wfn.org | Draft of ELCA Statement on Economy Authorized

[Frank Imhoff <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 20, 1998

DRAFT OF ELCA STATEMENT ON ECONOMY AUTHORIZED
98-057-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The first draft of "Toward Sufficient, Sustainable
Livelihood for All," a proposed social statement on economic life and the
Christian faith, will be available in May for members of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to analyze.  The board of the ELCA
Division for Church in Society met here March 12-14 and authorized the
draft's publication and distribution.
     "It's hard for Christians to talk about money, and this document will
be very helpful," said Ingrid Christiansen, Chicago, board chair.  "It's a
draft of a social statement that is designed to help people discuss what we
as Christians view as our obligations dealing with money and the economy
and our obligations to those who are have-nots in our midst."
     The draft invites its reader into a conversation, Christiansen said.
"It asks the questions:  What is a sufficient sustainable livelihood for
all?'  How do we think about that?'  What does "livelihood" mean?'  What is
sufficiency?'  What is sustainable?'  What does it mean that it is for
all?'  Do we really mean all people?'"
     Christiansen called it a respectful, teaching document.  "It deals
with all of us as people who have to have a livelihood and who take our
obligation to our neighbor as well as to our families seriously," she said.
"We hope that many Christians, many Lutherans will use it as an opportunity
to think about the economy and money in their lives."
     The draft will include a response form.  "The whole idea of a draft
document is that it is very much in process," said Christiansen.  "We are
longing for feedback from congregations, from individuals, from anybody who
has an opinion about it."
     Responses the Division for Church in Society receives by Dec. 1 will
be used to inform the development of a proposed social statement for
consideration by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 1999.
     In other business, the division's board affirmed the "Jubilee
2000/USA Platform" and the ELCA's ongoing participation in the Jubilee
2000/USA Campaign.  The "platform" is a brief statement of the campaign's
biblical principles and goals.  It is included in a new "education packet"
that the division plans to make available to ELCA members.
     The Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign is "part of a worldwide movement to
cancel the crushing international debt of impoverished countries" that grew
out of a project of the Religious Working Group on the World Bank and the
IMF.  The campaign is not limited to religious organizations.  It has been
collaborating with the U.S. Catholic Conference and the National Council of
Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and it hopes to also work with Jewish and
Muslim communities in the United States.
     The platform recalls the biblical tradition of a Jubilee year --
every 50th year, when slaves are freed and debts are canceled.  The
campaign is calling 2000 a Jubilee year, asking for "definitive debt
cancellation" and a process to "prevent recurring destructive cycles of
indebtedness."
     "Jubilee 2000 is designed to help us think about what it means to
apply that biblical tradition to our own times," said Christiansen.  "There
is a new millennium approaching, and that has triggered people's thoughts
about the subject."
     "Economic development in poor countries, Third World countries,
impoverished countries is stifled, and scarce resources are diverted from
health care, education and other socially beneficial programs, because they
are so busy servicing their debt," she said.  "I hope Lutherans will look
at the materials on that subject and think about their participation in
that campaign."
     The Division for Church in Society assists the ELCA in considering
moral issues, prepares social statements and messages, coordinates the
church's world hunger program, relates to 280 social ministry organizations
through Lutheran Services in America, and coordinates the ELCA's advocacy
with state, national, and international governmental bodies and with
institutions in the private sector.

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