ELCA to Consider Proposed Statement on Economic Life

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) here assess economic life today in light of the moral imperative to seek sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all," said a proposed statement the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) approved unanimously when it met here March 11-14.
The board will deliver "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All: A Social Statement on Economic Life" to the ELCA Church Council meeting here April 9-12 and ask that it transmit the proposed statement to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver Aug. 16-22. The assembly will decide if the proposal will be a statement of the church.
"As a church we confess that we are in bondage to sin and submit too readily to the idols and injustices of economic life," said the proposed statement. "Too uncritically we accept assumptions, policies and practices that do not serve the good of all."
"People want to be thoughtful about the use of their money," said Ingrid Christiansen, Chicago, chair of the DCS board. "Money is a big issue for people; stewardship is a big issue for people."
"The statement is very interesting, thought-provoking and strong," said Christiansen. "It calls us back to our Christian roots and helps us to think about our stewardship of what is given to us by our God."
Christiansen called the statement both a gift and a challenge. It can inspire conversations "across the parishes and congregations in the country," she said, while getting Lutherans to think about their "obligations to care for our weaker and poorer brothers and sisters as Christians."
"We don't like to think of ourselves as being a people who allow poverty and deprivation to go unchecked in the land," said Christiansen.=20=

"We also have a certain number of fears as Christians for our own safety
and economic future, even though we know that God will take care of us."
The proposed statement devotes sections to explain the title:=20 "For All," "Livelihood," "Sustainable" and "Sufficient." Each of those sections includes actions to which "we commit ourselves as a church" and actions which "we call for" in the wider society.
"Pursuing policies and practices that will lead to 'sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all' is such a formidable challenge that to many it seems unrealistic or not worth the effort," said the proposed statement.
"The church as an employer, property owner, consumer, investor and community of believers can be as caught up in the reigning economic assumptions as the rest of society," it said.
"The world is the whole household of God that economic life is intended to serve," the proposed statement said. "The multitudes present around God's global table become our neighbors rather than competitors or strangers."
The proposed statement was drafted with the help of a 15-member task force DCS first assembled in 1994. Dr. Per Anderson, Moorhead, Minn., chair of the board's studies committee, presented the proposal to the board and said two of the task force members -- Timothy D. Calvin, Melbourne, Fla., and the Rev. Janet M. Corpus, Philadelphia -- withheld their support of the proposed document.
In a message Anderson shared with the board, Calvin said the proposal asks Lutherans to do what the task force failed to do -- "address creatively and courageously the complex causes of poverty."
"Nothing in the statement will or can help the poor or tell them how much we are concerned about them," Calvin wrote.
The division assists the ELCA in considering moral issues, prepares social statements and messages, coordinates the church's world hunger program, relates to 280 social ministry organizations through Lutheran Services in America, and coordinates the ELCA's advocacy with state, national, and international governmental bodies and with institutions in the private sector.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html