wfn.org | Rebecca Larson Named Director for ELCA Church in Society

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 26, 2002

REBECCA LARSON NAMED DIRECTOR FOR ELCA CHURCH IN SOCIETY
02-175-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Rebecca S. Larson, a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, was elected July 23 to a four-
year appointment as executive director of the Division for Church in
Society (DCS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
effective Oct. 14.  Since 1994 she has served the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) as secretary for research and development, Department
for World Service, Geneva, Switzerland.
     With the LWF Larson has responsibilities in the area of
development education, public policy advocacy and disaster response
policy development.  She has led the federation's education efforts on
such topics as poverty, international debt, humanitarian intervention in
complex emergencies and HIV/AIDS.  She edited the LWF publication
"Development Education Forum."
     Larson coordinated the LWF's involvement in the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1997.  She chaired the ICBL steering committee.
     "Ours is a wounded and complex world with daunting social and
humanitarian problems," said Larson.  "As part of the world Lutheran
communion, the ELCA has a long history of responding to these
challenges, domestically and internationally, together with those who
are most affected and most vulnerable," she said.
     "It is a profound and humbling experience for me to be called to
work with so many committed and creative people in living out the
baptismal calling of our faith through the responsibility given by the
church to the Division for Church in Society.  I ask for your prayers
for the division and myself in the days ahead as we together undergo a
time of transition and new beginning," said Larson.
     "Pastor Larson brings to this office a strong understanding of the
biblical and theological grounding for our life and work as a church in
society," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop.  "That
understanding has been shaped by her global experience with the Lutheran
World Federation and will assist us as this church lives out God's call
to be the body of Christ in a global society," he said.
     Hanson said Larson "will be attentive to this church in our
conversations and discernment regarding God's call to our life in
society.  She will be mindful that all are included in this
conversation.  She will also help us to keep our conversation grounded
in action in the world."
     The Rev. Denver W. Bitner, DCS board chair, Zion Lutheran Church,
Rockford, Ill., commended Larson for the "deep passionate sense of
calling she feels in her work."  He cited her "deep commitment to the
poor people of world" and her ability to "connect with people."
     Bitner said Larson has a global perspective of all issues dealt
with in DCS.  "The board saw the breadth of concern she has for all the
work of the division," he said.    The DCS board named Larson to
succeed the Rev. Charles S. Miller during a special telephone conference
meeting.  Sixteen of the board's 21 members were in the meeting;
Larson's appointment was unanimous.
     The vacancy began Dec. 1, 2001, when Miller became the ELCA's
executive for administration and executive assistant to the presiding
bishop.  The Rev. L. James Wylie serves as the division's interim
executive director.  Wylie was senior vice president, Lutheran General
Health System, Park Ridge, Ill., and Advocate Health Care, Oak Brook,
Ill.
     Larson, 52, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan.  She is a graduate
of Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, and Pacific Lutheran
University, Tacoma, Wash.  Larson earned master's degrees from Wilfrid
Laurier University and from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo.  She
earned a doctorate from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
     Before attending seminary, Larson was an elementary school teacher
in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.  She was ordained in 1981 and served as pastor
of Hosanna Lutheran Church, Edmonton, Alberta.  In 1989, she joined the
staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva as secretary for
development education in the Unit on Justice, Peace and Creation.
     Larson is married to the Rev. Stephen M. Larson, an ELCA pastor
who serves the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva.  They are parents
of two adult daughters.
     The next meeting of the board of the ELCA Division for Church in
Society, scheduled for Sept. 26-28, will be postponed until Oct. 24-26.
     The ELCA is a member of the LWF -- a global communion of Christian
churches in the Lutheran tradition.  Founded in 1947, the LWF now has
133 member churches in 73 countries representing 60.5 million of the
world's 64.3 million Lutherans.
-- -- --
     The Division for Church in Society home page is at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/ on the ELCA Web site.

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