Title: ELCA Members Plan for Initiatives
ELCA NEWS SERVICE - NEWSBRIEF

July 18, 1997

ELCA MEMBERS PLAN FOR INITIATIVES

About 60 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) helped
develope "creative and exciting" action plans for seven "Initiatives for a New Century."
The initiatives are entitled: Deepen Our Worship Life, Teach the Faith, Witness to God's
Action in the World, Strengthen One Another in Mission, Help the Children, Connect with
Youth and Young Adults, and Develop Leaders for the Next Century. Seven "design
teams" -- made up of 60 church members -- were formed to identify two or three specific
actions that will "realize some aspect of the initiative." The actions should be creative and
exciting, but limited in duration and scope, said Kenneth W. Inskeep, director for the
ELCA's Department for Research and Evaluation. They should be truly new areas of work
that can capture the imagination of the church rather than a "recasting" of ongoing efforts
and programs, he said. Members will also outline "basic components" that will answer the
who, what, where, when, why and how of an action plan. The design teams met in
Chicago July 10-11. The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA,
collected the Initiatives from "listening to the church" since becoming bishop in 1995.
Anderson plans to bring the Initiatives to the ELCA's churchwide assembly in Philadelphia
this August.


For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html