wfn.org | ELCA Church Council: "Significant Transitions"

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 15, 1997

ELCA CHURCH COUNCIL: "SIGNIFICANT TRANSITIONS"
97-14-036-AH

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America experienced "significant transitions"
in its business and in its relationships, the Rev. Lowell G.
Almen, ELCA secretary, said after the council met here April 4-7.
The council shifted several governance responsibilities to this
summer's Churchwide Assembly; and Kathy J. Magnus, Denver,
announced her resignation as ELCA vice president and council
chair.  Magnus will serve until the end of the council's next
meeting in August.
     The assembly in Philadelphia Aug. 14-20 will elect a new
vice president and take up the council's recommendations on
subjects ranging from urban ministry and theological education to
ecumenical proposals and lay ministry.  The churchwide assembly
is the ELCA's chief legislative body.  The ELCA Church Council
acts on behalf of the assembly between its biennial meetings.
     Treasurer Richard A. McAuliffe called giving to the ELCA in
1996 "very satisfactory."  Income totaled $77,230,000 with
"mission support" channeled through the ELCA's 65 synods up
$645,000 over 1995 giving, McAuliffe reported.  The ELCA's income
was $2.4 million ahead of expenses at the end of fiscal 1996.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop, said 1996 was
"another good year for the churchwide organization."  He said,
"The steady year-by-year strengthening of our financial position
has enabled us to undertake some additional mission projects and
has relieved the kinds of budget stresses faced earlier in the
life of this church."
     The Church Council authorized 1997 spending to total $76.9
million, up $300,000 from the spending level set in November.  A
report that income to the ELCA World Hunger Fund fell short of
its 1997 goal led the council to set hunger program spending at
$11.9 million instead of $12.2 million.
     The Church Council adopted an amendment to the ELCA Medical
and Dental Benefits Plan which excludes "coverage of late-term
abortions except when the life of the mother is threatened or
when the fetus has lethal abnormalities indicating death is
imminent."
     At its November meeting the council asked the ELCA Board of
Pensions, which manages the plan,  to develop such an amendment
to bring the plan into accord with the ELCA's 1991 "Social
Statement on Abortion."  The statement supports human life and
says that abortion "ought to be an option only of last resort,
such as when the life a mother is threatened."  It does not
mention the church's medical plan.
     As amended the plan calls for the Board of Pensions to ask
at which point in the pregnancy the abortion was performed,
whether the mother's life was at risk or whether the fetus had
lethal abnormalities.  Current medical practice defines late-term
abortions as a termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks, according
to John G. Kapanke, president of the Board of Pensions.
     The council recommended that the 1997 assembly affirm a
series of proposals on ministry in daily life and the spiritual
formation of Lutherans who are not seeking a church occupation.
"A Call to Action: Ministry in the Daily Lives of the Baptized"
is a Division for Ministry report to the assembly.  It calls for
including "relevant and concrete suggestions for living the
faith" in the ELCA's policies and printed resources and for
making "theological education accessible to a broader spectrum of
people."
     The ELCA Division for Ministry will give the assembly
progress reports on implementing a study of theological
education.  One resolution will outline the church's expectations
of continuing education for its ordained and lay ministers.  The
assembly will receive "Equipping Leaders for Mission," a case
statement for increased financial support for theological
education; and it will consider establishing a churchwide
scholarship for theological studies.
     The council sent the churchwide assembly an initiative to
revitalize ELCA ministry in urban areas, "In the City for Good."
The assembly will be asked to implement a decade-long emphasis on
urban ministry from 1998 to 2008.  Another proposal will seek
funding sources "to support and strengthen the ministry of the
ELCA in urban settings."
     The council transmitted "Recommitment to a Strategy for
Proclamation of the Gospel" to the assembly.  The Commission for
Multicultural Ministries report describes the ELCA's failure to
achieve a ten-year goal that ten percent of its membership will
be people of color or people whose primary language is not
English.  That now describes about two percent of the ELCA's 5.2
million members.  An accompanying assembly resolution would renew
the church's commitment to be more multicultural.
     The council also sent to the assembly a Commission for
Multicultural Ministries report outlining the relationship Native
American Lutherans envision with the ELCA over the next five
years.  "The American Indian and Alaska Native Strategic Plan"
commends existing ELCA ministries with Native Americans and
recommits the church to intensify those efforts.
     The council approved a series of changes to ELCA governing
documents outlining the church's relationship with affiliated
social ministry organizations.  In November 1996 the council gave
its approval to the formation of Lutheran Services in America --
an alliance of about 300 Lutheran social ministry organizations
across the United States and Caribbean with the ELCA and Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod.  The changes pave the way for the formal
start of LSA in May.
     Lutheran Campus Ministry will get a closer look at the
council's November meeting.  The council requested a plan to
convene a "think tank" around the "purpose, structure and
churchwide location of campus ministry" involving the ELCA's
Division for Higher Education and Schools, where campus ministry
is currently lodged, and others.
     Concerns related to campus ministry surfaced in the course
of a regular review of the division which included changing
student populations, staffing models, training for campus
pastors, programs, advocacy, partnership and funding questions.

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