ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 10, 2007
ELCA Assembly Receives Greetings from Women of the ELCA 07-CWA-038-AL
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Carmen K. Richards, president of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said that the organization has "continued its strong ministries, global education, scholarships, grants, Bible studies, cross-cultural immersion and stewardship" when she addressed participants at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA Aug. 10.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,069 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"
Richards, who lives in Hope, N.D., emphasized the importance of the Women of the ELCA's recent outreach efforts to young women, particularly their interaction with young women at the 2006 ELCA Youth Gathering in San Antonio and the organization's health initiative, "Raising up Healthy Women and Girls," launched in July 2005.
"I believe in our church, I believe in our women's group and I really believe in our youth," she said. "But if we don't tell our story, the youth aren't going to know about us. And we need to learn how to change, not to forget where we came from, but know where we want to go."
Richards also recognized the Rev. Lowell Almen and the Rev. Charles Miller for their service on the Women of the ELCA board. Both Almen and Miller are retiring this year.
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Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be found at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news