ELCA Urged to Support Urban Global Mission

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The city must be a priority for all churches," said the Rev. Philip R. Johnson, formerly a missionary pastor working with the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church. Johnson talked about "rapid urbanization" in cities like Nairobi when he addressed the board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Global Mission. The board met here March 20-22.
"The Nairobi Lutheran Parish strives to be the presence of Jesus in a city that most often disappoints and turns cold those she lures with the prospect of jobs, prosperity and Western images and ideas," Johnson said.
The Nairobi parish reaches out to vulnerable people like street children and refugees. One effort Johnson described invites young girls off the street, "offering an education, clothing, a bath, a hot meal, Christian love, the possibility of renewed self-respect and a more hope-filled future."
The urban setting for mission is a new one to many in the ELCA, Johnson said. "For many, real missionaries do primary evangelism and live in rural areas."
Johnson, currently a doctoral student at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., moved to Kenya in

ELCA URGED TO SUPPORT URBAN GLOBAL MISSION
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The city must be a priority for all churches," said the Rev. Philip R. Johnson, formerly a missionary pastor working with the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church. Johnson talked about "rapid urbanization" in cities like Nairobi when he addressed the board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Global Mission. The board met here March 20-22.
"The Nairobi Lutheran Parish strives to be the presence of Jesus in a city that most often disappoints and turns cold those she lures with the prospect of jobs, prosperity and Western images and ideas," Johnson said.
The Nairobi parish reaches out to vulnerable people like street children and refugees. One effort Johnson described invites young girls off the street, "offering an education, clothing, a bath, a hot meal, Christian love, the possibility of renewed self-respect and a more hope-filled future."
The urban setting for mission is a new one to many in the ELCA, Johnson said. "For many, real missionaries do primary evangelism and live in rural areas."
Johnson, currently a doctoral student at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., moved to Kenya in 1991 from a suburban ELCA congregation. He learned "that programs come and go, initiatives rise and fall, buildings go up and are torn down, and organizational systems burn bright and fade." In the church in Kenya, Johnson said, "effectiveness and faithfulness are first measured by the presence and practice of repeated authentic, honest encounters with people."
Johnson talked about the shift in Christian population. "ELCA congregations need to more deeply appreciate God's wider church and the fact that today North America and Europe represent the smaller percentage of global Christianity," he said.
Voices from "God's larger family" should be "invited into our pulpits, our Sunday schools, our confirmation classes and adult forums," Johnson said.
Johnson commented on theological education in the United States. "The time is overdue for Euro-centered, male readings of scripture to be fully supplanted with readings coming from the newer centers of Christian presence and growth: Asia, Africa and Latin America."
The board acted to move forward on the creation of a new Global Educators Network. At its last meeting the board asked the staff to develop such a network to meet the increasing requests from churches around the world for assistance in the area of education, especially for teachers. The ELCA's Division for Higher Education and Schools is involved in the planning and will help appoint a task force to direct the next steps.
The Rev. Daniel W. Olson, director for the Global Educators Network, told the board that teachers are currently being sought to serve for two years in Bangladesh, China, Japan, Namibia, Nigeria, Slovakia and Tanzania. Olson asked board members for their help in recruitment.
The board reviewed the first draft on a new planning document, "Global Mission 21," that builds on the division's theological foundation. According the Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen, the division's executive director, "Global Mission 21 approaches the mission imperative by analyzing the global context, articulating the biblical mandate, reflecting on implications for mission and recommending ways to implement the mission program."
The board voted to undertake a review of the support system provided to long-term ELCA missionaries. The process is to review salary, housing and pension issues, children's schooling and to compare that information with data from other U.S. church bodies and other compensation packages within the ELCA. The division will solicit information from missionaries and be attentive to "underlying biblical, theological and ethical principles which address our understanding of mission and missionary lifestyle," the action said.
The board accepted the resignations of several long-serving missionaries including the Rev. Noel and Diane Anderson, who worked in Singapore beginning in 1967. Pastor Anderson served as a youth worker and later as a pastor in various Singapore congregations. The couple will relocate to Roswell, Ga., where Anderson will serve as a pastor at Cross of Life Lutheran Church.
For a day prior to its meeting the board undertook a program in anti-racism training.

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Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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