wfn.org | ELCA Publishing House to Relocate

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 1, 1997

AUGSBURG FORTRESS TO RELOCATE
97-17-049-AH

     LOS ANGELES (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing
house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will move to
a new location in downtown Minneapolis based on an action taken
by the board of trustees at its meeting here April 24-26.
     The publishing house will move to three floors at Fifth
Street Towers, located at Marquette Ave. and Fifth St.  The old
Augsburg Fortress building in Minneapolis has been sold to
Hennepin County for the site of a new jail.
     The board authorized staff to proceed into a final agreement
on the space. Moving day is anticipated to be in early 1998.
Augsburg Fortress will move the 235 current staff members to the
new offices and it is planning for a staff of 260.
     The Rev. Marvin L. Roloff, president and CEO, said it will
be "essentially a paper move," involving no furnishings and
minimal equipment.  The move, build out and new furnishings will
cost about $2.8 million, Roloff said.
     Augsburg Fortress looked for "space that would provide an
environment that is flexible, economical, supporting the
increasing technology demands and business demands."  It wanted
to encourage team interaction among staff.
     Alan T. Seagren, Lincoln, Neb., who chairs the board, said,
"This is a big step for the publishing house toward becoming an
organization of the future.  It is a significant factor in
changing the culture of the organization to ready it for the
challenges the future holds."
     Roloff said the staff is working on a new location for the
Augsburg Fortress store somewhere in the Twin Cities area.
     The board discussed the strengths and the needs of inner
city churches with leaders of New City Parish, a consortium of
five ELCA congregations in Los Angeles' inner core.  The ministry
was formed in the aftermath of the 1992 civil disturbance to
provide church-based outreach to some of the city's most
economically and socially depressed areas.
     The Rev. Albert Starr Jr., Ascension Lutheran Church in the
Crenshaw neighborhood, said, "We are manifesting the presence of
Jesus and proclaiming the hope.  God did not ordain and plant us
in this place only to survive, but to serve and grow."
     Maria Paiva, a New City Parish board member from Angelica
Lutheran Church, asked Augsburg Fortress to continue developing
Spanish language materials.  About 49 percent of the people
involved in New City Parish are Hispanic.  She praised efforts to
publish Spanish worship resources.
     The Rev. James J. Lobdell, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church,
told the board, "We need materials that motivate creativity.
Help us create materials that grow out of our community rather
than impose upon it."
     Starr offered the resources of New City Parish to the church
through Augsburg Fortress: "We have gifted writers, storytellers,
actors and producers right here."
     The board also endorsed a proposed three-year strategic plan
as a "work in progress."  The Rev. Nancy L. Winder, Faith
Lutheran Church, Seattle, praised the plan's emphasis on "healthy
partnership."  She said, "I find it really exciting, clearly
showing partnership, coherence and access to resources."
     The plan includes some "major steps" such as a comprehensive
overhaul of information systems; enhanced partnerships,
ecumenical and within the ELCA; shifts in several areas of
publishing; and a revised electronic publishing approach
targeting Internet and CD-ROM applications.
     Carter Lindberg, Northboro, Mass., said the plan should
reflect "our understanding of our role not only as a church
business but also as business that is responsible to the church.
We have to be conscious of the way the fulfillment of  our
mission is directed."
     Lois O'Rourke, Madison, Wis., called the plan "aggressive"
and said it will provide "measurable success."
     The Rev. Lee M. Miller, bishop of the ELCA's Upstate New
York Synod, expressed concern that the publishing house support
scholarly and missional products as well as those that generate
income.  "I think it is possible to have products that make money
and link with them products that don't," he said.
     The board reviewed a new retail strategy.  Dana E.
Dreibelbis, vice president for publishing, said the current
system of retail centers "absorbs too many resources to reach too
few customers for too broad and ill-defined a purpose."
     He said the new retail strategy hinges on the three-year
strategic plan, "that is, we are the publishing house of the
ELCA.  We want to be more responsive to and more supportive of
the Lutheran market.
     The retail strategy will integrate the activities of retail
sales, church resource specialists, events, and trade sales.
     Todd P. Engdahl, Denver, was elected to chair the board for
the coming two years.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html