wfn.org | ELCA Council Receives Report on the Church's Initiatives

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 14, 1999

ELCA COUNCIL RECEIVES REPORT ON THE CHURCH'S INITIATIVES
99-282-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) is "midway" through its four-year program, "Initiatives to
Prepare for a New Century," the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding
bishop of the church, told the ELCA Church Council Nov. 12.
     The council met here Nov. 12-14.  It functions as the ELCA's board
of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church
between churchwide assemblies.  Assemblies are held every other year;
the next is Aug. 8-14, 2001, in Indianapolis.
     "It is harvest time," Anderson said.  "We can begin to see
results, and we can begin to discern possibilities for the future," he
said in his report to the council.
     The 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Philadelphia adopted seven
Initiatives -- significant areas of ministry for the next century.
Leadership teams were formed to provide guidance for the work of
congregations, synods and churchwide organizations.  Team leaders help
provide an overall picture of how the church may be different as a
result of the Initiatives.
     "These seven areas were worship, Christian basics, outreach in
word and deed, communication, poverty, youth and leadership," said
Anderson.  "It was a four-year plan designed to invite all parts of this
church to experiment, invest, test, try out, implement and evaluate
activities that would strengthen the church's capacity for mission.  The
overall program came to be called, 'Initiatives to Prepare for a New
Century.'"
     One broad area of the church's activity has centered on
evangelism.  Anderson said the "Initiatives spoke about turning this
church 'inside out,' so that it would face the world instead of its own
inner history."  He said the church has spent about 48 percent of its
budget on outreach-related activities.
     "Many activities produced from the Initiatives, or elsewhere, have
given us new resources for reaching out.  In some cases, the Initiatives
have helped to reach under-represented populations, like ethnic- or
language-specific communities, youth and young adults, and even non-
Christians," Anderson said.  "Lots of other projects are underway, some
local and some national."
     In "cultural outreach," Anderson highlighted the ELCA's African
American worship resource, "This Far by Faith," and the church's
Spanish-language worship resource, "Libro de Liturgia y Cantico."
     New efforts to attract youth and "keep them involved in the
church" included a new ELCA Web site called "Soulfuel."
     Anderson also highlighted the church's research on Islam and other
world religions.
     From Sept. 2000 to Aug. 2001, many of the 11,000 congregations of
the ELCA will embark on a "Call to Discipleship," an invitation for
members of the church to commit to a year-long intentional focus on
discipleship -- an attempt to turn "faith into action," Anderson said.
     "Call to Discipleship" is part of a major emphasis to "Teach the
Faith," one of the seven ELCA Initiatives.  Anderson invited the ELCA
Church Council to build on the Initiative by "creating a vision and a
strategy that would challenge and channel the energies of all members in
the years ahead."  He said that vision "would focus on outreach and
ministry with people living in poverty."
     Anderson encouraged council members to "survey" what has happened
in the church in the last few years and to think about "what
possibilities could lie ahead."

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