wfn.org | ELCA Council Elects Board Members; CCM Committee Announced

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 16, 2000

ELCA COUNCIL ELECTS BOARD MEMBERS; CCM COMMITTEE ANNOUNCED
00-279-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected three clergy and one lay
person to fill vacancies on boards and advisory committees of the
ELCA.  Members of a new Episcopal-Lutheran coordinating committee
were announced to the council.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves
as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies.  The council met here Nov. 10-13.  Assemblies are held
every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2001, in Indianapolis.
     The council elects clergy and lay individuals to fill unexpired
terms on boards, steering committees of commissions and certain
advisory committees of the ELCA.
     The council elected:
     + the Rev. Roberto Navarro, Park Place Lutheran Church,
Houston, to the ELCA Division for Church in Society board;
     + the Rev. Barbara Berry-Bailey, Trinity Lutheran Church,
Philadelphia, to The Lutheran advisory committee.  The Lutheran is
the magazine of the ELCA;
     + the Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, All Nations Indian
Church, Minneapolis, to the ELCA Foundation board of advisors;
     + Martha E. Gonzalez, Principe de Paz, Miami, to the ELCA
Division for Outreach board.
     Lutheran members of the Episcopal-Lutheran coordinating
committee were announced to the council by the Rev. Daniel F.
Martensen, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.
     The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted "Call to Common
Mission" (CCM), an agreement for full communion between the ELCA and
The Episcopal Church.  The General Assembly of the Episcopal Church
approved CCM this year.  The agreement will allow both churches to
cooperate in a variety of ministries, and it allows for sharing of
clergy.  It is not a merger of the churches.
     Lutheran members of the coordinating committee were appointed by the
Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop.  They are:
     + the Rev. Duane H. Larson, president, Wartburg Theological
Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, Lutheran co-chair;
     + Terry L. Bowes, First Lutheran Church, Longmont, Colo.;
     + the Rev. Nancy M. Curtis, Tabor Lutheran Church, Kane, Pa.;
     + the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the ELCA South
Dakota Synod;
     + the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, director for ethnic leadership
development, ELCA Division for Ministry, Chicago;
     + the Rev. Norman W. Wahl, Bethel Lutheran Church, Rochester,
Minn.;
     + the Rev. Ronald B. Warren, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern
Synod, Atlanta.
     Staff assistance for the committee will be provided by
Martensen and the Rev. Randall R. Lee, executive assistant to the
ELCA secretary and associate for bilateral dialogues.  The Episcopal
Church is expected to announce their appointees soon.
     The task of the coordinating committee will be to study the
mission opportunities created by CCM and to assign to various task
forces to issues that present themselves as being in need of
conversation, said Lee.  Its mandate will be discussed and approved
at the committee's first meeting Jan. 8-9, 2001, in Washington, D.C.

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