wfn.org | ELCA Bishops Honor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Head

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 18, 2001

ELCA BISHOPS HONOR LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION 
AND REFUGEE SERVICE HEAD
01-013-SB*/JB

     BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) honored Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr.,
president of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
(LIRS), at a Jan. 9 reception at the Lutheran Center here.
     The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the ELCA's 65
synodical bishops, presiding bishop and secretary.  They met here Jan.
7-11 for their annual continuing education conference.
     Ralston H. "Ralie" Deffenbaugh, a human rights lawyer, has worked
with Lutheran organizations concerned with international affairs since
1981, and has headed Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
since 1991.
     LIRS is a cooperative agency of the ELCA, Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod (LCMS) and Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  It was
established by Lutheran churches in the United States to carry out the
churches' ministry with immigrants and refugees.
     On behalf of the conference, the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of
the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod and member of the LIRS board,
presented Deffenbaugh with a framed citation recognizing 20 years of
service in international affairs.  The citation noted Deffenbaugh's work
in "welcoming the stranger" and for his leadership in the ELCA "in
protecting, serving and advocating for refugees, asylum seekers and
other migrants."
     "To be lifted up by the leaders of my church is an extraordinary
honor for me," said Deffenbaugh. "I feel so blessed to have been able
successfully to combine my work and my faith over the past twenty years.
It is truly a privilege to welcome the stranger.  I receive much more
than I give."
     Before he became president of LIRS, Deffenbaugh was director of
the Lutheran Office for World Community, New York, which represents the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) to the United Nations and does
international affairs advocacy for the ELCA.  LWF, a global communion of
131 Lutheran churches in 72 countries, is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
     In 1989-90, during Namibia's transition to independence, he acted
as legal advisor to the Lutheran bishops and the Council of Churches in
Namibia.  Deffenbaugh also served as a consultant to the committee that
drafted Namibia's constitution.
     LIRS more than doubled its annual budget from $8.7 million in 1991
to $21 million in 2000, and increased its staff 50 percent under his
leadership. In 1999, Deffenbaugh led the move of  LIRS headquarters from
New York to a new six-story building in Baltimore.
     Deffenbaugh serves as the first chair of the newly formed Refugee
Council USA, the coalition of American voluntary organizations working
in the field of refugee protection and service. He is also a member of
the Council on Foreign Relations.

[*Susan Baukhages is director for communication for Lutheran Immigration
and Refugee Service.]

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