wfn.org | ELCA Women Kept the Faith, Says Francis Hesselbein

[News News <news@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 11, 1999

ELCA WOMEN KEPT THE FAITH, SAYS FRANCIS HESSELBEIN
99-WO-19-MR

     ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- "Ten years from now when they write your
history, may they write of you, the women of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, that the future called and they responded.  They kept
the faith," Francis Hesselbein, chair of the board of governors for the
Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, told 4,000
participants of the Fourth Triennial Convention of Women of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     The organization's convention is meeting here July 8-11 at the
America's Center.  The organization's three-year theme, "Live God's
Justice," is unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote
addresses, workshops, business sessions and elections.
     "Peter F. Drucker, father of modern day management, said 'focus on
task, not gender.'  This is an imperative for leaders who are women.  As
women, we bring a special dimension to our work.  The reason, purpose
and mission for what we do has no gender.  Our contribution to God's
mission is enhanced by our gender," she said.
     Hesselbein said, for Drucker, the biblical story of the "Good
Samaritan" is focused on results.  "Added to that, there are travelers
who stop, serve and minister -- travelers who save lives," she said.
"Today, we call those travelers volunteers, and we call them Women of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America."
     In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in recognition for her leadership with the Girl Scouts of America, where
she rose from a volunteer troop leader to chief executive officer.
     "The mission was to help each girl reach her own highest
potential.  The mission was focused on the customer, who was five years
old.  We never changed the values and principles but the course of an
institution," Hesselbein said.
     Under her guidance, membership and the number of adult women
volunteers reached its highest membership in February 1990.  That year
the organization reached its highest membership percentage of African
American, American Indian, Asian and Hispanic girl scouts, said
Hesselbein.  "We achieved the greatest diversity in 70 years, coupled
with the greatest cohesion ever," she said.
     Civil rights leader, the late James Farmer, received a
Presidential Medal of Freedom on the same occasion Hesselbein was
honored.  "James Farmer was one of my great heroes," she said.  "He
walked with Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights."
     "We are called, all of us in this room, to do what we do,"
Hesselbein said.  "Leaders who are women need to see and position
themselves beyond category, beyond a slot called 'women.'  We are then
defined by ourselves as we focus on task, not by gender."
     "We need to listen to the whispers of our body.  The whispers come
to all of us. Then there are whispers of our hearts in our relationships
with families, spouses, children and co-workers," Hesselbein said.
"There are whispers in our spiritual life -- the voice of our faith.
These are the whispers that come quietly ... that come to us in odd
moments."
     "Heart and home and work and faith and serving others are the very
substance of our lives and the people, large and small, who share it.
It is an exuberant journey ahead because all of you are traveling
together.  All of you are traveling together, you remarkable Women of
the ELCA, that will shape and change leaders of the future," Hesselbein
said.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html