Title: ELCA Youth Organization Ready for "Turn-Around"
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 4, 1997

ELCA YOUTH ORGANIZATION READY FOR "TURN-AROUND"
97-25-074-MR

     NEW ORLEANS (ELCA) -- Rebecca D. Lawrence, 17, Chicago, was
elected president of the Lutheran Youth Organization of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  LYO delegates elected
Lawrence at their fourth triennial convention here July 24-26.  The
convention also voted to establish a Definitely Abled Advisory
Committee, to support ecumenism, to oppose capital punishment, and to
develop a conference for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth.
     Lutheran youth should "be ready for a big turn-around, a lot of
surprises, and just be happy that they have a leader who is on their
side," said Lawrence in an interview.  Lutheran youth "are going to
work together to have the best organization and the best Youth
Gathering for the year 2000," she said.
     Lawrence is a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Chicago.  She
served as LYO president of the ELCA's Metropolitan Chicago Synod LYO,
1995-1996.  She graduated high school from Seton Academy, South
Holland, Ill., and will attend the University of Illinois at
Champaign-Urbana in the fall.  She is a member of the Lutheran Campus
Ministry and the Black Student Union there.
     LYO holds its triennial convention in conjunction with the ELCA
Youth Gathering -- a gathering that brings together thousands of
high-school-age Lutherans from across the United States and Caribbean,
as well as from other countries around the world.  About 30,000 young
people attended the fourth triennial Youth Gathering here July 23-27
under the "River of Hope" theme.
     About 500 delegates conduct the business of the ELCA's youth
organization.  Up to eight voting delegates are selected by each of
the ELCA's 65 synod LYOs.  LYO is housed in the ELCA's Division for
Congregational Ministries.
     Delegates approved a resolution that establishes the Definitely
Abled Advisory Committee (DAC) to the LYO.  The purpose of DAC is "to
help the LYO strive to be more inclusive and to voice the concerns and
needs of youth with disabilities."  Members of DAC will be elected to
three-year terms by "their own constituency" at the Definitely Abled
Youth Leadership Event (DAYLE) which meets in advance of the Youth
Gathering.
     In a separate resolution, LYO participants asked the LYO board,
"in conjunction with the 2000 Gathering Advisory Committee, the ELCA's
Division for Congregational Ministries and other ELCA divisions, to
investigate the possibility of planning and developing a pre-gathering
conference for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth."  The conference
"would provide a safe place for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth and
offer workshops, keynote addresses and/or other programs that address
the specific personal and faith issues facing gay, lesbian and
bisexual youth."
     By the next LYO convention, participants voted to open the "lines
of communication between the LYO board and action-oriented
organizations such as Amnesty International" -- a human rights
organization working for the release of prisoners of conscience and
for an end to torture and executions.  The LYO board will urge its
members to contact their government, public policy and advocacy
offices to "act on the church's conviction against capital
punishment."  The LYO will encourage its "constituency to engage in
... actions of advocacy, witness, prayer and protest."
     LYO delegates voted to support three ecumenical proposals
scheduled to be voted on at the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to be
held Aug. 14-20 in Philadelphia.  The proposals are for the ELCA to
establish "full communion" with the Episcopal Church and with three
Reformed churches -- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in
America and United Church of Christ -- and to declare that certain
16th century condemnations of the Roman Catholic Church no longer
apply.
     The LYO resolved that "this support for ecumenism be made known
to the voting members of the Assembly, especially through the delivery
of the LYO president's report at the Assembly."  The Rev. H. George
Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, served as a "resource" when
discussion on this resolution took place.
     "Listen to people you meet ... listen for important ideas and
dream.  Carry a piece of each person you talk to with you," said
Karris Golden, 20, outgoing LYO president.  LYO delegates "make
decisions that affect the church as a whole.  Lutheran youth also have
a history of being at the forefront of leadership and change in our
society," she said.
     Golden is a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Waterloo, Iowa.  She
served as LYO president since Vance Robbins' resignation July 10,
1996.  She is a communication student at Wartburg College, Waverly,
Iowa.  She wrote an essay, "This is My Story," published in "God's
Story is My Story: Essays on Hearing and Telling the Word," edited by
the Rev. Walter M. Wangerin, Jr., Valparaiso, Ind.

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