wide variety of practices in the ELCA surrounding the sacraments,
such as varying age requirements for people receiving the Lord's
Supper.
The 17-member task force was appointed by the Division for
Congregational Ministries (DCM) in the fall of 1993 to prepare a
theologically responsible guide to contemporary sacramental practices
for ELCA congregations.
The first draft will be published after review and authorization by
the ELCA's Conference of Bishops, DCM board and Church Council. The
ELCA Church Council, meeting March 31-April 3, is the last group to
review the draft.
"As soon as we can get it printed after Church Council, we will
mail the document to every congregation and rostered leader," said the
Rev. Mary Ann Moller-Gunderson, DCM executive director and staff to
the task force.
The task force early on had to decide whether the statement was
"going to be a document with a lot of `shoulds,' `musts' and preclusion
language" or talk about practice in a way that is invitational, said
Moller-Gunderson. "We chose to develop a document that allows for
diversity and a variety of practices so long as they support rather than
violate the center."
The first draft addresses practical issues, she said. For example,
in this highly mobile society, how can the church best assist
congregations that receive a new child as a member "who may already
be communing when children in the host congregation do not?"
Other issues addressed in the draft include: ways to encourage
use of confession and absolution; the role of baptismal sponsors; the
meaning of the trinitarian formula (baptizing in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit); frequency of communion and the age of admission
to communion.
"Our hope is that the document will serve to remind us in the
ELCA of where we find our unity, in proclamation of the Word, in
celebration of the sacraments, as we worship together as people of
God," said Moller-Gunderson.
The first public draft will try to involve many of the 5.2 million
ELCA members in group discussions and individual study. It will ask for
responses by July 1, 1996. "We welcome the next two years when the
church can be in deep dialogue," said Moller-Gunderson. "I hope we will
be energetically engaged around issues of Word and Sacrament and
congregational practices in ways that can renew this church."
The extensive study period will allow for discussion of the first
draft in synod assemblies in 1996 and of the final draft in 1997. Each of
the ELCA's 65 synods meet in assembly, usually in the spring of each
year.
The task force plans to consider responses and prepare a final
draft by the end of 1996. That draft could come before the ELCA
Churchwide Assembly, August 14-20, 1997.
##########
February 6, 1995
WOMEN CLERGY OF COLOR GATHER
95-03-011-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "I fed my spirit," said Joyce Miller, a senior
seminarian and Filipino-American. She was one of 43 women in San
Antonio Jan. 20-22 for "Conversation on the Way: Ordained Women of
Color."
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Ministry
sponsored the conference "to provide women pastors of color an
opportunity to explore their similarities and differences and to support
one another in that context," said the Rev. James Y.K. Moy, ELCA
director for inclusive leadership development.
The 43 were a majority of the 60 women of color on the ELCA
clergy roster or in their final year of seminary. "It is the first time that
we've had this kind of turn out," said the Rev. Cheryl Stewart Pero, a
campus pastor at Chicago's Harold Washington College and a planner for
the conference. The first conference of its kind was held in Chicago
shortly after the formation of the ELCA in 1988.
"We bonded. We worshipped together. We spent a lot of time
talking and getting to know each other as women of color scattered
around the country and in Puerto Rico ... building relationships," she said.
Pero called the San Antonio gathering "the beginning of a network
of women of color." She said, "We have bridged the geographical gaps,
so we can take the next steps."
Since there are so few women pastors of color in a church with
5.2 million members and 17,414 clergy, they tend to be spread out
geographically, said Miller. "We end up being alone in some ways.
When we come together, it gives us refreshing energy to go out and do
more and do better," she said.
"I was able to meet my other Filipino-Caucasian sister in the
ministry. When I'm talking about one other woman in the United States
who shares a similar ethnic background and ministry, that's important for
me," said Miller.
"I stayed up until three o'clock every morning discussing theology
with my roommate," she said. "The time we shared, talking about
theological differences and commonalities, is what becomes a feeding
point for ministry."
"We discussed what we would like to see in the future for the
church regarding inclusivity and how we can be a part of that," said
Miller.
Most of the participants in San Antonio were parish pastors in the
ELCA, said Pero. There are plans for future gatherings that she hopes
will include women of color who are lay professionals in the ELCA and
who are in every year of seminary studies.
Conference funding was provided by Lutheran Brotherhood, a
fraternal benefits society based in Minneapolis, through the ELCA's
"Growth in Excellence in Ministry" program.
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