wfn.org | ELCA Council Approves, Transmits Churchwide Redesign Proposal

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 19, 2004

ELCA Council Approves, Transmits Churchwide Redesign Proposal
04-219-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) approved a final report and recommendations on
restructuring the  ELCA churchwide organization.  It transmitted to the
2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly the report and recommendations for final
consideration.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.  The
council met here Nov. 11-15.  Assemblies are held every other year; the
next is Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.
     The plan was presented to the church by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA
presiding bishop. Between now and the assembly, ELCA leaders will consult
with many people to develop possible budgets and staffing configurations,
he said.  After the assembly -- and assuming amendments to governing and
policy documents are adopted -- the churchwide organization will enter the
design's implementation phase, he said.  That phase will include
determining leadership for various churchwide units.
     The proposal reorders the work of the churchwide organization into
five program units: Church in Society; Evangelical Outreach and
Congregational Mission; Global Mission; Multicultural Ministries; and
Vocation and Education.  Augsburg Fortress Publishers and Women of the
ELCA remain as separately incorporated units.
     The Office of the Presiding Bishop will retain its present functions
and be responsible for ecumenical and interreligious relations; human
resources; research and evaluation; synodical relations; and worship.  The
Office of the Treasurer will retain its present functions, including
information technology and management services. The Office of the
Secretary will retain its present roles.
     There are four service units in the proposal: Communication,
including a new relationship with The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA;
Development Services, including the ELCA Foundation and the separately
incorporated Endowment Fund; and the separately incorporated Mission
Investment Fund and Board of Pensions, both of which retain their current
roles.
     An initial draft of the proposal was released Aug. 25.  Review and
comment on the draft was provided by many professional and lay leaders in
the church, including members of churchwide boards and committees.  Some
of their comments led to changes that were incorporated in the proposal
presented to and approved by the council:
     + The council's Planning and Evaluation Committee, working with the
ELCA executive for administration, will be responsible for monitoring the
churchwide organization's commitments and policies related to the plan.
The original draft called for a staff person with these responsibilities
to be housed in the Office of the Presiding Bishop.
     + The new Multicultural Ministries program unit will be responsible
for education on racial justice.  The first draft placed this
responsibility in the Office of the Presiding Bishop.
     + The Church in Society program unit will house a director for
"justice for women," who will "convene and guide a churchwide internal
alliance related to this work," according to the plan.	An advisory
committee will give advice and counsel to the director.  This position
will assume the work of the present ELCA Commission for Women.
     + The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA, will maintain its editorial
freedom but will be connected to the new Communication service unit for
"administrative and budgetary oversight," according to the plan.  The
editor will be nominated by the publication's advisory committee and the
presiding bishop "to a defined renewable term," the plan said.
     During discussion, Richard L. Wahl, council member, Millersville,
Md., asked Hanson if in the new structure he would have sufficient staff
support.  Hanson responded that his immediate staff may be smaller than
the staffs maintained by many synod bishops.  However, he said he
considered the churchwide organization's executive directors to be part of
the presiding bishop's staff.
     Hanson also defended his proposal to designate Multicultural
Ministries as a program unit.  Presently, the ELCA Commission on
Multicultural Ministries provides advice, counsel and services to ELCA
congregations that wish to become more culturally diverse. "This church,
in all of its manifestations in this [churchwide] organization needs to
affirm our commitment to becoming a multicultural church," he told the
council.
     Already, the churchwide staff has begun working into the proposed
structure, Hanson said.  "The staff is not waiting for permission," he
said.
     Hanson thanked the Rev. Charles S. Miller, ELCA executive for
administration, Office of the Presiding Bishop, for his leadership in
developing the plan during the past two and one-half years.  He also
thanked the council's planning and evaluation committee, churchwide
executive directors and staff.
---
     The text of the council-approved churchwide structure plan is at
http://www.elca.org/planning/ on the ELCA Web site.

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