ELCA Church Council adopts message on gender-based violence

            CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social message on gender-based violence and adopted an accompanying foundational document designed for in-depth study and analysis when it met here Nov. 12-15. The council, which serves as the ELCA's board of directors, also took action on a variety of matters designed to help move forward the church's mission and ministries.

            The council authorized the work of the social message two years ago in response to a request from the ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice: One in Christ, which received concerns from across this church on the growing level of gender-based violence in the United States. Since 2012, the task force has been engaged in study toward a proposed social statement on women and justice to come to the Church Council in April 2019 and for possible consideration by the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly – the largest legislative body of the church. The text of the message is available at http://www.elca.org/Faith/Faith-and-Society/Current-Social-Writing-Projects/Gender-Violence.
            Social messages draw attention to timely and pressing matters of social concern to the church. There are now 13 ELCA social messages. Social statements are teaching and policy documents that provide broad frameworks for Lutherans to discuss social issues in the context of faith and life. There are 12 ELCA social statements.
            "This church does a lot all over the world, all of the time," said ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton in her report to the council. "Just a cursory glance" of the "actions for this Church Council meeting makes that clear," she wrote in her report to the council highlighting not only the adoption of a social message but other decisions by the council.
            At its meeting, the council invited the 3.7 million-member church into a conversation about the future of theological education in the denomination. The council approved a working group to receive feedback and create possible implementing strategies for a set of recommendations featured in a report from the Theological Education Advisory Council (TEAC) – authorized by the ELCA Church Council to address in a holistic way issues on theological education, leadership development, candidacy, call and rostered leaders. The TEAC recommendations will be considered at council's April 2016 meeting.
            "One of the striking revelations in (TEAC's report presented to the Church Council) is the number and variety of ways we deliver theological education in the ELCA," said Eaton.
            "We do this through seminaries, of course, but also through colleges and universities, lay schools, certificate programs, synodical schools and congregational schools. This can be seen as a rich flourishing of creative and diverse delivery of theological education, or it can be seen as a symptom – a disconnected and ad hoc approach to finding a way to deliver theological education," Eaton reported.
            In a discussion about TEAC's report, the Rev. Stephen Herr, a council member from Gettysburg, Pa., asked what theological education might look like in the future if bold, decisive action would be taken "in a real way. What would look different five years from now?"
            In response, the Rev. Robin J. Steinke, president of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., said that it is her hope that theological education might be "free. Students leaving with debt is inappropriate, and we have a call to address this so that our graduates can go anywhere in need of a leader." Steinke and the Rev. Herman R. Yoos III, bishop of the ELCA South Carolina Synod, are the TEAC co-chairs and presented the TEAC report to the council.
            In its actions, the council expressed appreciation for TEAC's work, recognizing and embracing the "Spirit led convergence of new possibilities" for theological education. The council affirmed the "innovation and collaboration" underway among the ELCA's eight seminaries, recognizing the "changing climate of theological education." It also directed its budget and finance committee to give thought to the funding implications of the recommendations contained in the TEAC report.
            In other business, the council:
+ recommended an action to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly that would unify three existing official rosters of laypersons – Associates in Ministry, Deaconess of the ELCA and Diaconal Ministers – to a roster of Ministry of Word and Service.

+ affirmed "Future Directions and Priorities of the ELCA" – a process designed to address strategic directions of the church. The council authorized its executive committee to appoint ELCA members identified by the presiding bishop to serve on a Future Directions Table. It asked that the table offer progress reports to the ELCA Conference of Bishops – an advisory body of the church – and the council beginning in spring 2016.

+ received a report from ELCA Vice President Carlos Peña, who announced that he would not be seeking a third, six-year term. He told the council that it is "a time for someone else to offer a fresh voice as a leader of this church" and that his election "was a calling."

+ adopted a continuing resolution to address the election process of the vice president at the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

+ accepted the 32 "statements of agreement" from "Declaration on the Way" – a unique ecumenical document that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans – and forwarded them to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly for reception. Coincidently, on the day the council accepted the statements of agreement (Nov. 15), Pope Francis visited a Lutheran church in Rome.

+ received a report and referred recommendations of the Ministry to and with Same-Gender Couples and their Families Working Group to the appropriate units of the ELCA churchwide organization for implementation with a report back to the council at its fall 2016 meeting.

+ affirmed the efforts of the ELCA presiding bishop to call the entire denomination to confront racism and to include in those efforts a broader, comprehensive strategy to becoming a racially, ethnically diverse church.

+ adopted a revised candidacy manual.

+ received a report in response to a 2013 Churchwide Assembly action related to reviewing the ELCA's guiding documents on communion practices.

+ approved a resolution regarding investment in specific Palestinian economic endeavors.

+ approved a revised 2016 fiscal-year fund spending authorization of $66,514,340 and a revised 2016 fiscal-year ELCA World Hunger spending authorization of $21 million. Separately, the council also approved a resolution regarding the authority to act in financial matters.

+ recommended action to the 2016 assembly to amend the constitution, bylaws and continuing resolutions of the ELCA.

+ appointed members to the Memorials and Reference and Counsel committees for the 2016 assembly. In a separate action, the council elected members to serve on its Executive Committee, the ELCA Audit Committee, the Committee on Appeals, the board of directors for some of the church's seminaries, and approved the designation of members to the board of directors of The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society.

            The council also received reports from the church's treasurer, secretary and executive for administration, executives from churchwide organization units and the ELCA Conference of Bishops. It received updates on Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA, an initiative designed to address this church's efforts to accompanying migrant minors, a new flagship publication, Portico Benefit Services, Augsburg Fortress and more.
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.7 million members in more than 9,300 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Melissa Ramirez Cooper
Associate director, ELCA Publications and Public Relations
773-380-2956 or Melissa.RamirezCooper@elca.org
ELCA News: www.ELCA.org/news
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Lutherans
Living Lutheran: www.livinglutheran.com