wfn.org | ELCA Ministry Board Voices Empathy, Concern with Restructuring

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 16, 2003

ELCA Ministry Board Voices Empathy, Concern with Restructuring
03-189-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Division for Ministry of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) responded to a
proposal to restructure the ELCA's churchwide organization with
some understanding and with some concern.  Board members also
participated in the ELCA studies on sexuality during their
meeting here Oct. 10-11.
     "There was genuine concern on the part of board members, as
well as emotion and a sense of unrest at times," said the board's
chair, the Rev. Robert J. Karli, First English Lutheran Church,
Austin, Texas.
     The restructuring proposal includes some "dramatic changes,"
Karli said.  Board members were concerned for staff members whose
positions may be eliminated and for "the ministries in the church
that everyone on this board truly loves," he said.
     The proposal is to eliminate 41 of about 500 staff positions
and create 18 new staff positions under a new structure.  One
position in the Division for Ministry would be eliminated and one
full-time position would become part-time; both positions are
related to the division's work with Ministry in Daily Life.
     The ELCA's six divisions would become five departments; and
most functions of the current Division for Ministry would be
placed in a Department for Ministry.
     The proposal is also to phase out the existing boards of
divisions.  It asks the ELCA Church Council to develop amendments
to the ELCA Constitution, eliminating boards, for presentation to
the 2005 Churchwide Assembly.
     Instead of the Church Council having a set group of elected
board and committee members to consult, the proposal is for the
council to host consultations of representatives from each of the
ELCA's 65 synods and from appropriate churchwide entities to
address a specific and timely topic.
     The Division for Ministry board recognizes the need for
change and "that change is always difficult even when it's
necessary," Karli said, however, the elimination of boards was a
primary concern.  "It gives the perception that there will be
even less input to the churchwide organization from the other
expressions of the ELCA," he said.  "Eliminating the boards gives
a more top-heavy feel to the churchwide organization."
     The restructuring proposal comes at a time when the church
is trimming its spending to match a projected drop in income.
"The financial realities are there.  They're not going to go away
easily or quickly, and yet there is a concern that the financial
realities not be the only thing that is driving the ministries
that this board or other boards and divisions represent," Karli
said.
     Board members didn't want boards eliminated, Karli said.  "I
sensed from the board a genuine willingness to be serious about
looking at alternatives," such as smaller boards or reconfiguring
meeting times, he said.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will
present a restructuring proposal to the ELCA Church Council
during its next meeting, Nov. 14-16 in Charlotte, N.C.	The
council can accept, modify or reject the proposal.
     If the Church Council approves a new churchwide structure,
implementation would begin Nov. 17.  Staff holding positions to
be eliminated would be notified according to the personnel
policies of the church.  Hiring processes for new staff positions
would begin Dec. 1.  The new design would go into effect Feb. 1,
the first day of the ELCA's 2004 fiscal year.
      A merger of three Lutheran churches formed the ELCA in
1988.  The churchwide organization underwent a restructuring in
1991, which made no structural changes to the Division for
Ministry.
     The Rev. James M. Childs Jr., director, ELCA Studies on
Sexuality, gave the Division for Ministry board a progress report
on work to provide the church with recommendations on blessing
same-gender relationships and on accepting ministers in such
relationships, and to develop a social statement on human
sexuality.  The division is collaborating with the ELCA Division
for Church in Society (DCS) on this project.
     Childs said the divisions' task force prepared and
distributed a six-session study guide, "Journey Together
Faithfully, Part Two: The Church and Homosexuality."  Part one
was a four-session discussion of the ELCA's "Message on
Sexuality: Some Common Convictions."
     The Rev. Leslie Weber Jr., DCS associate executive director,
led the Division for Ministry board through the first session of
the new study guide.
     "That was a valuable time.  It gave us, as a board, an
opportunity to look at that new document and to experience what
it's like," Karli said.  "We see this as a very strong document."
     In other business, the Division for Ministry board:
+ affirmed provisionally a mission plan "for the churchwide unit
dealing with ministry;"
+ acknowledged the Association of Professional Chaplains and the
Kogudus Renewal Ministry as independent Lutheran organizations;
+ extended through March 2004 the terms, which would have expired
this year, of five members of the Theological Education
Coordinating Committee to provide continuity for the committee's
work during churchwide restructuring; and
+ approved the Association of Lutheran Development Executives as
an ELCA Lifelong Learning Partner.
-- -- --
The Division for Ministry has a home page at
http://www.elca.org/dm/ on the ELCA Web site.

The "Proposal for the Future Design of the Churchwide Organization" is
available at http://www.elca.org/planning/ on the Web.

Pages at http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ describe work of the ELCA
Studies on Sexuality.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news