wfn.org | Lutherans Host Summit on Rural America March 26 in Chicago

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 15, 2001

LUTHERANS HOST SUMMIT ON RURAL AMERICA MARCH 26 IN CHICAGO
01-059-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) will host a summit on the state of rural United States from the
perspective of leaders from three major U.S. farm organizations and
others working to improve rural and farm life.  The summit will be held
March 26 at the Lutheran Center here.
     The summit will be composed of two major sessions.  The first
session, beginning at 9:00 a.m., will highlight the state of rural life
according to Bob Stallman, president, American Farm Bureau Federation,
Park Ridge, Ill., and member of St. Paul Lutheran Church (ELCA),
Columbus, Texas; Leland Swenson, president, National Farmers Union,
Washington, D.C., and member of Lutheran Church of the Cross (ELCA),
Evergreen, Colo.; and Paul Olson, Taylor, Wis., president, National
Farmers Organization, Ames, Iowa.
     In the second session, beginning at 2:15 p.m., participants will
engage in small group and panel discussions on the future of rural life.
     The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will
open the summit.  "The purpose of the summit is to gather organizations
that have a stake in the future of rural America and to express our
solidarity with the people who live and work there," he said.
     "A goal of the summit is to develop a two- to three-sentence
vision statement" on the future of rural life, said Sandra A. LaBlanc,
Des Moines, Iowa.  LaBlanc is an associate in ministry and the director
for rural ministry resources and networks, ELCA Division for Outreach.

     Last fall Anderson met with Stallman, Swenson and others to
discuss how the church may help to improve the future of rural life and
farming.  The presidents
invited the church to organize a summit intended to address the
"spiritual, social and economic" perspectives of the rural crisis and
developed a "Joint Statement on Rural America."
     "Small businesses, banks, schools, churches, medical facilities,
social and fraternal clubs and organizations, and the people who provide
a whole range of services to neighbors and friends all share the concern
of lives uprooted and livelihoods diminished.  The entire social fabric
of rural America is being torn," the statement said.
     "What is taking place throughout rural America is in many cases
more than a transition from an old to a new way of life.  We are
witnesses to a systematic restructuring of agriculture, which places the
safe, abundant food supply for a hungry nation and world at risk," said
the statement.
     The statement features "issues, concerns and needs" that form the
"core of the initial agreement."  They include:
     + insuring a safe, abundant food supply for the world
     + building upon, improving or replacing existing structures to
respond to the
effects of low commodity pricing
     + providing human, financial and spiritual resources for rural
communities
     + providing opportunities for farmers, ranchers and their
communities to meet
     + studying agriculture concentration, industry-wide consolidation
and other
phenomena and adopt legislation to promote fair, open and competitive
markets
     + emphasizing conservation, protection and regeneration of land
     + educating agricultural producers and others on production and
economics
     + engaging in dialogue on issues related to rural and farm life
     Anderson, LaBlanc, Olson, Stallman, Swenson and the Rev. Russell
Siler, director for Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA),
Washington, D.C., signed the statement.  LOGA is the federal public
policy advocacy office of the ELCA.
-- -- --
The rural and small-town ministries desk provides information at
www.elca.org/do/ruralhome.html on the ELCA's Web site.

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