wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Hears Report on the 'New' Augsburg Fortress

["News News" <NEWS@elca.org>]

ELCA Assembly Hears Report on the 'New' Augsburg Fortress
CWA-40-05-TW 

    ORLANDO, Fla. (ELCA) - "There is a new energy transforming
Augsburg Fortress," President and CEO Beth Lewis told the 2005
Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) on
Aug. 13.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 8-14 at the World Center Marriott
and Convention Center.	About 2,300 people are participating,
including 1,018 ELCA voting members.  The theme for the biennial
assembly is "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever."
     "I'd like you to take another look at the place that you
think you know," said Lewis.  "It is not the old Augsburg
Fortress you used to know."
     Using a David Letterman "top 10 reasons" count down, Lewis
identified areas of change and interest that included new adult
and catechism curriculums, over 500 downloadable resources,
church supplies "with new lower prices," new ways of
communicating such as blogs, and the new book by Presiding Bishop
Mark Hanson, Faithful and Courageous: Christians in Unsettling
Times..
     "We have dramatically improved our service quality," said
Lewis.	Orders are "shipped in 24 hours or less an astonishing
99.2 percent of the time," she reported.
     Lewis placed stewardship as number one on her list of
reasons for being excited about Augsburg Fortress.
     "When you spend money on resources, you are making a
stewardship choice," she explained.  "Unlike our competitors, we
are a ministry of the ELCA," which means that revenues are
"turned back into development of new resource tools" for
congregations.	Lewis encouraged members to "be intentional about
the stewardship choices you make."
     Lewis closed by stating that there is "one mission, one
future together -- that's the promise of our partnership with
you."
     Learn more about Augsburg Fortress Publishing at
www.augsburgfortress.org.
---
     Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at
http://www.elca.org/assembly/05 on the Web.

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