Title: ELCA to Offer Global Mission Event in Amherst ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 3, 2006
ELCA to Offer Global Mission Event in Amherst 06-092-KH*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will present a Global Mission Event (GME) July 27-30 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church and endorsed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the event will draw more than 1,000 participants from the United States and around the world. The theme for this year's event is "Sent! by God's grace for the sake of the world."
"[The] Global Mission Event is one of our global events, and it works specifically to become an avenue where we're sharing the bigger message of how to receive from our [global] companions," said Sunitha Mortha, associate director for global events and mission interpretation, ELCA Global Mission. "As we look around in our world right now, we can see the world coming closer and closer together, and there's curiosity. We think that's one of our biggest advantages -- that people are curious about one another. But there's fear mingled in there, and part of what we're trying to do at the event is to be honest about these issues and invite curiosity to bloom," she said.
Mortha added that the event will "address the fears in a real manner and equip people with tools to deal with this fear that we have of trying to protect what is our own and at the same time wanting to share."
The event will feature more than 50 "Global University" sessions, global music and worship, general sessions and three- part Global University tracks. Each plenary session will feature a keynote speaker. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church will present during the opening celebration Thursday evening. The LWF is a global communion representing 62.3 million of the world's nearly 65.4 million Lutherans. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Friday morning the general session will feature He Qi, a renowned contemporary Chinese Christian artist. He Qi is a professor at the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, China, and a tutor for master candidate students in the Philosophy Department of Nanjing University. The Al-Raja (Hope) Folkloric Dance Troupe, whose members are Palestinian Christian and Muslim students from the Lutheran School of Hope, Ramallah, will perform Friday evening. The school is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
On Saturday morning the Rev. Lisandro Orlov, Latin American regional coordinator of the LWF HIV/AIDS campaign, United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina, will participate in a panel discussion on ministry, faith and challenge in the Latin American context. Saturday afternoon participants will have the opportunity to attend a celebration of culture at a global "fair" where they can sample flavors, sounds, sights and smells from around the world. There will be a presentation of global music and dance, and celebration of the service and commitment of current and former ELCA missionaries who are attending the GME.
Wahu Kaara, Millennium Development Goals campaign program coordinator, the All Africa Council of Churches, Nairobi, Kenya, will preach Sunday morning. She is a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Kaara directed the Kenya Debt Relief Network, where she led campaigns for debt cancellation and economic injustice.
This year's event will allow the participants to choose from four program tracks that will offer extended workshop sessions in the areas of asset mapping, sustainable development, cross- cultural relationships and hunger connections. The sessions will incorporate simulation games, lectures and small-group discussion. The gathering also features programs for children, junior high and high-school-age youth.
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More information about the Global Mission Event is available at http://www.ELCA.org/gme on the Web.
*Katherine R. Hinck is a senior journalism and religion major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog