wfn.org | ELCA Division Explores the Future of the Church in Society

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 21, 2000

ELCA DIVISION EXPLORES THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH IN SOCIETY
00-034-FI

              LISLE, Ill. (ELCA) -- To erase hunger from the face of the earth
and to draw clear connections between the Christian gospel and justice
are some of the goals Lutherans brought to a strategic planning sessions
here Jan. 22-24.  Staff of the Division for Church in Society (DCS) of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) hosted a Future Search
conference to help the division know where to focus its attention in the
near future.
              The  future search  planning process began with a focus on the
past.  Each of the 64 participants developed a time line of the past
five decades, first of personal experiences and then of global events.
              Sitting in unassigned groups of eight, the participants combined
their data into a broader time line.  Then one person from each group
entered that information on a time line that covered half of a
conference room wall.
              Herbert A. Marlowe Jr., professional facilitator, Analytica,
Newberry, Fla.; Kathryn A. Sime, evaluation analyst, ELCA Department for
Research and Evaluation, Chicago; the Rev. Leslie F. Weber Jr.,
associate executive director, ELCA DCS; and Suzanne Wise, executive
director, Family Service Centers, Clearwater, Fla., facilitated the
conference.
              Wise asked the group what it was like to develop such a time line.
Many said it was difficult to remember all the details of the past, but
working together made it possible to  fill in the blanks.
              One participant noted that the time line covered events from
detonating an atomic bomb over Japan to the birth of grandchildren, but
there were few references to the church.   We tend to talk about history
as though the church was not there, but we are.
              In the conference room there were eight tables -- one for each of
the division s  stakeholder  groups: administrative staff, churchwide
units, congregations and synods, executive staff, governance, partners,
and service and grant recipients, other entities.  Generally, eight
representatives of each group sat at a table.
              What surprised the Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive director of
the ELCA DCS, was how quickly the discussion moved beyond stakeholder
labels and  collapsed into what is our common interest and what is the
common good.   In his closing remarks, he told the group,  I take that
as encouraging.
              "The broad involvement of stakeholders indicates that a churchwide
unit is trying to listen," said Weber.  "Stakeholder groups want to
help, because it is important to all of us.  There wasn't an
anti-institutional bias that often comes through."
              In their stakeholder groups, participants were asked to  focus on
the present.   They tried to identify all the  trends, issues, events
and concerns that affect DCS.   Then they sorted the issues into four
categories: economic, institutional, program or demographic issues.
              Economic issues included access to health care, access to
technology and the widening gap between rich and poor people.
Institutional issues included the church s relationship with government,
a growing anti-institutional bias and the need for organizations to
build alliances.
              Program issues included the environment, violence and criminal
justice, hunger, poverty and the educational system.  Demographic issues
included the aging of the church, diverse family structures, the
shifting sizes of ethnic groups in the United States and gay/lesbian
concerns.
              Participants then discussed  impact on the future,  especially for
DCS, from the perspectives of the various stakeholder groups.  Marlowe
asked them then to  look at an ideal future  for DCS.
              Marlowe led the group through  zero-based visioning  -- to pretend
that the division did not exist and that they were initiating the
church s work in society.   What are the structures through which to
work?  What are the tasks?  What are the differences we are trying to
make?  For whom are we trying to make them?  he asked.
              The group developed 71  indicators  for DCS to address.
Facilitators sorted the indicators into nine  focus areas:  economic
equity, ecumenical alliances, education, environment, hunger, media,
prisons, social action/gospel and social justice.
              One of the most difficult tasks of any organization is to narrow
the number of its objectives to a manageable few, said Marlowe.   An
organization that tries to do everything does nothing well,  he said.
 Everything we do is good.
              All 71 indicators were written on large sheets of paper which
covered the walls of an adjacent room.  Each participant walked through
that room and  voted  by putting a mark next to 10 goals she or he
thought were of highest priority for the division to address.
              Marlowe then announced seven objectives that received the most
votes:
+ Reduce the number of hungry people;
+ Increase ELCA members  awareness of connections between the gospel and
social action;
+ Obtain significant funding for prophetic, justice and  church in
society  ministries;
+ Increase the number of congregations and individuals who identify
themselves as being committed to social justice;
+ Increase the availability of alternatives to incarceration;
+ Reduce the number of people living in poverty, and increase the number
of people who are employed; and
+ Reduce amounts of greenhouse gases.
              A final element of the "zero-based visioning" was to list the
mistakes that the new organization should avoid.  Participants came up
with 42 mistakes which the facilitators grouped and restated in the
positive as eight principles for DCS:
+ Build God's agenda and not merely our own;
+ Listen to the people directly affected;
+ Use language in publications that a person unfamiliar with the
institution can understand;
+ Stay connected to issues of faith;
+ Limit the number of issues you take on;
+ Be clear about identity and mission;
+ Respect and treat as equals the people you serve; and
+ Allow the structure to change as needs change.
              "Seven of the eight stakeholder groups said DCS should address
congregations as an audience.  The style of engagement varied somewhat.
Three groups suggested a more passive approach -- education, while four
suggested a more active approach -- advocacy, facilitation, engagement,"
said Weber.
              "The objectives and tasks will need refining, but there is a great
deal of consensus on these," he said.  "While the vision is not finished
and will require work by staff and board and perhaps a focus group, we
have the primary audience that we should focus on, objectives for our
work and tasks to support these, and operating principles."
              Each day of the conference began with devotions or a worship
service.   We are millennial straddlers -- who stand with our past in
the second millennium and our futures, for as long as they may be, in
the third,  said the Rev. Michael Cooper-White, director of the ELCA s
Department for Synodical Relations, in Sunday s sermon.
               This world, in its present form, is passing away,  he said.   It
is passing away into and unto a loving, saving God who awaits us there
and prepares to welcome each of us by name.
              As a closing exercise of the conference, Marlowe asked
participants to state  the one thing  he or she learned or wanted to get
across before leaving.
               Action without reflection on God s Word does not lead to
justice,  said Tony Aguilar, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Metropolitan
New York Synod, New York.
               Eliminating world hunger is an attainable goal,  said the Rev.
David M. Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, Silver Spring, Md.
He said it is possible to cut the number of the world s hungry people in
half in five years.
              Youth may be the church of the future, and  we re part of the
church now,  said Amparo Cutrona, Philadelphia, reminded conference
participants.  Youth should be a constant part of planning processes in
the church, she said.  "Let us help you!"
              Aaron Werner, Alpena, Mich., offered a more specific sentiment
that youth have a role to play in dealing with social justice.  "Teens
are very idealistic, therefore you need to explicitly include youth," he
said.
              In an interview after the conference, Wise said those who designed
the ELCA put a structure of 65 synods between the congregations and the
divisions.  She said she heard at the conference that the structure is
frustrating for congregations that want to be involved in social
ministry, because they feel separated from the expertise of the larger
church.

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