ELCA Is "In The City For Good"

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "An initiative for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to revitalize its ministry in urban areas of the United States and the Caribbean" will reach the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this summer in Philadelphia.  The board of the ELCA Division for Outreach approved the report, "In the City for Good," in principle when it met here March 19-22.
     "We affirmed it and made some editorial suggestions," said the Rev. Gary A. Marshall, Escondido, Calif., assistant to the bishop of the ELCA's Pacifica Synod and chair of the division's board.  A final version of the report and related resolution will be ready for the ELCA Church Council meeting here April 3-7.
     The churchwide assembly will be asked to implement a decade- long emphasis on urban ministry from 1998 to 2008.  Another proposal will establish a fund "to support and strengthen the ministry of the ELCA in urban settings" and commit $500,000 to the fund annually during the decade.
     The division's five-member "urban staff team" prepared the report.  The Rev. Jerrett L. Hansen, a mission developer in Baltimore, leads the team.  He described the report as "a road map with some signposts."
     Hansen said specific strategies will vary from city to city. "Planning for ministry is best done at the local level," he said. "There is no cookie cutter.  There are some models."
     "In the City for Good" lays out a "theological foundation" for urban ministry, outlines the strengths and weaknesses of Lutheran ministries in the cities, and presents "a three- dimensional vision" for the future.  "We want to invite people into the reality, into the theology, into the issues," said Hansen.
     "We must build on our strengths," he said.  "We are present. We are visible.  We are already in every major city in the United States."
     Hansen said the ELCA can learn from the ministries of other Christian churches that are thriving in the cities.  Lutherans could also do a better job of supporting the leadership -- clergy and laity -- in its existing congregations.
     The three-dimensional vision involves transforming people's lives, congregations and communities.  "Until people's hearts are changed nothing else will change," said Hansen.  "Congregations must be in touch with and committed to their contexts."
     Some board members said many of the issues raised in the report are not unique to city ministries.  "We are all in the same boat," Hansen replied.  What's happening in the cities is a condensation of what is happening in rural and suburban parishes.
     "One thing is for us to expand our realization of urban reality," said Marshall.  Another element of the initiative is to recognize "there are people and resources and gifts already present in those locations."  Where the resources are needed, "the ministry of the church needs to be in partnership," he added.
     In other business, the Division for Outreach board approved a plan to expand the ELCA's involvement in the Lutheran Association for Maritime Ministry.  That plan will need to be finalized at the LAMM annual meeting in Houston this May.
     The one-third-time position of DO's domestic maritime ministry consultant will close June 30.  An ELCA chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserves, the Rev. Andrew E.V. Krey, Waterbury, Conn., serves in that position.
     The board also approved the 1997 focus of its African American Outreach Strategy which will recruit and train a network of advisors to assist and counsel African American ministries related to the division.  The Rev. E. Taylor Harmon, DO's associate executive director, was assigned to coordinate the division's work in this area.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html