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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 16, 2001

LUTHERAN SERVICES IN AMERICA IS MAKING CONNECTIONS
01-090-FI

     ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Services in America (LSA) annual
conference here April 4-7 celebrated the alliance's ability to make
connections among millions of people, resources, social ministry
organizations, congregations and God.  The conference served as a
transition point for LSA leadership.
     LSA's founding president and CEO, Joanne Negstad announced her
retirement after five years as head of the organization.  The LSA board
introduced Jill Schumann, LSA director for member services, as the new
president and CEO effective May 1.
     Based in St. Paul, Minn., LSA is the largest nonprofit in the
United States, spending almost $7 billion per year on its services.  It
is an alliance of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and their nearly 300 social
ministry organizations, serving more than 3 million people through a
wide array of health and human services.
     The conference theme "Joined at the Heart in Ministry:
Congregations and Social Ministry Organizations" was stressed in
worship, workshops and keynote sessions.  More than 435 participants --
Lutheran social ministry directors, managers, staff and board members --
attended the annual meeting.
     "There is a deep hunger out there that most of us have dedicated
our lives to relieve," said the Rev. Craig J. Lewis, Central Lutheran
Church, an ELCA congregation in Minneapolis, in the conference's keynote
address.  "There are seekers of God in our lobbies and waiting rooms"
from all around the world, he said.
     "Those in our lobbies may understand us as an extension of the
U.S. government," said Lewis.  He said he was worried that the
"professional faces" of Lutheran social ministries could be
misunderstood as being cold.  "Let's talk about how we can develop more
caring dimensions."
     "Do those in our lobbies know how Jesus has made us caring
people?" Lewis asked.  "Caring means listening ... listening to people
in our lobbies ... listening to people in our congregations," he said.
"Caring takes more time than curing."
     Lewis pointed out that the church trains its missionaries to learn
the language and to respect the culture of people they will serve
overseas.  He suggested Lutherans put as much effort into "learning the
lives of those for whom we care" across the United States and Caribbean.
     "The people we serve suffer one major problem ... poverty," said
Lewis.  "When it comes to the economy, there are no sidelines," he said,
encouraging the social ministry leaders to "become more
entrepreneurial."
     Lewis said community services can work with local banks and
businesses to create "sustainable community development."  He said,
"Healthy communities can solve their own problems."
     "We need to be creative in the caring business," said Lewis.  "Use
the entrepreneur in our midst to enhance this ministry of caring."
     The conference included a "keynote conversation" in a "talk-show"
format, which the Rev. Paul W. Devantier, chief communication officer
for Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services, Watertown, Wis., hosted.
Panelists were Dr. Jennifer L. Braaten, president, Midland Lutheran
College (ELCA), Fremont, Neb.; Elizabeth Ekholm, director for
community/church relations, Lyngblomsten, St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev.
Keith D. "Tony" Ingle, executive director, Lutheran Social Service of
North Dakota, Fargo; and the Rev. Charles S. Mueller, Trinity Lutheran
Church (LCMS), Roselle, Ill.
     Devantier asked the panelists for the most effective ways to bring
congregations and social ministry organizations together for ministry.
"We are in the people business ... people joined with people to help
people," he said.
     "It's about relationships," said Braaten.  When Midland needed a
campus chapel, the college engaged "the congregation on the corner" for
the use of the church.  "Be bold in Christ," she said, pick up the phone
and talk with people in congregations.
     Ekholm said she makes it clear, every opportunity she gets, that
Lutheran congregations are the owners of the senior-care programs at
Lyngblomsten.  She recommended that agency managers go to congregations
and thank them personally for their support.
     "Congregations are not funding sources but colleagues," said
Ingle.  The expertise to solve problems is in the congregations, he
said.  "The job is to break down those barriers that we've set up."
     Congregations involved in social action are thriving, said
Mueller.  "When pastors understand that, their ministries change and
their attitudes change toward you," he said.  "You are survival for many
churches and a bright new future for many."
     Deaconess Dorothy Prybylski, director for specialized pastoral
care and clinical education (chaplaincy), LCMS Board for Human Care
Ministries, St. Louis, brought greetings to the conference on behalf of
the Rev. Robert T. Kuhn, who became president of the Missouri Synod on
March 23 at the time of then-President A.L. Barry's death.
     Prybylski told the conference that two graduates this year from
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, have been called to serve both a
congregation and a social ministry organization.  The Christian leader
of the future is called to be vulnerable and to serve humbly, she said.
     The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop of the ELCA's Southwestern
Pennsylvania Synod and a member of the LSA board of directors, preached
during the opening worship service.  He encouraged participants to be
satisfied with doing all that's humanly possible.
     McCoid retold the biblical story of a woman pouring perfume on
Jesus' feet and being scolded for wasting money.  Jesus defended her by
saying:  "She has done a beautiful thing to me.  She has done what she
can."
     "We become anxious when we realize how much more remains to be
done," said McCoid.  "God respects our limitations, and it's important
that we do too," he said.  "Did you do what you could?"
     Ruth A. Henrichs, president and CEO, Lutheran Family Services of
Nebraska, Omaha, and Dr. John P. Schuelke, LSA board secretary, Woodland
Park, Colo., provided biblical reflections, "Joined by the Word."
     Social ministry organizations don't serve people, said Henrichs,
they serve God by working with people.  "We must ask those with the
problems to help solve the problems," she said.
     "So long as there is human need in this world, we do not lack
opportunity to serve," said Schuelke.  "LSA is a partnership with God,
with the social ministry organizations, with the church bodies and with
all the communities we serve."

TRANSITION IN LSA LEADERSHIP
     A brief business session provided a formal time for LSA members to
bid farewell to Negstad and to welcome Schumann as LSA president.  The
Rev. Nelson C. Meyer, LSA board chair and president of Lutheran Social
Services of Central Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, introduced both women.
     "In our LSA life, I believe God has led us with Joanne Negstad,"
said Meyer.  "God's blessings do not come once and for all," he said,
referring to Schumann.
     Negstad was president of the Association of Lutheran Social
Ministry Organizations, which became LSA in 1997.  She noted that
nurturing LSA has meant making connections.
     "We are connecting to what it means to be Lutheran, we are
connecting with each other, we are connecting to resources, we are
connecting our voices in the public policy arena, we are connecting
social ministry organizations and church bodies," said Negstad.
     Schumann said social ministry organizations are "not just faith-
based organizations but faith-full organizations ... full to
overflowing."  Connecting means "to fill each other up when we are not
full to overflowing but when we are in despair and discouraged," she
said.
     "We learn what it means to be 'Lutherans in service' from
Scripture and from each other," said Schumann.  "We learn from stories
told at the annual conference."

ELECTIONS AND OTHER BUSINESS
     In other business, representatives of the Lutheran social ministry
organizations re-elected three members of the LSA board of directors:
Jane A. Hartman, president and chief executive officer, Bremwood
Lutheran Children's Home, Waverly, Iowa; David Jacox, president and
chief executive officer, Bethphage, Omaha, Neb.; and the Rev. Gene
Svebakken, president and chief executive officer, Lutheran Child and
Family Services of Illinois, River Forest, Ill.
     The social ministry organizations elect nine of the board's 18
members -- three at each annual conference, to three-year terms.  The
5.15 million-member ELCA names six directors, and the 2.6 million-member
LCMS names three.
     Conference participants attended four of 28 workshops in seven
categories: Lutheran identity, integrated systems, board development,
leadership training, public policy advocacy, partnerships and networks.
Topics included faith-based organizations and the new Congress,
recruiting staff from another country, and what it means to have the
word "Lutheran" in your name.
     In the days before the LSA annual conference, meetings were held
by the Council for Human Resource Management, LSA/Disability Network,
Lutheran Adoption Network, Lutheran AIDS Network, Lutheran Counseling
Coalition, Lutheran Rural Response Coalition and The Chaplains' Network.
-- -- --
     Lutheran Services in America (LSA) maintains a site at
http://www.lutheranservices.org/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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