wfn.org | ELCA Bishops Told Of Military Chaplains, Review Documents

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 18, 2004

ELCA Bishops Told Of Military Chaplains, Review Documents
04-196-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are 20 chaplains of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America serving in combat zones in the Middle
East and in Kosovo, said Chaplain Ivan G. Ives, assistant to the
ELCA presiding bishop for federal chaplaincy ministries,
Washington, D.C., in a report to the ELCA Conference of Bishops.
Fifteen of the 20 were called up from the National Guard and
military reserves, he said.
     "The impact of this has been noticed because these are
people coming out of your parishes," Ives told the conference.
     The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church,
consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, presiding bishop and
secretary.  It met here Sept. 30-Oct. 4.
     Of the 771 ELCA chaplains serving in the U.S. armed forces,
Veterans Administration, federal prisons and U.S. Department for
Homeland Security, 362 are serving in the military.  Typically,
military chaplains are deployed for one year and then return to
the United States for one year before another possible
deployment, Ives said.	National Guard and reserve chaplains are
deployed for about 18 months.  Different branches of the U.S.
armed forces deploy for different lengths of time, he said.
     When ELCA chaplains are called to active duty, Ives told the
Conference of Bishops, his office assists the chaplains and their
families in many ways.	If the chaplain serves a congregation, he
checks the pastor's status with his or her congregation, he said.
In the case of a chaplain on leave from a call to a congregation
or other ministry, Ives said he must request that a "letter of
call" be issued by the ELCA Church Council for the period in
which the chaplain is on active duty.
     The ELCA federal chaplaincies office is in touch with
families of ELCA chaplains to assist them with transition pay and
benefits, and it maintains periodic contact with the chaplains
and their families, he said.
     Ives said the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
work together in a "precious relationship" to provide Word and
Sacrament ministry in military chaplaincy.  "This is a necessary
relationship," he said.  "The job is too big to do ourselves."
     This past summer the LCMS general convention agreed to a
recommendation from top LCMS leaders that cooperative
arrangements for military chaplaincy be continued with the ELCA.
     "We need [more] chaplains," Ives said, noting that physical
conditioning is an important factor for military chaplains.
     Ives said he is concerned about the reentry of military
chaplains into the parish.  Support systems are needed for
National Guard and reserve chaplains when they return, he added.

Bishops Review Candidacy Manual Updates, Structure and Governance
Proposals
     The Conference of Bishops engaged in discussion on several
other topics:
     + Members reviewed proposed revisions to the ELCA Candidacy
Manual, a document that candidacy committees and others in the
ELCA use as candidates prepare for their roles as professional
church leaders. The revisions emphasize health and wellness and
an improved screening process, including expanded background
checks.  The revisions were to be reviewed by the ELCA Division
for Ministry board this fall and must be approved by the ELCA
Church Council in November.  The conference affirmed "the careful
and consistent" use of the manual by those involved in the
candidacy process.
     + Members learned that a review of the process for calling
professional leaders to congregations and other ministries is
under way with funding for the review provided by Thrivent for
Lutherans, a Minneapolis-based fraternal benefit organization.
     + The Rev. James M. Childs Jr., director of the ELCA Studies
on Sexuality, will move into an advisory role and return to
teaching at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, early next
year, said the Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director of the
Division for Ministry.	Childs leads a task force which is
preparing a report and recommendations related to homosexuality
for the 2005 Churchwide Assembly.  The report and recommendations
will become public January 13.	Olson said the task force will
continue on a new phase of its work, to produce a social
statement on human sexuality for consideration by the 2007
Churchwide Assembly.  The Rev. Kaari M. Reierson and Roger A.
Willer, both with the ELCA Division for Church in Society, will
provide staff support for the task force's work.   The Rev.
Margaret G. Payne, bishop of the ELCA New England Synod,
Worcester, Mass., is task force chair.
     + Members reviewed and discussed pending proposals for
redesign and governance of the ELCA churchwide organization. Many
other groups within the church are reviewing these proposals,
which will be considered by the Church Council when it meets here
Nov. 11-15, and eventually by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly,
meeting Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando. Fla.
     + The conference asked its Synodical-Churchwide Relations
Committee to initiate a process to possibly bring together all of
the professional leaders of the ELCA in one place for worship and
to build collegial relationships.  Members asked for a report at
their March 2005 meeting in Dallas.
---
     Information about ELCA federal chaplaincy ministries is at
http://www.elca.org/federalchaplains/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news