wfn.org | ELCA Division for Global Mission Reviews Commitment to Africa

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 9, 1999

ELCA DIVISION FOR GLOBAL MISSION REVIEWS COMMITMENT TO AFRICA
99-276-EH***

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We need to get Africa back on the map," said
Belletech Deressa, ELCA director for international development and
disaster response, at the Division for Global Mission board meeting Oct.
21-23 in Mundelein, Ill.  At the meeting the board called for a "review
and evaluation of ELCA commitments and resources to Africa within the
context of the total deployment of ELCA resources internationally."
     "We became concerned about why Africa was being left out, as if it
had fallen off the map of the world," Deressa told the board in her
report. "There are more refugees in Africa than in any other country.
For Kosovo, $39.4 million was raised with one ACT appeal.  So far $27
million of it has been received."
     ACT is Action by Churches Together, a worldwide network of
churches and related
 agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response.
The ELCA, through Lutheran World Relief, works closely with ACT.
     "For Africa, 24 different appeals have raised only 30 percent of
the funding requested," Deressa continued.  For every $1.23 the United
Nations High Commission on Refugees spent for Kosovo relief, only 11
cents was raised for Africa relief, she said in her report.
     "Many of us in the North have tunnel vision about who are our
brothers and sisters," said board member Carol LaHurd, Hickory, N.C.
"More than $2 million was raised [in the ELCA] almost overnight for
Kosovo, but there have been similar conflicts in Africa and other
countries."
     "When genocide happens in Africa, I think we look at it
differently than in other countries," said board member David Ellwanger,
Plano, Tex.
     In a resolution that received unanimous approval, the board asked
the division to prepare strategies that would address the crisis in
Africa by initiating "a call for repentance" for "our complicity in the
exploitation of resources and [under] development of Africa over the
centuries"; advocating for justice in public and corporate arenas;
building awareness, education and advocacy through such programs as
sending missionaries from poorer countries to the ELCA; and cooperating
with full communion partners and ecumenical forums.
     In other actions, the board:
     + Adopted revised ELCA missionary personnel policies and
expectations, to take effect Jan. 1.  Revisions include new options for
salary and pension allocation, a shorter initial term of service (2
years) and increased student loan, maternity leave and college tuition
assistance benefits.
     + Formed a committee to examine the division's ecumenical
commitments in light of full communion agreements.
     + Approved a budget for fiscal year 2000-2001 of $25,199,800.
     + Re-elected the Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen to another 4-year term as
executive director of the ELCA Division for Global Mission.

[**Elizabeth M. Hunter is a section editor for The Lutheran, the
magazine of the ELCA.]

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