CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has begun an in-depth study of health and the ethical challenges of health care. Next year the church will decide if those issues warrants a social statement. The ELCA Church Council passed the question on to the 1999 Churchwide Assembly.
The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between meetings of the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly. The council met here Nov. 13-16. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is August 16-22, 1999, in Denver.
"One reason for the proposal is that the policy of the ELCA regarding health care is dated, quite thin and dispersed across several statements it inherited from predecessor church bodies," said the Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive director of the ELCA Division for Church in Society.
The Rev. Callon W. Holloway Jr., bishop of the ELCA's Southern Ohio Synod, said "the landscape of health care changes so rapidly" that a policy statement may be outdated as soon as it is adopted.
Miller said a social statement would raise theological questions about health and wellness, and address basic ethical issues. It would not be a position statement on genetic testing or other specifics, he said.
With the council's approval, Miller said the division will begin a study of health care under the direction of the Rev. Ronald W. Duty, ELCA assistant director for studies. If the Churchwide Assembly wants the division to develop a social statement, the study's working group will become the statement's task force.
With the assembly's approval, the division will develop a social statement through a process that involves as many as possible of the ELCA's 5.2 million members in a study of the issues and publishes drafts of a proposed social statement informed by responses from the church's membership.
A social statement will be ready for adoption at the 2003 Churchwide Assembly.
For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities 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:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
