wfn.org | ELCA Is "In The City For Good"

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 31, 1997

ELCA IS "IN THE CITY FOR GOOD"
97-12-033-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "An initiative for the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America to revitalize its ministry in urban
areas of the United States and the Caribbean" will reach the ELCA
Churchwide Assembly this summer in Philadelphia.  The board of
the ELCA Division for Outreach approved the report, "In the City
for Good," in principle when it met here March 19-22.
     "We affirmed it and made some editorial suggestions," said
the Rev. Gary A. Marshall, Escondido, Calif., assistant to the
bishop of the ELCA's Pacifica Synod and chair of the division's
board.  A final version of the report and related resolution will
be ready for the ELCA Church Council meeting here April 3-7.
     The churchwide assembly will be asked to implement a decade-
long emphasis on urban ministry from 1998 to 2008.  Another
proposal will establish a fund "to support and strengthen the
ministry of the ELCA in urban settings" and commit $500,000 to
the fund annually during the decade.
     The division's five-member "urban staff team" prepared the
report.  The Rev. Jerrett L. Hansen, a mission developer in
Baltimore, leads the team.  He described the report as "a road
map with some signposts."
     Hansen said specific strategies will vary from city to city.
"Planning for ministry is best done at the local level," he said.
"There is no cookie cutter.  There are some models."
     "In the City for Good" lays out a "theological foundation"
for urban ministry, outlines the strengths and weaknesses of
Lutheran ministries in the cities, and presents "a three-
dimensional vision" for the future.  "We want to invite people
into the reality, into the theology, into the issues," said
Hansen.
     "We must build on our strengths," he said.  "We are present.
We are visible.  We are already in every major city in the United
States."
     Hansen said the ELCA can learn from the ministries of other
Christian churches that are thriving in the cities.  Lutherans
could also do a better job of supporting the leadership -- clergy
and laity -- in its existing congregations.
     The three-dimensional vision involves transforming people's
lives, congregations and communities.  "Until people's hearts are
changed nothing else will change," said Hansen.  "Congregations
must be in touch with and committed to their contexts."
     Some board members said many of the issues raised in the
report are not unique to city ministries.  "We are all in the
same boat," Hansen replied.  What's happening in the cities is a
condensation of what is happening in rural and suburban parishes.
     "One thing is for us to expand our realization of urban
reality," said Marshall.  Another element of the initiative is to
recognize "there are people and resources and gifts already
present in those locations."  Where the resources are needed,
"the ministry of the church needs to be in partnership," he
added.
     In other business, the Division for Outreach board approved
a plan to expand the ELCA's involvement in the Lutheran
Association for Maritime Ministry.  That plan will need to be
finalized at the LAMM annual meeting in Houston this May.
     The one-third-time position of DO's domestic maritime
ministry consultant will close June 30.  An ELCA chaplain in the
U.S. Navy Reserves, the Rev. Andrew E.V. Krey, Waterbury, Conn.,
serves in that position.
     The board also approved the 1997 focus of its African
American Outreach Strategy which will recruit and train a network
of advisors to assist and counsel African American ministries
related to the division.  The Rev. E. Taylor Harmon, DO's
associate executive director, was assigned to coordinate the
division's work in this area.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html