ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 8, 2007
ELCA Assembly Hears Update on Evangelism Strategy 07-CWA-012-KK
CHICAGO (ELCA) - With four years of implementation, the Evangelism Strategy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has stimulated activity in key areas such as prayer, leadership preparation and renewal, discipleship teaching and congregation starts and renewal. The 2007 Churchwide Assembly heard an update on "Sharing Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America," adopted by the 2003 Churchwide Assembly.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,071 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"
"As we move into the Evangelism Strategy, we move from the expression, 'evangelism,' to a new action word, 'evangelizing.' We are seeking to be an evangelizing church," said the Rev. Kathryn I. Love, assistant director for prayer and renewal, ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.
First of the Evangelism Strategy's four main objectives is calling the church to prayer. In addition to prayer conferences, workshops and retreats, the ELCA online prayer network has seen a surge of activity. "In June 2003, there were 822 monthly prayer requests. Simply four years later, June 2007, we have 27,128 prayer requests with 703 praise reports and thanksgiving reports," said Love of the site at http://www.ELCA.org/prayer/network.html on the ELCA Website.
Evangelism grants have been used to advance the objective of preparing and renewing evangelical leaders. "Identifying, recruiting, training and affirming the giftedness of" ethnic- specific leaders is also part of the strategy, said Love.
As the ELCA seeks to reach the objective of teaching discipleship, coaching and an evangelism newsletter are being utilized. "A portion of [this objective] invites us to host a variety of inspirational mass rallies, gatherings, and yes, revivals," said Love.
Evidence that the ELCA is starting and renewing congregations, the last strategy objective, is 172 new starts currently under development by the church and 56 new proposals approved for 2007, according to Love. She noted that of these new starts, 53 percent are amongst people of color and/or people with primary languages other than English. - - -
Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be found at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web.
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