Board Recommends ELCA Adopt Report on People with Disabilities

     MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Board members of the Division for Church in Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asked the ELCA Church Council to approve "The Final Report of the Comprehensive Study of Ministry with and among Persons who are Deaf and Persons with Disabilities of the ELCA."
     "Our charge is to become educated and aware and then be a voice for the voiceless, to raise consciousness," said board member Gloria Strickert, Waverly, Iowa.  "This report does that," she said.
     Some board members expressed concern that the report would lead to formation of another commission or that the church is being increasingly fragmented.  Laura L. Lundsgaard, coordinator for social justice education, said the intent is not to form another commission but to bring leadership to others from those who are deaf or have disabilities.
     The ELCA Church Council will meet Nov. 12-16 in Chicago.  The council will transmit the report to the 1999 Churchwide Assembly in Denver.
     In other business, the board heard a report on Habitat for Humanity saying that the ELCA was the first U.S. denomination to declare itself a partner with the organization.

[*Sonia C. Solomonson is senior editor for The Lutheran, magazine of the
ELCA.]

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Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director 1-773-380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html