wfn.org | ELCA Assembly Hear Greetings from Social Ministry Organization

[News News <news@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 20, 1999

ELCA ASSEMBLY HEAR GREETINGS FROM SOCIAL MINISTRY ORGANIZATION
99-CWA-34-LS

     DENVER (ELCA) -- Joanne Negstad, president and CEO of Lutheran
Services in America, brought greetings to the 1999 Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly on behalf of the
organization that is the "umbrella" of social ministries of the ELCA and
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the
ELCA, is meeting here at the Colorado Convention Center Aug. 16-22.
There are more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,039 ELCA
voting members.  The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ
Known: Hope for a New Century."
     Lutheran Services in America (LSA) includes Lutheran Social
Services, Lutheran Child and Family Services, Lutheran Homes and
Community Services, Lutheran Senior Services and other social ministries
of the ELCA and LCMS.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, called
Lutheran Services in America "the best kept secret in our society."
     Negstad asked voting members to answer a series of questions to
test their knowledge of the organization.
     LSA ministries are present in all 50 states and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. The ministries often exist in the form of counseling services,
shelters, food pantries and senior housing. More than 3,000 U.S.
communities support Lutheran social ministry organizations, she said.
     Lutheran Social Services employs more than 100,000 people
nationwide. Thirty-seven percent of those people are people of color or
have a primary language other than English, Negstad said.
     Volunteers are a significant part of the social ministry.  More
than five million volunteer hours were logged in 1998, she said.
     In an informal poll, almost 75 percent of voting members said they
had volunteered in some form of Lutheran social ministry organization.
     In 1998, more than $3.2 million was spent on Lutheran social
ministries. "It makes an amazing offering of ministry," Negstad said.

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