wfn.org | Lutheran Leaders Find Ways to Nurture Children

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 11, 2002

LUTHERAN LEADERS FIND WAYS TO NURTURE CHILDREN
02-007-MR/MF**

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders in children's ministries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered for a "Future
Search" conference, "Treasured and Safe: A Future for Children in
Families, Congregations and Communities," here Jan. 4-6.  Participants
discussed ways in which the ELCA can provide direction to families,
congregations and communities to nurture children.
     About 40 participants represented the ELCA's 65 synods, social
ministry organizations, colleges and universities, Women of the ELCA,
youth-oriented initiatives, ecumenical partners, congregations and
congregationally-based schools, outdoor ministries and other
"stakeholder" groups.  Their goal was to develop a plan for the ELCA to
help children "live without poverty, be safe and grow in faith."
     "The conference provided an opportunity for the ELCA to creatively
and collegially look to the future on how the church can address the
needs of children in communities and congregations," said Myrna J.
Sheie, executive assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, greeted
participants. Hanson asked participants, "How can we turn weeping
children into rejoicing children as they receive the gift of the
fullness of life which God wills for them?"  Hanson was a member of the
ELCA's Help the Children Initiative task force.
     The Rev. Roland D. Martinson, the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor
of Children, Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minn., delivered the keynote address.  He outlined the role of children
in the world, past and present.  He called today's children "social
pioneers who are redesigning every indicator of what it means to be,
belong and become."
     These children are already leaders, poised for incredible
possibilities, but they are also more disenfranchised than they were a
decade ago, Martinson said.  The divide between the "haves and the have
nots" is increasing.  Services for children are being cut out of the
budgets of local, state and federal governments, he said.
     Martinson challenged the group to answer questions: "Can the
church not have children at the center of worship?  How will we tend to
the presence of God in the children who are suffering in the world?"  He
said, "Children copy us.  If you want to influence the future, care for
a child."
     Suzanne Gibson Wise, president, Lutheran Family Services in the
Carolinas, Raleigh, N.C., facilitated a discussion on the history of the
church's involvement with children, what that involvement looks like
presently, and a vision of what it could be in the future.  Dr. Herbert
A. Marlow Jr., Newberry, Fla., a consultant in organizational
development, assisted Wise in facilitating the discussion.
     Sixteen recommendations to the church under four categories
evolved from the discussion.  The categories are children in
congregations, external collaboration, advocacy and media.  The
recommendations will be provided to the ELCA Office of the Presiding
Bishop as part of the church's overall strategic planning process.
     In the discussion, participants suggested writing a memorial to
the ELCA 2003 Churchwide Assembly designed to request the establishment
of an ELCA Commission on Children and Family.  Participants also pledged
to renew their efforts on behalf of children in their neighborhoods,
congregations and synods.
     The conference was funded in part by Aid Association for
Lutherans/Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits society, and Women
of the ELCA, the women's organization of the church.
-- -- --
     ** Myra Fozard, Aliquippa, Pa., is a communication professional
with the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh.

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