ELCA Identity Project off to an Exciting Start

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Identity Project, designed to raise awareness of the 5.2-million member denomination among several generations of unchurched people, has generated considerable excitement around the church, the advisory committee for the church's Department for Communication was told during its annual meeting here.
"It's a wonderful time to be working here," said the Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for Communication, during his review of the department's work in 1998. "This is an amazing time in the ELCA and we are privileged to do this work."
The committee held its annual meeting Jan. 29-30 at the ELCA churchwide offices. The committee also discussed progress involving the ELCA Initiatives for a New Century and possible new directions for MOSAIC, the ELCA's award-winning video magazine.
The Identity Project includes a series of faith-centered messages targeted to specific generational audiences. Messages are communicated through print ads, billboards and radio and television announcements.=20 Periscope Communications of Minneapolis is producing the materials in consultation with the project's manager, Kristi Bangert, director for internal church communication and marketing, ELCA Department for Communication.
In 1998, the ELCA Church Council committed $1 million for the project, and another $400,000 has been committed for fiscal year 1999, Shafer said. Those funds will be used to finish production of the Identity Project materials. Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), a fraternal benefit society based in Appleton Wis., contributed a significant gift of $1.5 million earmarked for the Identity Project, he said. AAL's funds will be used for grants to synods and congregations to use the project materials, he said.
In late January, Periscope's crew and Bangert were in Los Angeles to finish shooting the television spots for the Identity Project. Also, the first billboard message was posted in Chicago near the churchwide offices.
"It's very exciting," Shafer said. "This is a highlight of our work in the past year."
The committee also heard that ELCA synod communication staff members are significant players in the church's grass-roots effort to focus on the "Initiatives for a New Century" approved by the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Philadelphia.
The initiatives are intended to guide the work of the church. They include deepening worship life, teaching the faith, witnessing to God's action in the world, strengthening one another in mission, helping children, connecting with youth and young adults, and developing leaders for the next century.
"This is an unfolding process," said Kurt Reichardt, associate director for internal church communication. "The idea is for congregations to get involved on their own. It's intended for things to happen at the grass roots."
Already, a number of congregations are involved in one or more of the initiatives, Reichardt said. Print and video resources to support their efforts will be available in the coming months, he said.
On February 12 leaders of each initiative team will meet in Chicago to discuss their progress with the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, Reichardt added.
Details of each initiative can be found at www.elca.org/init/ on the ELCA's website.
Projects involving the ELCA initiatives, along with other projects, will be considered for AAL synodical initiatives grants for 1999, Shafer told the committee.
The advisory committee discussed the future of the ELCA video magazine, MOSAIC. MOSAIC is produced quarterly by Tim Frakes, of the department's Internal Church Communication unit. Its purpose is to communicate, using video, to ELCA members how their benevolence dollars are used. Congregations and individuals may subscribe for an annual fee of $40.
MOSAIC is used as a teaching tool for adult classes and used as a promotional tool on some local cable television systems. Segments of the videos could be used as a prelude to congregation council meetings and annual congregational meetings, said the Rev. Mark Ramseth, bishop of the ELCA Montana Synod and ELCA Conference of Bishops representative to the committee.
It was suggested that MOSAIC segments could be used on commercial television. They could also be archived for use on the World Wide Web and in compact disc or digital video disc form.
"The work that's being done is very good and should be commended," said Juan "Mark" Gallardo, advisory committee member from Pembroke Pines, Fla.
The Department for Communication advisory committee usually meets in January. Members are elected for six-year terms. In addition to Gallardo and Ramseth, members include the Rev. Barbara Berry-Bailey, Philadelphia; Mary Butler, Tarrytown, N.Y.; the Rev. Fred Gonnermann, Northfield, Minn.; the Rev. Mark Johns, Cedar Falls, Iowa; Richard Liefer, Oak Park, Ill.; Gail Porter Long, Baltimore; Eva Reque Steege, Washington, D.C.
Berry-Bailey and Steege complete their terms in 1999. The ELCA Church Council will elect new members to replace them. =20

=20 For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html