Title: ELCA Churchwide Assembly Shares Heritage and Hope
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 3, 1997

ELCA CHURCHWIDE ASSEMBLY SHARES HERITAGE AND HOPE
97-26-076-AH

       CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ecumenical issues, initiatives for a new century,  elections, sacramental
practices and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's tenth anniversary consumed the
attention of 1,044 voting members who met Aug. 14-20 in Philadelphia.  The ELCA Churchwide
Assembly conducted business and worshiped God under the theme, "Making Christ Known: Alive
in Our Heritage and Hope."
       The assembly took action on three ecumenical issues.  It declared "full communion" with three
churches of the Reformed tradition -- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America,
and United Church of Christ.  Members voted 839 to 193 for the "Formula of Agreement."
       Full communion is not a plan to merge; it commits the churches to sharing in their mission to
work locally and internationally and to develop procedures whereby clergy in one church body may
serve as pastor in a church of another church body.  The proposal grew out of several decades of
theological conversation.  All the churches involved in this effort voted in favor of the agreement
earlier this year.
       A joint commission will now begin to formulate ways to implement the decision, according to
ELCA ecumenical officers.  The individual presbyteries -- regional units -- of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) must also ratify the decision of their general assembly.
       By only six votes the assembly rejected the "Concordat of Agreement," a formal proposal for
full communion between the ELCA and The Episcopal Church.  The General Convention of the
Episcopal Church adopted the document in July.
       Voting members rededicated the church to work toward establishing a full communion
relationship with the Episcopal Church in 1999.  The action says "our church remains committed to
the ultimate goal of full communion with The Episcopal Church and other churches" and listed
things the ELCA will do to educate itself on Lutheran and Episcopal doctrine and polity.
       A second resolution built on a 1982 agreement for "Interim Eucharistic Sharing" to maintain
conversations between the two churches "to bring to the 1999 Churchwide Assembly a revised
proposal for full communion" with The Episcopal Church.
       The assembly resolved that the ELCA "seek conversations with The Episcopal Church, building
on the degree of consensus achieved at this assembly and addressing concerns which emerged
during consideration of the Concordat of Agreement."
       ELCA members adopted a "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," declaring that
condemnations Lutherans hurled at Roman Catholics during the 16th century, concerning the key
Lutheran doctrine of justification, no longer apply to present Catholic teaching on this topic.
       Justification is a doctrine concerning how sinful human beings are made right with God.
Historically Lutherans have insisted justification is a free gift from God.  Roman Catholics have
traditionally insisted that good works are part of the process.  The new joint understanding
describes good works as an appropriate response to God's loving embrace, not something that
makes the embrace possible.
       The ELCA overwhelmingly adopted "Seven Initiatives for a New Century," introduced by
Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson and lifted up by youth and young adult convocations.
       Anderson said, "The church has a matchless opportunity to be engaged in shaping whatever
new society will emerge ... to be communities that have a clear purpose and definite goals that will
become the crystallization points for the world of the future.  The initiatives build upon
foundational strengths of the ELCA and will be catalysts for Lutherans to deepen 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," Anderson
said.
       Addie J. Butler, Philadelphia, was elected the ELCA's third vice president.  She is the first
African American to hold the post, the top office for a lay person in the church.  As vice president,
she will chair the Church Council, the church's chief legislative body between assemblies.
       Butler has served as vice president of the ELCA's Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.  She said
the ELCA is a church "destined to grow."  The key challenges facing the ELCA are embodied in the
Initiatives for a New Century, she said.
       Butler is an assistant dean at the Community College of Philadelphia and a member of the board
of trustees of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.  She is president of the Philadelphia
chapter of the African American Lutheran Association and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of the Reformation, Philadelphia.
       The assembly overwhelmingly approved "The Use of the Means of Grace: A Statement on the
Practice of Word and Sacrament."  The Lutheran church recognizes the Lord's Supper and Baptism
as sacraments -- sacred acts instituted by Jesus Christ.
       The document's four major parts are The Proclamation of the Word, Holy Baptism, Holy
Communion, and the Means of Grace and Christian Mission.  The new statement provides for "the
communion of the baptized," while an earlier ELCA guideline indicated "the communing of infants is
precluded."
       The Rev. Paul R. Nelson, ELCA director for worship, said, "This will articulate the ELCA
churchwide understanding of how administration of the sacraments should be practiced.  It will
encourage congregations and their pastors to discuss the sacraments, teach the sacraments and
reflect on the way churches practice the sacraments in light of what the larger church says."
       In other actions the assembly:

  * approved a 1998 spending plan of $77.5 million and of $78.2 million  for 1999.  The ELCA
approves its annual budgets two at a time, since   the biennial assemblies must approve them in
advance.
  * declared a decade-long, $5-million effort to help urban congregations  transform the lives of
their members and their communities, building      upon nearly 300 years of ministry and service in
America's cities.
  * adopted a new American Indian/Alaska Native Strategic Plan that  articulates the relationship
native peoples envision with the ELCA  over the next five years.
  * recommitted itself to the "Multicultural Mission Strategy: A Strategy  for Proclamation of the
Gospel."
  * established the Fund for Leaders in Mission to help students in  seminaries of the ELCA pay for
theological education.
  * adopted guidelines for the continuing education of professional church  workers.
  * approved a revised set of guidelines for addressing social concerns.
  * adopted a series of recommendations intended to recognize and  support the work of lay
people, -- "ministry in daily life."
  * commended the ELCA's social statement on abortion, pledging to continue "moral
deliberation" on the subject and asking the ELCA  Board of Pensions, which administers the
church's health care  coverage for ELCA employees, to provide information on "educational
efforts on abortion."
  * heard a report on the church's program serving Women and Children   Living in Poverty.
  * established that the 1999 assembly will hear a status report of  conversations about church
policy and practice on the ordination of  gay and lesbian individuals in the ELCA.
  * reaffirmed the ELCA's commitment to serving and advocating on behalf  of refugees and
immigrants.
  * asked that a plan for establishing a rural-ministry "desk" at the  ELCA be brought to the Church
Council.
  * expressed support for legislation that would make it illegal for  employers to discriminate on
the basis of sexual orientation.

  The ELCA marked the church's tenth anniversary with a birthday party.   Outgoing vice president
Kathy J. Magnus presided over a banquet with birthday cake, sparkling cider, an exhibit of
children's art and a jazz band.
  The ELCA's first presiding bishop, the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, recalled his eight years during
the formative first years of the new church.  The keynote speaker for the evening was the Rev. Walter
Wangerin, Jr., storyteller and host of the "Luther Vespers" radio ministry.

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