ELCA Women Kept the Faith, Says Francis Hesselbein

ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- "Ten years from now when they write your history, may they write of you, the women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, that the future called and they responded. They kept the faith," Francis Hesselbein, chair of the board of governors for the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, told 4,000 participants of the Fourth Triennial Convention of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The organization's convention is meeting here July 8-11 at the America's Center. The organization's three-year theme, "Live God's Justice," is unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote addresses, workshops, business sessions and elections.
"Peter F. Drucker, father of modern day management, said 'focus on task, not gender.' This is an imperative for leaders who are women. As women, we bring a special dimension to our work. The reason, purpose and mission for what we do has no gender. Our contribution to God's mission is enhanced by our gender," she said.
Hesselbein said, for Drucker, the biblical story of the "Good Samaritan" is focused on results. "Added to that, there are travelers who stop, serve and minister -- travelers who save lives," she said. "Today, we call those travelers volunteers, and we call them Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America."
In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition for her leadership with the Girl Scouts of America, where she rose from a volunteer troop leader to chief executive officer.
"The mission was to help each girl reach her own highest potential. The mission was focused on the customer, who was five years old. We never changed the values and principles but the course of an institution," Hesselbein said.
Under her guidance, membership and the number of adult women volunteers reached its highest membership in February 1990. That year the organization reached its highest membership percentage of African American, American Indian, Asian and Hispanic girl scouts, said Hesselbein. "We achieved the greatest diversity in 70 years, coupled with the greatest cohesion ever," she said.
Civil rights leader, the late James Farmer, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom on the same occasion Hesselbein was honored. "James Farmer was one of my great heroes," she said. "He walked with Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights."
"We are called, all of us in this room, to do what we do," Hesselbein said. "Leaders who are women need to see and position themselves beyond category, beyond a slot called 'women.' We are then defined by ourselves as we focus on task, not by gender."
"We need to listen to the whispers of our body. The whispers come to all of us. Then there are whispers of our hearts in our relationships with families, spouses, children and co-workers," Hesselbein said. "There are whispers in our spiritual life -- the voice of our faith. These are the whispers that come quietly ... that come to us in odd moments."
"Heart and home and work and faith and serving others are the very substance of our lives and the people, large and small, who share it. It is an exuberant journey ahead because all of you are traveling together. All of you are traveling together, you remarkable Women of the ELCA, that will shape and change leaders of the future," Hesselbein said.

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