Title: Lutheran Bishop of Canada Greets ELCA Church Council ELCA NEWS SERVICE
May 1, 2007
Lutheran Bishop of Canada Greets ELCA Church Council 07-075-MRC
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- During an April 15 greeting to the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) the Rev. Raymond L. Schultz, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), shared news about his retirement and offered highlights on the upcoming ELCIC biennial convention.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here April 14-16. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-11.
"The ELCA has become my other family on the North American continent, and I feel like it is my home," Schultz told the council. "I'm retiring from the office of national bishop at the end of August. While I'm glad to leave the weight of the work behind, I'm going to grieve terribly the loss of our association. As church workers you have become my associates, and as people of God you've become my friends. You have given the ELCIC many gifts," he said,
Schultz said his successor will be elected at the Eleventh Biennial Convention of the ELCIC June 21-24 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Under the theme "A People Called," Schultz said the convention will include "a day of celebration" with the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. "Both (church) bodies are giving thanks for the Waterloo Declaration, which defines our full-communion relationship," he said.
The ELCIC Convention will acknowledge "Evangelical Declaration" -- a theology of mission that has served the church for the past 10 years, said Schultz. "We are proposing that its 10-year mandate be extended for another 10 years. From (Evangelical Declaration) we've derived the mission theme for our church, (which) is 'to be in mission with others,'" he said.
ELCA Vice President Carlos Pena, Galveston, Texas, and other Lutherans from across the church and around the world will address the ELCIC convention.
Schultz noted that the introduction of the development of a social statement on human sexuality will be presented at the convention. "Thank you to the ELCA for the assistance it has provided us, the research and study that it has done, which has become a gift to us, so that we don't have to begin at point zero," said Schultz, adding that a resolution on the blessing of same-sex couples is scheduled to be considered by the convention.
Schultz shared with the council that he will serve as a presenter at Worship Jubilee 2007 -- an event Aug. 3-6 here at Navy Pier, celebrating the renewal of worship in the ELCA and ELCIC.
Released in October 2006, Evangelical Lutheran Worship -- the ELCA and ELCIC's primary book of worship -- is an outcome of a project initiated by the council in 2000 to renew the worship life of the ELCA. The "Renewing Worship" project invited the 4.85-million-member ELCA and the 182,077 members of the ELCIC to engage new worship materials. The ELCIC began its participation in Renewing Worship in 2001.
"Thanks for the memories, thanks for the fun, and thanks be to God," said Schultz at the conclusion of his greeting.
"Thanks be to God for you, Ray," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, following Schultz. Hanson said Schultz has an inquisitive mind, and is gifted with theological wisdom and refreshing honesty. - - -
Information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is at http://www.elcic.ca on the Web.
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