wfn.org | ELCA Board Names Task Force on Evangelism, Renews Worship

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 19, 2002

ELCA BOARD NAMES TASK FORCE ON EVANGELISM, RENEWS WORSHIP
02-034-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   The board of the Division for Congregational
Ministries (DCM) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
named a "blue ribbon" task force to develop a comprehensive strategy
on evangelism and approved "Principles for Worship" for the ELCA when
it met here Feb. 15-17.
     The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted "Toward a Vision for
Evangelism:  Sharing Faith in a New Century," a plan designed to
encourage the 10,816 congregations of the ELCA to examine their own
ministry of hospitality, review the opportunities for sharing "God's
Good News" with people in their unique setting, and develop ways to
meet, engage, witness to and invite people to faith in Jesus Christ.
The assembly instructed DCM, the church's Conference of Bishops and
other ELCA churchwide offices to establish a task force that will
develop a strategy for presentation and "possible action" at the 2003
ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee.  The Conference of Bishops is
an advisory body of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop
and secretary.
     The task force is comprised of 32 members, including 13 active
parish pastors and 11 lay leaders in "growing congregations" that
engage in a variety of worship styles, range in membership size and
represent ethnic diversity and urban, suburban and rural settings.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, approved the members.
The Rev. David Poling-Goldenne, ELCA director for witness and
evangelism, announced the names of the task force members to the
board.  They are:
     + the Rev. Carmala K. Aderman, assistant to the bishop, ELCA
Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, Rice Lake, Wis.
     + the Rev. Jon V. Anderson, Christ the King Lutheran Church,
New Ulm, Minn.
     + the Rev. Rodney L. Anderson, St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Eden
Prairie, Minn.
     + the Rev. Richard H. Bliese, professor of mission and
evangelism, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
     + the Rev. Craig S. Bollinger, Christ the King Lutheran Church,
Charlotte, N.C.
     + the Rev. Martha W. Clementson, assistant to the bishop, ELCA
Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh
     + the Rev. Robert T. Dealey, Our Lord Lutheran Church,
Maryville, Ill.
     + Bev Dirken, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Portage, Mich.
     + the Rev. Khader N. El-Yateem, Salam Arabic Lutheran Church,
Brooklyn, N.Y.
     + the Rev. Pablo B. Espinoza, Iglesia Luterana Mesias,
Pasadena, Calif.
     + the Rev. Michael W. Foss, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church,
Burnsville, Minn.
     + Kelly Freyer, Cross of Glory Lutheran Church, Mokena, Ill.
     + Allyn Guiffre, Faith Lutheran Church, New Florence, Pa.
     + Donald Hayes, president, Pro-Ed, Winston-Salem, N.C.
     + Lisa Hazelwood, St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Charlestown, R.I.
     + the Rev. Walther P. Kallestad, Community Church of Joy,
Glendale, Ariz.
     + the Rev. Raymond LeBlanc, First Lutheran Church, Carson,
Calif.
     + Jenny Lightfoot, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville,
Minn.
     + the Rev. Tom B. LoVan, Morningside Lutheran Church, Sioux
City, Iowa
     + the Rev. Richard G. Mahan, St. Timothy Lutheran Church, South
Charleston, W.Va.
     + Margaret Messick, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Southern Ohio
Synod, Zanesville
     + the Rev. Dennis O. Mims, St. James Lutheran Church, East
Cleveland, Ohio
     + Larry Moeller, The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd,
Sacramento, Calif.
     + the Rev. Mary Ann Moller-Gunderson, Immanuel Lutheran Church,
Lake Geneva, Wis.
     + Lowell Nelson, CEO, Immanuel Health Systems, Omaha, Neb.
     + the Rev. Ralph W. Quere, professor of history and theology,
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa
     + the Rev. Martin J. Russell, assistant to the bishop, ELCA
Nebraska Synod, Omaha
     + Francis Ramos, San Marcos Evangelica Luterana, Guynabo,
Puerto Rico
     + the Rev. George K. Tan, assistant to the bishop, ELCA
Southern California (West) Synod, Glendale
     + Louise Ward, St. Mark Lutheran Church, Charlottesville, Va.
     + the Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop for the ELCA Northern
Illinois Synod, Rockford
     + the Rev. Glenn M. Zorb, All Saints Lutheran Church,
Worthington, Ohio
     Wollersheim is chair of the task force.  The board appointed
Robert Mueller, St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Wyoming, Ill., as the
DCM board liaison to the task force.
     The work of the task force will involve facilitating a "renewed
focus" on prayer for the witness and evangelism ministries of the
ELCA; inviting members of the church to study the place of the gospel
in daily lives; receiving gifts from the church's companions around
the world; and an awareness of previous ELCA research on evangelism.
The task force will receive input from DCM, especially the division's
education and evangelism team, and from the Office of the Presiding
Bishop.
     The task force will be guided by a small core team, chosen from
its members, and four sub-teams that will attend to the tasks of
Toward A Vision for Evangelism. The "inaugural" meeting of the task
force will be held April 18-20 in St. Charles, Ill.
     The board forwarded a resolution to the ELCA Church Council --
the church's board of directors -- that requests an additional
$200,000 to "fully fund" the work of the task force.  The council
will consider the resolution when it meets here April 6-8.  In
November 2001, the council authorized $250,000 to finance start-up
costs for the development of the evangelism strategy.
     Toward A Vision for Evangelism contains two parts:  Part one,
"A Telling Witness to God's Good News," provides a progress report of
the evangelism plan adopted by the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Part two, "Sharing Faith in a New Century," provides a description of
evangelism, the global and local contexts for evangelism, and the
text of a resolution adopted by the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
     "If there has been confusion about the resolution, it has most
often centered on the use of the word 'strategy,'" said Poling-
Goldenne.
     "Strategy has implied to some 'a done deal, an actual plan, a
fleshed out vision.'  The word 'strategy' caught [on] early because
of the way it was proposed at the churchwide assembly.  This has
provided opportunity for some to criticize this resolution by asking,
'what strategy?'" he told the board.
     "Our interpretive challenge and opportunity is to clarify that
this resolution calls for two related but different sets of
activities, each of which is stage-setting for the next decade of the
life of this church.  It calls for mobilizing this church to a time
of prayer, study and conversation around witness and evangelism," he
said, and "engaging a process that will lead toward a strategy which
will be considered at the 2003 Churchwide Assembly.  If approved, it
will be implemented as a working plan for evangelism for the whole
church."
     The 2001 Assembly adopted Toward A Vision for Evangelism with
99.1 percent of the voting members' approval.
     In other business, the DCM board authorized distribution ofrhio
     + Larry
"Principles for Worship," a document that features the outcome of a
series of consultations on four topics: music, preaching, language
and worship space.  "The Use of the Means of Grace," the church's
statement on sacramental practices adopted by the 1997 ELCA
Churchwide Assembly, served as a "primary foundation" for the
consultations.
     Principles for Worship represents the first phase of work of
"Renewing Worship," a five-year plan for developing "the next
generation of worship resources" for the ELCA.  The document will be
sent to every ELCA congregation for study in June.  It will be
available at http://www.renewingworship.org on the Internet beginning
March 1 and through Augsburg Fortress Publishers, the publishing house
of the ELCA.

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