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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 19, 2000

ELCA CHURCHWIDE LEADERS DIALOGUE WITH PEOPLE IN POVERTY
00-219-JB

     MILWAUKEE (ELCA)   Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America's (ELCA) churchwide organization met in retreat here Sept
11-12.  They spent much of their time in dialogue with people living
in poverty and with leaders in ELCA congregations who work to create
hope and improve inner city neighborhoods.
     The retreat included Chicago-based executive directors,
department heads and staff from the ELCA Office of the Bishop, plus
executives from Minneapolis-based Augsburg Fortress, publishing house
of the ELCA, and the ELCA Board of Pensions. The retreat was part of
an organizational effort to raise awareness of the church's Ministry
Among People in Poverty (MAPP) emphasis.  It was also intended to
show how some 30 congregations in the ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod
have redefined their missions to serve people in changing
neighborhoods.  The congregations are organized as the Milwaukee
Lutheran Coalition.
     Coalition congregations provide Bible study and worship,
neighborhood "ministers" to assist nearby residents, tutoring,
English language classes, neighborhood work groups, youth groups,
meals and support for neighborhood concerns.  The neighborhood
outreach programs of the congregations are supported by various units
of the ELCA's churchwide organization.
     The Rev. Richard G. Deines, assistant to the bishop, Greater
Milwaukee Synod, coordinated the event.  Deines works with coalition
congregations.
     Deines said his strategy in working with coalition congregations
has been to "stand with" people who are already working to change
neighborhoods, some of whom have been working there for many years.
     Introducing the agenda for the retreat, Deines said he hoped
the ELCA leaders' experience in Milwaukee "would be like experiencing
art."
     "What would it be like to consider every human being an art
form?" he said.
     During the retreat, the ELCA leaders:
     + Heard about poverty's causes and effects from neighborhood
ministers at Reformation Lutheran Church.  The group also
participated in a Bible study on the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah
with the ministers at Reformation, and worshiped with them.
     + Toured changing neighborhoods with coalition leaders in areas
served by Cross Lutheran Church, Faith Lutheran Church, Incarnation
Lutheran Church and Reformation.
     + Dined and had conversation in small groups with families in
inner-city Milwaukee.
     + Listened to concerns and learned about ministries offered by
youth at Hephatha Lutheran Church.
     + Visited an area where clusters of new homes were being built
by Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity.  Members of coalition
congregations were involved in these projects.
     + Met with prison inmates and ex-offenders served by Project
Return, a prison ministry.
     Most of the Lutheran congregations in the Milwaukee coalition
work ecumenically with other faith groups in a similar organization
-- Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH).
     Lutheran neighborhood ministers meet directly with neighborhood
residents, said the Rev. Edgar M. "Mick" Roschke, Reformation.  "The
ministers do not do demographic studies," he said. "They embody who
Jesus is.  They stand against cynicism and despair."
     In their visit to Hephatha, the ELCA leaders learned about the
congregation's emphasis on youth ministry in a diverse and changing
neighborhood.
     "It is important for us as leaders to cultivate the idea that
this (Hephatha) is a church home," said the Rev. Mary Martha Kannass.
"We say it's a place you can come back to, a place that will always
be here.  Youth are an important part of the ministry here."
     Project Return at Cross Lutheran Church responds to the needs
of people in prison or recently released from prison.  There are four
minimum-security prisons within a two-mile radius of the
congregation, said the Rev. Joseph W. Ellwanger.  Project Return
strives to help ex-offenders make "a positive and lasting return to
the community," he said.
     The congregation provides a place for support groups for
ex-offenders and transports inmates to church, with the prisons'
approval, Ellwanger said.
     "For us not to do prison ministry would be not to reach out to
hundreds of people," he said. "It has enriched us all."
     Project Return is supported in part by funds from the ELCA
World Hunger program.
     In March the ELCA's Conference of Bishops, meeting in Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla., adopted "A Pastoral Letter on Wealth and Poverty."
It called on the ELCA's 5.15 million members to become "repairers of
the breach" and reach out to people living in poverty.  During the
same meeting, the bishops visited area churches and talked with
Lutherans about their work with people living in poverty.
     In 1999 the ELCA Church Council designated $3 million for the
church's ministry among people living in poverty and authorized the
ELCA's presiding bishop to allocate funds for global and domestic
mission.  The council functions as the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, established
four groups to distribute the funds. An allocation of $900,000 will
help some congregations cancel their debts; another $900,000 will
support domestic hunger projects and programs, advocacy, and rural
and small-town ministries; an additional $900,000 will fund
international causes with priority given to programs supporting
people most in need; and $300,000 is designated to facilitate
relationships between members of the ELCA and people living in
poverty.
     No MAPP funds were used to pay for the ELCA leaders' retreat,
said Myrna J. Sheie, executive assistant, ELCA Office of the Bishop.
-- -- --
     The ELCA Conference of Bishops' "Pastoral Letter on Wealth and
Poverty" can be found on the ELCA's Web site at
http://www.elca.org/ob/wealth.html.

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