ELCA Department for Communication, News & Information
8765 West Higgins Rd, Chicago, IL 60631 800/638-3522 ext. 2963
HEADLINES FOR ELCA NEWS RELEASE ISSUE #21, October 4, 1995
-- HOPE FOR HURTING COMMUNITIES
-- LUTHERANS TO DISCUSS EDUCATIONAL CHOICE
-- LUTHERANS CONTINUE RESPONSE
-- TO HURRICANE MARILYN
October 4, 1995
"HOPE FOR HURTING COMMUNITIES"
95-21-064-FI
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (ELCA) -- Lutherans are providing homes and
hope for people across the United States and Caribbean who have no,
low or fixed incomes, as well as people with special needs and victims
of disasters. About 200 people involved in housing ministries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) swapped stories here Sept. 21-23 at the
first convocation of its kind, "Hope for Hurting Communities."
A 1991 meeting of people involved in ELCA housing ministries
concluded that a "bigger, better, broader" convocation was needed, said
Gaylord Thomas, ELCA director for community development services.
They wanted to build the network of housing ministries, share ideas and
plan.
Four groups were targeted for the event: those starting with a
vision, those involved in one or/two projects, multi-level community based
organizations and those indirectly involved, such as grant providers and
financial advisors, said Thomas.
A steady stream of speakers were asked, "Why is the church in
housing?" Most respondents agreed that the church is involved with
building communities.
"We have some hope to provide hurting communities," said the
Rev. Art Simon, an LCMS pastor and director of the Washington, D.C.,
office of the Christian Children's Fund. "I suggest that you ask
yourselves periodically, 'Are we just erecting buildings, or are we giving
people hope?'"
Christians have to express God's love "in ways that people can
see and feel and appreciate. Housing ministry is just one excellent
example of how that can be done," said Simon. "In the process of doing
it draw people into the circle of fellowship, because Christ wants us all
to come into the family."
"We are here for more than housing," said the Rev. David Callies,
president of the LCMS Mid-South District, Memphis. "The bottom line is
ministry."
"Justice" is a reason JoAnn Kane, McAuley Institute, Silver
Spring, Md., gave for the church's work in housing. "There is a need for
more equitable housing."
Lutherans respond to God's love through housing ministries, said
the Rev. Gary Wheeler, president of California Lutheran Homes,
Alahambra, Calif. "What are you going to do with the rest of your life to
say, 'Thank you, Jesus?'"
"We have the opportunity to bring the whole gospel to the whole
person ... to the whole community," said the Rev. David Benke, president
of the LCMS Atlantic District, Bronxville, N.Y. There's personal
satisfaction in praising God by "running into the battle, not from the
battle," he said.
Immigrants to the United States know "there is power in common
life," said Nikolai Alexeev, LCMS Russian Ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y. "Life in
this country is based on the individual," he said, and Americans are in
need of stronger communities.
Thirty workshops presented discussions on financial, strategic
and community issues. Tours and workshops showcased several
current projects and how they developed from ideas to homes:
+ Alolysious House, Memphis;
+ Bethel New Life, Chicago;
+ Beulah Project, Bronx, N.Y.;
+ Court Avenue Apartments, Memphis;
+ Estival Place, Memphis;
+ Habitat for Humanity, Rossville, Tenn.;
+ Luther Place and N Street Village, Wash.,D.C.;
+ Nehemiah Project, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Memphis;
+ Set Up To Succeed, Fort Wayne, Ind.;
+ Smokey City, Memphis;
+ St. Mark's Manor, Moscow, Tenn.;
+ St. Patrick's Neighborhood, Memphis;
+ St. Peter Village, Memphis;
+ Wesley Highland Tower, Memphis;
+ Westward Homes, Phoenix.
Lutheran congregations provide emergency services such as
food pantries and clothing closets, said Sally Camp, Richmond, Va., who
supports social ministry organizations in the eastern United States and
Caribbean on behalf of the ELCA Division for Church in Society. They're
also working through Lutheran agencies to provide long-term services,
she added.
One congregation is developing a housing project with Lutheran
Social Ministries of New Jersey, and ten congregations in northern
Virginia are working with Lutheran Social Services-National Capital Area
"to provide transitional housing for women who suffered domestic
violence," said Camp.
Hurricane Marilyn destroyed one housing ministry with
developmentally disabled people on the island of St. Thomas, she said.
Inter-Lutheran Disaster Response (ILDR), a cooperative ministry of the
ELCA and LCMS, is working with congregations and Lutheran Social
Services of the Virgin Islands to respond to housing needs the storm
created.
"One thing that makes our disaster work very unique is that we
work through congregations and through agencies," said Elaine Richter,
ILDR associate director. "These entities are there before, during and
after the disaster."
Kay Bengston, assistant director for advocacy, Lutheran Office
for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) in Washington, D.C., gave participants
an update on current federal legislation dealing with housing. "Support
for the low-income and poor is being cut daily."
"We believe that God calls us to work for justice in this world,"
said Bengston. "We are speaking with and on behalf of the poor in order
that they might be justly cared for and represented within our political
structures."
The convocation was funded by the Lutheran Brotherhood
Foundation of Minneapolis, the Wheat Ridge Ministries of Itasca, Ill., and
several financial and housing corporations in the Memphis area. It was
staffed by volunteers of the Memphis Metropolitan Inter-Faith
Association.
##########
October 3, 1995
LUTHERANS TO DISCUSS EDUCATIONAL CHOICE
95-21-065-LC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America will begin studying the issues surrounding
"educational choice" this winter.
The ELCA's Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES)
board, meeting here Sept. 22-24, authorized release of "Educational
Choice: A Discussion Guide." The six-week study is for use by groups
in congregations, Lutheran schools and other settings in the ELCA. Its
focus is ideas and principles rather than specific legislative proposals.
"Educational choice" refers to options federal and state
governments are considering or testing which allow families to use
vouchers or some other system to fund the elementary education of their
children at any public or non-public school.
The issue of educational choice is working its way through our
society said the Rev. Robert Sorensen, DHES executive director. "Many
states have on future ballots issues of school choice." In this document
"we don't take a position, pro or con, on these issues," said Sorensen.
"Lutherans have to make decisions and this document helps get
discussions going and people thinking," he said.
The document is divided into six sections: public schools,
non-public schools, values in education, financing education,
constitutionality, and making a decision. In each section different
viewpoints are presented followed by discussion questions.
For many parents, "concern that their children grow up with a
sense of what is good and right motivates their interest in educational
choice. Parents who do not find that their public schools provide this
setting may say `public schools don't resist our society's moral
breakdown; they reflect and encourage it,'" says the document. Parents
with this concern ask if educational choice would give them new
possibilities. Supporters would answer yes, it continues.
Proponents contend educational choice "holds the promise of
benefiting the whole community by enabling religious or other
value-oriented schools to exist and flourish," says the document.
Furthermore, "educational choice is just a way for government to support
education in a pluralistic society."
Opponents "issue dire warnings that educational choice would
further fragment an already deeply fragmented society," it continues.
They predict that "it would likely encourage racist and religiously fanatic
groups to operate their schools and to attract new adherents."
"We are not debating the center of the Christian faith. People's
positions on public policy do not determine if they are Christians or not.
There is no one `biblical' or `Christian' position," on this issue says the
document.
The ELCA encourages its congregations to be "communities of
moral deliberation." Congregations should deliberate about public policy
for schools out of concern for children, especially those with limited
opportunities and access to education; parents in their responsibility to
provide good education for children; and ELCA members who live out
their baptismal calling as teachers, principals, board members or workers
in public, private and Lutheran schools, it says.
"Many states are struggling with these issues. Lutherans have
much to say in the field of education that is not touched by this
document," said Kathryn Swanson, board member from Thousand Oaks,
Calif. Swanson urged a stronger theological basis for the document.
"I think it is fairly well balanced. The discussion questions are
good. I think this will make for a pretty exciting adult forum," said Carl T.
Fynboe, Fox Island, Wash.
DHES staff will make some editorial changes to reflect the
comments made by the board,said John Scibilia, ELCA director for
schools. "We advocate strongly for equal access to quality education
for all children. This document will help members across the ELCA to
affirm their commitiment to children and education through the dialogue
proceess," said Scibilia. "I am hopeful these discussions will focus on
children and their right to a strong educational foundation rather than
politicizing the issue of educational choice."
ELCA congregations operate or support more than 1,750 early
childhood centers, 155 elementary schools and 21 high schools.
The ELCA's Division for Church in Society and the Division for
Higher Education and Schools cooperated in producing the discussion
guide.
##########
October 3, 1995
LUTHERANS CONTINUE RESPONSE
TO HURRICANE MARILYN
95-21-066-LC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
has responded swiftly to Hurricane Marilyn. So far $204,000 has been
sent for relief in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This includes the purchase and
shipping of emergency supplies.
Hurricane Marilyn has devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands. St.
Thomas and St. John have been hit the hardest. More than 80% of the
structures on St. Thomas have suffered extensive damage.
The ELCA has seven churches in the U.S. Virgin Islands. These
include "several of the oldest Lutheran congregations in the Americas
and the oldest African American Christian congregation in the Western
Hemisphere," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, ELCA director for
communication.
On Sept. 20 a disaster assessment team including the Rev. Leon
Phillips Jr., director of the Inter-Lutheran Disaster Response (ILDR) and
the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, bishop of the ELCA#s Caribbean Synod
arrived on St. Thomas. ILDR is a co-operative effort of the ELCA and the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
"The island is devastated," says Phillips. "There is debris
everywhere; there are areas where hardly a single house remains
intact. Reformation Lutheran Church is in ruins, the cross and the
sanctuary lamp stand starkly in the midst of rubble. In Charlotte Amalie,
the school facilities of the Lutheran Parish School are nothing more than
a pile of rubble."
Everywhere there is the debris of downed poles, tangled wires,
smashed cars and even boats. Many roads are barely passable, he
added. Phillips met with congregational leaders from Reformation and
Frederick Lutheran churches, where they said to him, "Tell everyone to
pray for us. Tell them not to forget us."
"I have not seen catastrophic devastation any worse than this. I
feel as if we have just returned from a day in a war zone," said Phillips.
"Yet they want you to know their faith is strong, and their spirits high.
God has not abandoned them, and we assured them today that their
brothers and sisters in Christ will not abandon them either. Our ability to
respond and our generosity will be challenged as never before."
On Sept. 21 the assessment team arrived on St. Croix. Phillips
says relief efforts will be different in St. Croix and will move at a
different pace, says Phillips. "The damage is less than on St. Thomas,
but many homes are damaged and some are altogether lost." Pastors
there need roofing tarps, generators, gasoline containers and chain
saws.
Phillips describes present strategy in the U.S. Virgin Islands as:
(1) to provide emergency assistance with urgently needed material
goods, including food and water, and roofing tarps; (2) to organize
ongoing relief efforts, and (3) to make the necessary arrangements for
further shipments of goods and for use of volunteers.
Generators, roofing tarps, florescent lamps and batteries have
been shipped. Emergency materials are being distributed at Reformation
and Fredrick Lutheran Churches on St. Thomas.
Skilled volunteers are now needed on the island of St. Thomas.
The work will involve preparing homes for rebuilding, according to Kris
Shafer, ELCA volunteer coordinator.
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