wfn.org | 'Connections' Theme of 2000 ELCA Communicators' Consultation

[news@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 7, 2000

'CONNECTIONS' THEME OF 2000 ELCA COMMUNICATORS' CONSULTATION
00-210-JB

     LISLE, Ill. (ELCA) -- Trends in the Lutheran church, working
with secular news organizations, international communication and a
Lutheran media program were among a variety of  topics discussed here
at the 2000 ELCA Communicators' Consultation.  The Aug. 24-27
consultation, featuring a "Connections" theme, brought together about
160 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) communicators and
invited guests who participated in plenary and workshop sessions.
     ELCA communicators have been meeting regularly since the mid
1990s to discuss  communication issues and methods and the church's
ministries.  Most of the participants are communicators in the 65
synods of the 5.15 million-member ELCA.
     The ELCA Department for Communication hosted the conference.
It began in the ELCA's churchwide offices in the Lutheran Center,
Chicago, and concluded here at the Hickory Ridge Conference Center in
suburban Chicago.
     In videotaped opening remarks Aug. 24, the Rev. H. George
Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, praised the communicators for their
work to make connections between individual members and the church.
"Thank God for you and your work," he said, noting that many
communicators are underpaid and not always appreciated for their
efforts.
     Anderson offered special thanks to the communicators for their
work on the ELCA Identity Project, a multi-media Lutheran identity
campaign aimed at bringing attention to the ELCA and the Lutheran
church through advertisements.  Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL),
a fraternal benefits organization based in Appleton, Wis., provided
financial support for the project and the communicators'
consultation.  The ELCA Church Council also provided funds for the
Identity Project.
     There were 153 Identity Project training events in 55 synods in
the past two years, said Kristi Bangert, director for internal church
communication and marketing, ELCA Department for Communication.
Nearly 1,000 matching grants totaling about $2 million were made
available to synods and congregations which participated by placing
the advertisements in their communities, she said.
     "The best work in the Identity Project has been in our
congregations," she said. "That's where the rubber meets the road."
Bangert thanked Terry Bowes, Longmont, Colo., Kris Davis, Greater
Milwaukee Synod, Wendy Blanck, ELCA Department for Communication, and
AAL for their project leadership.
     The "Connections" theme offered consultation participants an
opportunity to improve their skills and examine their faith
connections, said the Rev. Robert N. Bacher, executive for
administration, ELCA Office of the Bishop.
     "Connections include both our ongoing opportunity to grow in
our connectional skills and in a connectional faith," he said.
     The Identity Project, growth of the ELCA's Web site and
Lutheran Vespers, a radio ministry of the ELCA featuring the Rev.
Walt Wangerin Jr., and leadership in significant ELCA events were
part of a report on the Department for Communication's activities in
the past two years.  The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, presented the
report.
     "You are a vital part of the ELCA communication team," Shafer
told the communicators. "We hope to challenge you and all of us to
make connections with the news media, the poor and the world more a
part of your communication ministry."

Churchwide connections
     + Dr. Kenneth Inskeep, director, ELCA Department for Research
and Evaluation, discussed social trends and how they impact the
Lutheran church.  Lutherans must be more active in telling the world
what they believe, he said. "The primary thing Lutherans have to
think about in this new millennium is what we have to tell about us,"
Inskeep said. "Piety without judgment.  That's what it means to be
Lutheran."
     + The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Indianapolis will elect
a secretary and a new presiding bishop, said Myrna J. Sheie,
executive assistant, Office of the Bishop. The ELCA Initiatives for
New Century, adopted by the 1997 Churchwide Assembly, will "have
their sunset in 2001, although we hope they will go on," she said.
There will also be a report to the 2001 assembly on issues related to
homosexuality, she said.
     + The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, preached a sermon
on "truth-telling" in the consultation's opening worship.  He told
several stories about lack of truth-telling in secular circles and in
the church.  Almen criticized people in the church who do not tell
the truth, especially in instances in which a congregation is
experiencing conflict.  Innuendo and rumor are spread quickly by
phone and now by e-mail, and "the community of faith pays a heavy
price for such sinning," he said.  "Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned about
the dangers of what he called 'cheap grace,'" Almen said. "Now, in
our era, we can point to the electronic reality of cheap sin."
       "Truth-telling is holy work," he said. "Truth-telling
demonstrates true community.  In being good stewards of the truth,
you will be servants of God, crucial and strategic servants of God
engaged in genuinely holy work."

News connections
     + The weekly Faith and Values section of the Dallas Morning
News has generated lots of feedback from readers, said Diane
Connolly, the newspaper's religion editor.  In a keynote
presentation, Connolly showed several examples of stories from this
award-winning section.  She urged the communicators to tell reporters
about how people are impacted by their faith in their everyday lives.
That's news, she said.  News about church committees or programs may
not always be newsworthy, Connolly said.
     + Get to know local reporters and learn how to get information
to them effectively, was the advice offered by a panel of reporters
who answered questions from consultation participants.  News
panelists included Connolly, Cathleen Falsani, Daily Southtown,
Tinley Park, Ill.; Judith Valente, PBS-TV's Religion and Ethics
NewsWeekly, Chicago.
     + The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA, is about connecting
our church with God's holy labor of love to the  world so God's
people can share love in the world, said the Rev. David L. Miller,
editor.  Sonia S. Solomonson, managing editor, shared the magazine's
current mission statement with the communicators.

Connections with youth
     + Many of today's youth have been raised on electronic games
and television, and face family challenges, said Gaylord M. Thomas,
director for community development services, ELCA Division for Church
in Society. "Youth today are in worse shape than you are," he told
the communicators.  "They don't have socialization skills. If we're
going to affect the youth of today, we have to work from the inside
out.  We have to strengthen their faith."  Thomas organizes an annual
camp -- The Simba Circle --  to address the needs of African-American
males.  One Simba Circle alumnus, Sean McMillan, Chicago, said "to
follow Jesus is to follow him into the margins" of society.  "Jesus
found a way to express the love of God.  This is ultimately your task
as communicators."  Another Simba Circle alumnus, Brandon Morton,
Chicago, recited original poetry about his own life experiences.

International connections
     + The World Council of Churches (WCC), of which the ELCA is a
member, connects 400 million Christians in 133 countries, said
Kristine Greenaway, director for communication, Geneva, Switzerland.
WCC is a leader in the "Decade to Overcome Violence" which will kick
off in early 2001, she said.  The WCC is also forming an ecumenical
advisory alliance this year to bring member churches and non-members
together "to speak on the world stage," she said.
     + The first copies of a new Slovak translation of the Bible
were presented to the ELCA and to Augsburg Fortress, the publishing
house of the ELCA, by Lubor Michna, director and chief executive
officer, Tranoscius, a church publisher in Slovakia, and the Rev.
Thomas J. Drobena, Slovak Zion Synod communicator, Torrington, Conn.
     Consultation participants attended several workshops.  There
were sessions for correspondents and editors with The Lutheran, Web
development, copyright, National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC),
news writing, newsletters, Lutheran Vespers, video production, crisis
communication, marketing, ELCA World Hunger Program, LutherLink and
marketing.
     In addition to AAL, the ELCA Board of Pensions, Augsburg
Fortress and Faith and Values Media, a subsidiary of NICC, provided
support for the 2000 ELCA Communicators Consultation.
----
     Reports and photos from the 2000 ELCA Communicators
Consultation are available on the ELCA Department for Communication
Web site at www.elca.org/co. Videos of key presentations at the
consultation are available on the Web at www.faithandvaluesmedia.org.

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