wfn.org | ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Hopes for Council's Work

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 15, 2005

ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Hopes for Council's Work
05-219-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), spelled out
his hopes for the ELCA Church Council, as the 37-member body --
with 11 new members elected by the 2005 Churchwide Assembly --
met for the first time in the 2005-2007 biennium.
     Several new advisors representing ethnic associations in the
ELCA and other Lutheran institutions were at the meeting.  The
new advisors were included through governance proposals adopted
by the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando.
     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. 11-13.
Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-12,
2007.
     In his report to the council, Hanson expressed what he
called "Advent hopefulness" for the members.  He focused on six
points:
     + that the council would be a "worshipping, praying, Word-
centered" body
     + that the council would always "tend to our identity as
Lutherans and our interdependence."  The ELCA does not fully
understand the church's interdependence among congregations,
synods and the churchwide organization, with institutions, and
with ecumenical and global partners, Hanson said.
     + that the council will always focus on mission, thinking
strategically, "contextually immersed" and imaginative in its
planning
     + that council members would serve as models of how to
conduct personal stewardship and discipleship
     + that the council will support staff of the churchwide
organization and programs.  Hanson said the churchwide staff has
endured a great deal through a multi-year restructuring process
that culminated in approval at the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in
Orlando.  "My colleagues in this building (the Lutheran Center)
have done an amazing job, often without recognition," he said.
     + that the council will focus on the church with a wide-
angle lens and remember that the 2005 Churchwide Assembly "raised
the bar" in its expectations for the ELCA.
     Hanson also reported on his recent travels as both presiding
bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
Last week Hanson met Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City.  In their
conversation, Hanson said the two leaders reaffirmed the
foundation that had been laid in the 1999 Joint Declaration on
the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), and agreed that the JDDJ
should be a "living letter" for Roman Catholics and Lutherans.
     Following the meeting, Hanson said staff of the Vatican and
the LWF discussed how to prepare for the 500th anniversary of the
Protestant Reformation.  Instead of talking about it as a
significant date for "division," Hanson said they discussed how
both churches could mark the date as a significant moment in the
church, and discuss what Reformation means and how both will move
forward.
     This fall Hanson also traveled to Brazil and Chile, where he
witnessed the "profound impact of church-to-church
relationships," he said.  The trip also gave him a chance to see
how a "companion synod relationship" works, he said.  The Rev.
Callon W. Holloway Jr., bishop of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod,
Columbus, accompanied Hanson in Brazil.  Holloway's synod is
seeking a companion relationship with a synod of the Igreja
Evangelica de Confissao Luterana no Brasil (IECLB).
     Hanson also thanked ELCA members for their "generosity of
money and spirit" this year in responding to the Dec. 26, 2004,
tsunami disaster in South Asia and the U.S. Gulf Coast
hurricanes.  More than $10 million was given for relief and
recovery work in the wake of the tsunami; some $18 million in
gifts were sent by members for relief and recovery following the
hurricanes.

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