wfn.org | ELCA Men's and Women's Organizations Receive Financial Gift

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 9, 1999

ELCA MEN'S AND WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE FINANCIAL GIFT
99-201-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The men's organization and women's organization
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received grants
from Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), a fraternal benefits
organization based in Appleton, Wis.
     Lutheran Men in Mission, the men's organization of the ELCA,
received a $40,000 grant to help 1,000 men develop effective men's
ministries in more than 300 ELCA congregations.
     The goal of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM) is to build men's faith,
relationships and ministries through men's gatherings, resources
produced by the organization and "coast-to-coast" leadership
development, said Douglas Haugen, director for LMM.
     The men's organization also works to achieve its goal by working
with men in congregations and synods of the ELCA through Bible studies
and men's ministry guidebooks.
     The 1999 Lutheran Men's Gathering will take place Aug. 13-15 at
the Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, Colo.  Under the theme "Building
Legacy," about 1,000 men will worship, participate in workshops and hear
keynote presentations.
     Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the women's
organization of the church, received a $50,000 grant from AAL for the
design and implementation of an anti-racism strategy and program.
     "Women of the ELCA realizes that the goal to become an anti-racist
organization places us in a critical position.  We are on the edge of a
frontier," said Catherine I.H. Braasch, executive director for Women of
the ELCA.  "With AAL's help, Women of the ELCA can continue to learn
both the struggle and the fruit of living God's gospel as an anti-racist
organization, which is what we hope to become."
     Delegates at the 1999 Women of the ELCA Triennial Convention held
July 7-12 in St. Louis, passed resolutions asking Women of the ELCA to
"place priority in its emphasis and in its budget on anti-racism
training, education and awareness," to work to dismantle "its own
systemic and institutional contributions to the perpetuation of racist
practices," and to help Lutheran women become "anti-racists in their own
lives."
     The convention told the organization to "claim an anti-racist
identity" and asked its executive board to consider proposing a
constitutional amendment "to include anti-racism as a principle of the
organization."  The board has already determined the organization's
anti-racism effort will be a priority through 2002.
     Aid Association for Lutherans supports the work of Lutheran
churches, educational institutions and organizations.  Each year the AAL
Network Grant Program provides funds to a group of Lutheran-affiliated
organizations that have similar yet broad-based missions.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html