wfn.org | Full Communion, Middle East Issues Named Top ELCA Stories of 2000

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 16, 2001

FULL COMMUNION, MIDDLE EAST ISSUES NAMED TOP ELCA STORIES OF 2000
01-10-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A full communion agreement between the Episcopal
Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was the
most significant story involving the ELCA in 2000, said the staff of
ELCA News & Information, part of the church's Department for
Communication.
     Another series of stories in 2000 ranked high by the staff was the
church's response to the violence in the Middle East and events that
preceded the fighting.
     ELCA News & Information provides news about the 5.15-million
member church's ministry and activities to the public and church media.
Staff includes John R. Brooks, director; Frank F. Imhoff, associate
director; Melissa O. Ramirez, associate director; and Brenda G.
Williams, editorial assistant for production and media relations.
     There were several significant events in 2000 related to the full
communion agreement -- "Called to Common Mission" (CCM) -- between the
ELCA and Episcopal Church.  In February Lutherans who favor and oppose
CCM met in a meeting closed to the media and the public to talk about
possible ways to implement the agreement that may be acceptable to
members who are opposed to the agreement.
     In March the ELCA Conference of Bishops issued a pastoral letter
asking the ELCA Church Council, in consultation with the presiding
bishop, to explore possible ways to allow for exceptions to CCM's
ordination requirements.  In April the WordAlone Network was formed, a
Minnesota-based Lutheran organization whose members oppose CCM and say
they want to work for change in the ELCA.  That same month the ELCA
Church Council said the church's 65 synods could not determine on their
own whether to abide by CCM's requirements, and invited synods to voice
their concerns about CCM to appropriate legislative bodies of the
church.
     In July the Episcopal Church adopted CCM when its legislative
bodies met in Denver.  The two churches agreed to implement CCM on Jan.
1, 2001, and planned a Celebration of Full Communion at the National
Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for Jan. 6, 2001.
     Finally, in November, the ELCA Church Council, in response to
several resolutions from synods, formally asked the presiding bishop to
consult with the ELCA's ecumenical partners about the possibility of
exceptions to ordination requirements of CCM.  It suggested language for
a possible ELCA constitutional bylaw.  The council said it will discuss
the issue further in April 2001, including the possibility that a bylaw
may be sent for consideration to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August
2001.
     The Middle East was another key topic for the ELCA throughout
2000.  In September the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop,
joined with leaders of North American Roman Catholic, Orthodox and
Protestant churches to urge President Clinton to promote a "shared"
Jerusalem for Christians, Jews and Muslims.  When conflict erupted in
the Middle East, Anderson, on behalf of the ELCA, expressed the church's
"strongest objection" to the armed intrusion by Israeli forces at
Augusta Victoria Hospital.  The hospital, located on the Mount of Olives
in East Jerusalem, is operated by the Lutheran World Federation, based
in Geneva, Switzerland.
     At the request of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Anderson wrote
to Clinton urging him to continue his effort to find a peaceful solution
to the Middle East violence.  The ELCA's Multicultural Mission Institute
featured the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Jordan and Palestine, as its keynote speaker.  Later, Younan
spoke to the ELCA Church Council, again urging U.S. Christians to
support Palestinian Christians.  Anderson called for all ELCA members to
be part of a continuing prayer vigil for Middle East peace, and other
denominations followed suit.
      Near the end of the year ELCA members joined other U.S.
Christians in a delegation that visited the region.  The Lutheran Office
for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), the ELCA's federal public policy office
in Washington, D.C., was among the trip's organizers.
     ELCA News & Information also named several other top stories --
listed in no particular order -- in 2000:
     + In January, the ELCA and the Moravian Church celebrated their
full communion agreement in Winston-Salem, N.C.
     + The ELCA, through LOGA, helped organize a Jubilee 2000
international debt relief rally in Washington, D.C.  That was part of a
significant effort on the part of many church-related organizations,
including the ELCA, which led to the Clinton's signing of a significant
debt relief package sent to him by Congress.
     + Top national leaders of three farm organizations -- all
Lutherans -- met with Anderson to discuss the financial and social
crisis in many rural communities.  A national farm conference may be
organized as a follow-up.
     + The ELCA continued to call for an end of live-fire military
training on Vieques, an island east of Puerto Rico.  Leaders and members
of the ELCA and other denominations maintain a camp in the live-fire
area, hoping their presence will halt military activity.  Anderson and
other leaders planned to visit the island in 2001 as a show of support.
     + Some 40,000 teen-agers attended the ELCA Youth Gathering in St.
Louis, spread over two five-day events.  They took part in worship,
workshops, performed community service and heard inspirational speakers,
including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Earlier the church had declined to place participants at the Adam's Mark
Hotel in St. Louis in response to a Justice Department lawsuit that
charged the chain was engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination.
When the Justice Department and the hotel settled, the churchwide
organization announced it would use the hotel as planned.
     + Reserve funds, totaling $3 million, were distributed for
"Ministry Among People in Poverty" projects.  The ELCA Church Council
designated the funds for such projects.  Early in the year the ELCA
Conference of Bishops adopted "A Pastoral Letter on Wealth and Poverty"
and visited Southeast Florida congregations working with people in
poverty.  In September, leaders of the ELCA churchwide organization
visited Milwaukee and met with people in poverty and congregations
working in downtown neighborhoods.
     + The ELCA was active in disaster response in 2000.  Among the
disasters it responded to were wildfires in New Mexico and Montana, plus
tornadoes in Minnesota.  The church was prepared -- and helped prepare
others -- for "Y2K" disasters that never happened.  And, the ELCA World
Hunger Appeal announced it received more than $16 million in gifts in
1999, a record.
     + The ELCA celebrated the lives of prominent members who died in
2000, including Ruth Sovik, former deputy general secretary of the World
Council of Churches; the Rev. Anel G. "Gib" Fjellman, former bishop of
the Pacific Northwest Synod of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA); the
Rev. Martin L. Yonts Sr., former bishop of what is now the ELCA 
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod; the Rev. William A. Janson Jr., former
bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod; the Rev. Ehme R.
Osterbur, former bishop of the
 Illinois District of the American Lutheran Church; the Rev. Edward K.
Perry, who served the  LCA as a synod bishop, and later, the ELCA
Upstate New York Synod as bishop; the Rev. Paul R. Nelson, ELCA director
for worship; and Arthur L. Larson, a man who routinely gave away 70
percent of his income and left a legacy of support for ELCA seminaries.

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