wfn.org | Council Calls on Government, ELCA to Respond to Farm Crisis

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 16, 1998

COUNCIL CALLS ON GOVERNMENT, ELCA TO RESPOND TO FARM CRISIS
98-CC2-07-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) called upon leaders in federal and state
government to take steps to help farmers in crisis, and called on ELCA
churchwide units to educate the church's 5.2 million members about the farm
crisis and about how to respond.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between meetings of the ELCA's
Churchwide Assembly.  The council met here Nov. 13-16.  Assemblies are held
every other year; the next is August 16-22 in Denver.
     Severe weather conditions the past five years in the Red River Valley
in the northern United States and this year's severe drought in parts of
the country's south and southwest have adversely affected agricultural
income in those regions, the council said.  Coupled with that are weather
losses which greatly reduced prices for farm commodities this year.
     D. Mark Klever, a church council member from Dayton, Iowa, proposed
the resolution.  It serves as a model to teach people how to respond to the
farm crisis, he said.  In previous crises many people "didn't know what to
do or how to act," he observed.
     The council called on ELCA members to "listen, learn and pray" with
and for people in America's rural communities.  It asked ELCA churchwide
units to "prepare materials to interpret for members the scope of the farm
crisis affecting so many Lutherans" and to suggest ways in which people may
respond.
     The resolution noted the creation of a "rural desk" in the churchwide
offices to help address some of the issues in America's rural communities.
     The Church Council action seeks help from the Clinton Administration
and Congress to acknowledge the severity of the plight of farmers, to enact
measures that would restore security to those in greatest need, to re-
examine policy changes that may have fueled the crisis and to take steps
halting further critical farm losses.

For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html