wfn.org | ELCA Outreach Board Meets, Affirms Latino Strategy

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 22, 1999

ELCA OUTREACH BOARD MEETS, AFFIRMS LATINO STRATEGY
99-254-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "For the first time, we are taking a
comprehensive approach for Latino ministry," the Rev. Ruben F. Duran
told the board of the Division for Outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA).  The board met here Oct. 7-10 and affirmed the
church's new Latino Outreach Strategy.
     Duran, ELCA executive for congregational outreach services, said
changes in attitudes and numbers made the strategy possible.  Latino
population is expected to grow from 10 percent to 25 percent of the U.S.
population in the next 50 years, and the Lutheran church is beginning to
look to Latinos for guidance in matters of ministry among Latinos, he
said.
     "Latinos see themselves as subjects and not mere objects of
evangelistic practices," said Duran.
     "One of the organizational principles of the ELCA is that we will
be an inclusive church," said Dorothy Baumgartner, Issaquah, Wash.,
board chair of the ELCA Division for Outreach.  "We have an important
mandate to be intentional about support for ethnic-specific and
multicultural ministries."
     The Latino Outreach Strategy builds on strategies at various
stages of development in 16 of the ELCA's 65 synods.  Those synods
include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New
Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, as well as New York City,
Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and parts of Minnesota.
     Leaders of synod strategies form a network "to provide better
support and more precision in decision-making processes regarding Latino
ministry development," said Duran.  The Rev. Gustavo Guerrero, Iglesia
Luterana Cristo Rey, Dallas, convenes the network of about 12 people.
     Another group of "experienced and gifted leaders who are trained
and made available to the synods for specific consultative work" serve
as Latino ministry advisors.
     Sixteen to 20 people will serve on the Latino Outreach Strategy
Team which will offer recommendations regarding the work of the ELCA
Division for Outreach in the Latino community.  The team is pursuing
four directions: new mission development, transforming congregations,
missionary leadership, and ministry among second and third generation
Latino Americans.
     The Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, director for multicultural
leadership development, ELCA Division for Ministry, presented a report
on "Recruiting and Equipping Indigenous Leaders for Mission Responding
to God's Call."
     The Outreach board expressed a "critical need for trained ethnic
leadership to staff not only Latino but all our ethnic and multicultural
ministries," said Baumgartner.  The board encouraged Villalon to share
more information about his work, and it asked for "inter-board dialogue
with the Division for Ministry to support its effort in ethnic
leadership development," she said.
     In other business, the Mission Investment Fund board reported
that, as of Sept. 1, 1999, the fund balance is larger than $271 billion
-- $40 billion more than a year earlier.  Personal interest-earning
investments fuel the fund, which extends low-interest loans to ELCA
congregations for such projects as new construction, building expansion
or renovation.
     Ten percent of current loans are more than six months in arrears -- 
compared to 14.7 percent a year earlier.  Real estate holdings total
less than $30 million.
     The Outreach board adopted the Mission Investment Fund capital
budget for 2000.  That budget includes $77,475,000 in loans to
congregations.  Another $6,650,000 is to purchase real estate.
     The Division for Outreach board:
 + elected Baumgartner to a two-year term as its chair; the Rev. Ronald
Johnson, Minneapolis, vice chair; and James E. Byerly, Richmond, Va.,
secretary.  The Rev. Linda Boston, San Jose, Calif., and the Rev.
Richard W. Owens, Bismarck, N.D., were also elected to the board's
executive committee.
 + approved a 2000 budget of $14,806,740 for the Division for Outreach,
including $6,857,000 to support new congregations.  The 1999 budget is
$14,756,740, including $6,813,365 for new congregations.
 + adopted written descriptions of the division's programs for 2000 and
edited drafts of program descriptions for 2001.
 + asked Division for Outreach staff to work with other ELCA divisions
and units to prepare "a comprehensive report on activities of the past
decade in response to the 'Evangelism Strategy: A Telling Witness of
God's Good News,'" which was established by the ELCA's 1991 Churchwide
Assembly.  The board asked to see an interim report next spring and a
final report next fall.
 + approved a resolution encouraging celebrations in various settings
during 2000 to honor the 80th anniversary of the first decision of a
Lutheran church (Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the
Netherlands) to ordain women and the 30th anniversary of the ordination
of Lutheran women in North America.

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