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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 31, 2000

ELCA CONGREGATIONS FOCUS ON DISCIPLESHIP
00-148-MR/RS**

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) are invited to participate in a yearlong focus on
discipleship beginning in September.  Under "Living Faith: A Call to
Discipleship," congregations will focus on seven key faith practices for
discipleship: prayer, study, worship, invitation, encouragement, service
and giving.
     The invitation to congregations came from members of the ELCA
"Teach the Faith" Initiative team.  "Teach the Faith" is one of seven
ELCA "Initiatives to Prepare for a New Century."
     Initiatives are significant areas of ministry for the ELCA this
century.  They were selected by the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Leadership teams were formed to provide guidance for the work of
congregations, synods and churchwide organizations.  Team leaders help
provide an overall picture of how the church may be different as a
result of the Initiatives.
     "A Call to Discipleship is an invitation for congregations to
reaffirm and reclaim their common identity as a teaching church," said
the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA.
     "A Call to Discipleship is an invitation for all ELCA
congregations to commit to a yearlong focus on discipleship from
September 2000 to August 2001," said the Rev. David Poling-Goldenne,
ELCA director for evangelism and Christian education.  He said this
spring the ELCA's 11,000 congregations received a planning guide for
Living Faith.
     The guide includes information to assist congregations in
articulating a vision and plan for Living Faith.  The guide also
includes a Bible study, a catalog of promotional materials and other
resources.
     "While most Lutheran congregations put a strong emphasis on
teaching and preaching, we sometimes soften our emphasis on the
practices of faith," Poling-Goldenne wrote in the planning guide.
     "Discipleship is something we haven't been very good at in the
past," according to the Rev. Lori Strang, Grace Lutheran Church, Luckey,
Ohio.  "It's high time we focus on being disciples -- those who follow
the Lord and learns continually in an active way," she said.
     Strang took an active part in introducing Living Faith: A Call to
Discipleship to the ELCA Northwestern Ohio Synod Assembly, Findlay, May
19-20.  After receiving a seven-piece puzzle in the shape of a cross as
a birthday gift from her mother, Strang connected the seven pieces of
the puzzle to the seven faith practices of Living Faith.  As a result,
during opening worship participants of the synod assembly brought
together seven pieces of wood -- each inscribed with one of the faith
practices -- and assembled them together in a large three-dimensional
cross that also included the words "Living Faith" and "Call to
Discipleship."  The cross served as a visual focal point throughout the
assembly, and participants received a small replica of the seven-piece
cross to take home as a reminder of their call to discipleship.
     Other synods of the ELCA have also embarked on the call to
discipleship.  The ELCA's 11,000 congregations are organized into 65
synods.
     Congregations of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod, Akron, are in
the process of suggesting how Living Faith may be implemented, according
to the Rev. Carl L. Johnson, evangelism resource pastor for three Ohio
synods, Lewis Center, Ohio.  At the synod's assembly May 19-20, five
workshops were held on Living Faith, he said.
     The ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus, hosted a series of
luncheons this spring for clergy and lay people about the call to
discipleship.
      "Living Faith" is the theme of the ELCA Southwestern Minnesota
Synod Assembly, Redwood Falls, June 8-10.  The Living Faith logo will
serve as the synod assembly's primary logo creating a "full color visual
presence" on the Call to Discipleship, according to the Rev. Lawrence R.
Wohlrabe, assistant to the synod's bishop.
     The Rev. Paul J. Blom, bishop of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf
Coast Synod, Houston, and the Rev. Jon V. Anderson, Christ the King
Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minn., will spend one hour presenting Call to
Discipleship to that synod's assembly June 1-3.

[*The Rev. Rick Summy is director of admissions at The Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the communicator for the "Teach
the Faith" Initiative.]

Editor's Note:  For more information about Living Faith: A Call to
Discipleship, contact the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries
Education and Evangelism Team at 1-800-638-3522, extension 2472, or 
E-mail the Rev. Paul Lutz at plutz@elca.org.

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