Lutheran Communicators Gather for Training

LISLE, Ill. (ELCA) -- More than 165 communication professionals of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered here Aug. 27-30 to share views on communication issues, examine technologies for effective communication and receive training for launching the ELCA's nationwide identity campaign.
"The process of communication can be seen as retail distribution. Information is manufactured here, distributed to our outlets and wholesaled to those in our area," the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, told participants.
"But communication can be a way to be the church. If prayer holds the church together first, then communication is second to that," Anderson said. "It is important to know what creative concepts, projects, thoughts, activities are going on where we are serving. This is what we need to know, so that we put people in touch with each other, allowing the whole church to be involved in a variety of ways."
Organized by the ELCA's Department for Communication, the conference offered workshops on web page design, radio and television ministry, crisis communication, news and publication development.
"Our collective passion and ability to tell the story of Jesus Christ is what is central," said Kathy Tunheim, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Stillwater, Minn. "Communication is not a staff job or a list of tasks. Instead, communication is a critical role of leadership. Communication people are measured by whether they do things right in terms of time, grammar and technology, but doing the right thing is more than that."
Tunheim said three elements provide a framework for making sure communicators are "doing the right thing:" clarity, reach and relevance. "Communication is about being clear, reaching those we have a call to reach and articulating what we have to change. Communication people must take the risk of becoming leaders." Tunheim is president of Tunheim Santrizos Marketing Consultants in Bloomington, Minn.
"Communicators are meant to be trainers," said Terry L. Bowes, Longmont, Colo. Bowes unveiled the identity campaign and led three sessions to prepare ELCA communicators to "roll out" the project. The campaign will involve television, radio and print ads and outdoor advertising, beginning in December.
"The ELCA identity project is a multi-level, multi-media campaign designed to raise public awareness of the Lutheran church, increase membership in Lutheran churches and provide encouragement and positive reinforcement to those who are currently members of the ELCA," said Bowes.
Participants received an Identity Project Tool Kit designed to be personalized by congregations and used to reinforce, at a local level, the multi-media images presented to the general public.
"The ELCA's identity campaign will appeal to a broad base of people," said John E. Dellis, Seguin, Texas. "We need to realize and articulate the mission and purpose of the ELCA. The proposed television and radio spots fulfill the purpose of the project. The identity campaign is high quality." Dellis is editor of "The Vista," a newspaper of the ELCA's Southwestern Texas Synod.
"The ELCA and all communicators have relationships to draw upon in the identity campaign," said the Rev. Paul W. Devantier, executive director of The Board for Communication Services for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
"Don't try to do it alone," Devantier told the group. "Lutherans do a lot of trying to do everything ourselves. Relationships are God-given. Life can be a whole lot more exciting when working with others."
In his years in communication, Devantier said he learned that "simplicity and relationships" are key components for communication. "The more technologically sophisticated we become, the more I am convinced that simplicity still works best."
"America is still a very Christian country," said Kenneth W. Inskeep, ELCA director for research and evaluation, in a presentation titled "Where are the Lutherans?" Inskeep said the ELCA is "still a relatively unknown church despite its size." The ELCA has 5.2 million members in 11,000 congregations in the United States and Caribbean.
"Thirty percent of ELCA congregations are in rural settings, and about 35 percent are in small town or cities with a population of up to 50,000. Half of ELCA members live in five states: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois," said Inskeep.
"The ELCA is a church that gives support and a lot of money to other churches in the world and to people in need, but it does not know how to receive," said Karin Achtelstetter, Geneva, Switzerland.
"As a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the ELCA can learn to receive. There are other churches in the world praying for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, such as the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Jesus," said Achtelstetter. "The Ethiopian church organized a week of prayer and fasting for North American and European churches that are struggling with poor membership. This is an example of global communion. If you are a member of a global communion, you can always receive."
Achtelstetter is acting director for the Lutheran World Federation's communication services. Lutheran World Federation is a communion of 124 member churches. The ELCA is the second largest member church.
"When we as religious communicators share ourselves authentically with others and listen and see who others are, we are not only able to affirm ourselves, but also the other," said the Rev. Arthur L. Cribbs Jr., director of communication for the United Church of Christ.
"There is energy and vitality to be with communication professionals. I am spiritually nourished and have received effective communication tools that will help me connect with people," said Lily R. Wu, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, New York. Wu is a member of the ELCA Church Council.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director 1-773-380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html