wfn.org | ELCA Board Focuses on Community Organizing and Development

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 2, 2000

ELCA BOARD FOCUSES ON COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND DEVELOPMENT
00-259-FI

     ROCKFORD, Ill. (ELCA) -- Community organizing and development
was the focus for a meeting here Sept. 28-30 of the board of the
Division for Church in Society (DCS) of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA).  In addition to its business sessions, the
board toured downtown development programs and heard from a special
guest speaker.
     "Community organizing is a tool to get from one place to
another," said Tony Aguilar, assistant to the bishop for urban
ministry and congregational development, ELCA Metropolitan New York
Synod.
     Aguilar told the board that the church must look first at the
strengths of a community and the skills of its residents, rather than
looking only at the needs of a community.  "If we don't organize
around limitations, we can do great things," he said.
     Faith-based organizing gives the church a new way to talk about
Jesus, said Aguilar.  "Organizing is what we do.  Jesus organized."
     "We think of the church in a very narrow sense," said Aguilar.
The ELCA has 5.15 million members in 10,851 congregations in 65
synods across the United States and Caribbean, he said, "but the
world is the church."
     "Our folk are everywhere," Aguilar said.  "How do we deal with
them in a way that is proactive?"
     The Zion Development Corporation (ZDC) of Rockford is an
example of a community coming together with corporations, government
and churches to make a difference, said Aguilar.  Board members
toured ZDC programs in downtown Rockford.
     Members of Zion Lutheran Church formed the ZDC, a faith-based
neighborhood development organization serving a 40-block area near
the church.  The downtown neighborhood is ethnically diverse, made up
largely of low-income renters, said Bradley Roos, ZDC executive
director.
     "We're looking at those issues that our neighbors face" --
issues often related to the "normal deterioration that we've come to
see in center cities," said Roos.  Through housing, economic and
social development, ZDC has been successful in reducing crime and
removing an adult book store, he said.
     The DCS board visited Longwood Plaza Apartments, a 65-unit
housing complex for low-income elderly people which the ZDC restored
from an abandoned hotel.  ZDC plans to partner with Swedish American
Hospital, Rockford, to establish a full-scale wellness center and
program in the apartment building, Roos said.
     "This building was symbolic of what was happening in the city
and this neighborhood," said Roos, when the economic center of
Rockford moved from downtown toward the expressway.  Fixing up the
building had a visual impact that also restored pride in the
neighborhood, he said.
     ZDC is providing the neighborhood with some much-needed green
space, said Roos.  The corporation purchased properties at key entry
points at the north and west sides of the area, cleared them of
debris and planted daylilies.  "That's the first thing people will
see," he said, instead of abandoned lots strewn with trash.
     The board toured the Patriots' Gateway Center (PGC), a multi-
purpose community center built and run by a separate corporation that
members of Zion Lutheran Church created.  The congregation's long-
range planning committee identified needs in the neighborhood, and a
community center kept coming to the top of the list, said Bill Moore,
PGC president.
     PGC houses programs operated by about 15 organizations,
including the Rockford Park District, Winnebago County Health
Department, YMCA and YWCA.  It runs several supervised after-school
programs and a computer lab for members.  The Boys and Girls Clubs of
America, Rockford School District 205 ECE and Zion Lutheran Church
are "anchor agencies" providing staff, materials, design and
direction.
     The DCS board also saw the Grand Apartments, "a crime-ridden
hotel" which the ZDC purchased and rehabilitated to provide permanent
supportive housing to people who would otherwise be homeless.
     "Not only was it impressive to see the community development
initiative the church has undertaken as part of its mission in the
community, but it reinforces our faith in the church's ability to be
active on behalf of the common good in its community," said the Rev.
James M. Childs Jr., DCS board chair.  Childs is a professor of
theology and ethics, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.
     During its business sessions, the board affirmed the action of
the Corporate Social Responsibility staff in joining with other
churches and organizations to ask AT&T to reconsider its decision to
carry the Hot Network on its cable television service.
The ELCA holds stock in AT&T but protests its association with the
adult film network, said Childs.
     The board approved nine stockholder resolutions with a variety
of corporations.  The resolutions must also be approved by the ELCA
Church Council when it meets Nov. 10-13 in Chicago, before they can
be sent to the corporations.
     The DCS spending plan for 2001 and the division's strategic
plan provided the board with opportunity to discuss in depth the work
of the division, said Childs.  The board approved the spending plan
"with adjustments due to any unanticipated spending reductions" and
received the strategic plan as a "work in progress," he said.
     The board received a report of an Older Adult Ministry
Consultation, "Toward a Society for all Generations" held Jan. 27-28
in Chicago.  It commended the report to ELCA officials "for
consideration as churchwide strategic plans are developed."  Among
other things, the report suggested establishing "some central place
where information about aging ministries could be collected and
disseminated."

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