wfn.org | Money and Mission Engage Lutheran Outreach Leaders

[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 20, 1998

MONEY AND MISSION ENGAGE LUTHERAN OUTREACH LEADERS
98-18-113-FI

     MUNDELEIN, Ill. (ELCA) -- Good financial news and initial work on a
new mission strategy occupied about 60 staff and 20 board members of the
Division for Outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America here May
5-8.  The division's staff, including about 40 mission developers who
oversee the establishment of new congregations in specific territories of
the church, met before and with the board.
     The division's 1998 budget received a boost of more than $900,000
from increased giving to the ELCA, said the Rev. Richard A. Magnus,
executive director of the Division for Outreach:  $425,000 to help launch
funding for "In the City for Good," a 10-year project to open creative new
outreach opportunities in urban settings; $320,000 for additional new
congregational starts; $75,000 toward the Mission Founders Program; $50,000
toward salary increases for mission developers; and $40,000 to increase the
work of a network of peer advisors for urban, small town and rural
congregations.
     "The church is acknowledging that its primary purpose is to witness
to Jesus and to do that by starting new ministries," said the Rev. Julius
Carroll, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Oakland, Calif., about the budget
increase.  The Mission Founders Program will help the ELCA raise more money
for new missions, said Carroll, who chairs the division's board.  Mission
directors have not had a salary increase since 1988.
     Asked to visualize the church of the future, the Rev. Timothy Lull,
president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.,
addressed joint sessions of the division's board and staff.  "Mission has
moved on to center stage for the ELCA," he said, and that will require "new
partnerships, reform and repentance."
     Since the 1950s Christianity has lost its position of privilege in
the United States, said Lull; and with the growth of other faith groups
since World War II, it is no longer possible to assume that the majority of
the people are Christians.  The church must be involved in mission, and
that requires "flexibility and a genuine interest in other people different
from us," he said.
     The worst mission strategy is having no strategy at all, which is the
most common strategy for most Lutheran congregations, said Lull.  Another
strategy is to emphasize hospitality and a variety of "worship
possibilities," which is a good strategy that does not work under all
circumstances, he said.
     Lull recommended a strategy that builds on the strengths of Lutheran
theology and "the recovery of our sacramental history."  He said Lutheran
congregations do good jobs educating their children, but need to provide
more interesting opportunities for life-long learning.  The church's
emphasis on "the priesthood of all believers" should lead it to help
everyone apply Christian values to their daily lives.
     "The future church will be far more serious about vocational support
for its members" to help people figure out what it means to be a Christian
throughout the rest of the week, said Lull.  It must tell young people that
"God cares about what you do with the rest of your life."
     He predicted that in 20 years about a third of the average
congregation's staff will be seminary trained, another third will be
trained by mentors or through some "alternative route" of education, and
the other third will earn part or all of their salaries from some other
source.  Lull said different denominations will probably do more together,
but each will work harder to maintain their unique confessional integrity.
     The joint meeting of staff and board members used much of their time
together to discuss a draft mission strategy that Carroll called "a good
balance between new mission starts and helping existing ministries re-root
themselves in their neighborhoods, so that every congregation is a mission
congregation."  The draft had been a topic during nine regional gatherings
earlier in the year.
     The draft four-point strategy outlines ways to multiply the number of
new ministries and new congregations, to work with partners to renew
existing congregations, to develop and implement ethnic-specific strategies
and to plan with partners to reach out to people living in poverty.
     The board will continue to discuss the strategy at future meetings.
Magnus described it as a work always in progress.
     The board directed staff to begin working with other units of the
ELCA to develop a churchwide challenge and report back this fall.  The
challenge will be to start 2,000 new congregations between the years
2000 and 2020.
     In proposing the challenge to the board, the Rev. Robert S. Hoyt,
ELCA director for new congregations, mentioned that several congregations
have started "satellite ministries" that have developed into new
congregations.
     "We are finding that we cannot compete with ourselves," said Hoyt.
People accustomed to an existing congregation with a full set of programs
will drive past a new congregation, he said, but that existing congregation
can start a "satellite ministry" of all its programs in a distant, growing
community.
     An ELCA Identity Project will raise awareness of the Lutheran church
among the general population of the United States and Caribbean, said the
Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for Communication.  An
advertisement campaign in the fall will provide a toll-free number and web
site where people can locate their nearest ELCA congregation.
     Kristi S. Bangert, ELCA director for internal communication, said a
new emblem for the church will be a key element of the campaign.  It will
be prominent on a number of business and personal items, as well as in
advertisements.
     She said the identity project follows research into the media and the
messages most likely to reach "boomers" and "busters" -- people in the two
generations since World War II.  Bangert added that ELCA congregations will
also receive training on how to use the project's materials and how to
handle the anticipated response.
     The full Division for Outreach gathering marked the retirements of
the Rev. J. Richard Gantt, mission director in the ELCA's South Carolina
and Southeastern Synods, and the Rev. Walter F. Johnson, mission director
in the ELCA's Indiana-Kentucky Synod.

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