wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Hears Plan to Stay 'In the City for Good'

[News News <news@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 21, 1999

ELCA ASSEMBLY HEARS PLAN TO STAY 'IN THE CITY FOR GOOD'
99-CWA-48-FI

     DENVER (ELCA) -- In Philadelphia the 1997 Churchwide Assembly of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) established a program
to transform the lives of people inhabiting the hearts of U.S. cities
and, in turn, transform their congregations and communities.  The ELCA's
1999 Churchwide Assembly received a progress report Aug. 21 on "In the
City for Good."
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, is meeting Aug. 16-22 here at the Colorado Convention Center.
There are more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,038 ELCA
voting members.  The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ
Known: Hope for a New Century."
     "We are ministering in places of great opportunity," Dr. Addie J.
Butler, vice president of the ELCA, Philadelphia, told the assembly as
she introduced the Rev. Jerrett L. Hansen, mission director, ELCA
Division for Outreach, Baltimore.  Hansen chairs a seven-member "urban
team" that oversees the "In the City for Good" project.
     Hansen told the assembly that the document outlining the project
for the 1997 assembly has been well received, even by those outside of
urban areas.  He added that, as the project's purpose is to transform,
the project has been transformed as its shortcomings have been
identified.
     The criteria and process for funding projects have evolved, he
said.  The project is gathering a fund that will allow a 14-member
"funding team" to award up to $500,000 in grants each year from 1999 to
2008, under the coordination of the ELCA Division for Outreach.
     In 1999 the ELCA awarded $357,179 in grants to 23 new urban
ministry programs that illustrate a potential for transforming lives,
congregations and communities in U.S. cities.  Nearly 140 program
proposals were submitted.
     Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits society based in
Minneapolis, has committed $1 million for "In the City for Good."  The
ELCA Upstate New York Synod gave another $260,000 to the project from
the sale of property.
     "In the City for Good" is not meant to be a "quick fix," Hansen
said.  The fund is being developed in such a way that it may exist
beyond the project's 10-year blueprint.
     Those ministering in U.S. cities have often had their "energy
sapped by the weight of the task," said Hansen.  "'In the City for Good'
is a call to have our spirits renewed."
     "We have said that we are a mission church," Hansen said.  He said
the church's mission is not to bring people to a "brand" of Christianity
but to bring good news to a world full of bad news.
     Hansen told the assembly the ELCA Division for Outreach has held
three "urban convocations" -- in Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Minn., and New York -- and has plans for three more -- in Chicago,
Detroit and Reading, Pa.  The division is also leading consultations in
each of the ELCA's 65 synods.
     The urban team has produced a "resource binder" for use by city
congregations, Hansen said.  Rick Steves of public television's "Travels
in Europe" hosted the project's videotape, describing the unique
challenges and opportunities of ministering in U.S. cities.
     The value of these resources, Hansen said, is that they will be
used "in the local setting" and "that the ELCA will be 'in the city for
good' well beyond this first decade."

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