wfn.org | LWF Assembly Participants to Visit U.S., Canadian Ministries

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 31, 2003

LWF ASSEMBLY PARTICIPANTS TO VISIT U.S., CANADIAN MINISTRIES
03-016-JB

     DENVER, Colo. (ELCA) -- North American Lutherans will welcome
participants who attend the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Tenth
Assembly this summer to 47 church ministry sites in the United States
and Canada.  Lutherans will host assembly participants from around the
world before and after the LWF assembly in Canada and the United States.
     The LWF is a global communion of 136 Lutheran churches in 76
countries.  LWF membership includes 61.7 million of the world's 65.4
million Lutherans.  The LWF Assembly, held every six years, will take
place July 21-31 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
     The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), the host church
for the LWF assembly, is planning pre-assembly visits to 11 sites July
15-20.	The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) plans visits
to 36 different ministries Aug. 1-10.  Some participants who remain
longer will be able to visit the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee,
Aug. 11-17.
     "We are so excited about what this can mean for our churches and
the gifts we will receive," said Kathy J. Magnus, LWF Regional Officer
for North America, Chicago.  Planners from the churches and the LWF have
been developing the visitation program for 18 months, she said.
     The program will allow visitors to learn about social ministry,
outdoor ministry, government policy advocacy, urban and rural
ministries, ministry with people living in poverty, environmental
stewardship, theological education, women in leadership, ministry among
native people, maritime ministry, border/bilingual ministries and more.
     Most who will visit the sites will have registered before the end
of January, and assignments will be made beginning in late February,
Magnus said.  However, planners in North America will accept
registration forms through mid-April, based on space availability.
     Because of the assembly and the visitation program, the ELCA will
not have Global Mission Events (GME) this summer, Magnus said.
Normally, the ELCA hosts two GMEs each summer, which highlight the
church's ministries throughout the world with speakers, worship and
music.
-- -- --
     Information about the visitation program, including descriptions
of the sites, is available at http://www.lwf-
assembly.org/visitation.html on the Web.

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