DENVER (ELCA) -- The churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) fell briefly silent Aug. 18 as members prayed for victims of the economic crisis that currently threatens family farms and the future of rural America.
The silence followed sometimes emotional speeches in support of a resolution, adopted 833 to 10, that calls on ELCA members and congregations to stand with family farmers, their families and rural communities. It calls for prayer, education, advocacy with government, and support groups that help victims gain access to social services, including mental-health services.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 16-22 at the Colorado Convention Center. There are more than 2,500 people participating, including 1,039 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: Hope for a New Century."
Gary Preston, a voting member from the ELCA Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, said he sold his dairy farm nine years ago. "I thought the farm crisis of the 1980s was well past," he said, "But it's ongoing." He said a friend had to sell his farm just the day before the vote; he called it "a funeral for a family farm."
Preston and others said the rural crisis affects everyone. "Food does not come from the supermarket," Preston said. "It comes from farms -- family farms."
The Rev. Floyd M. Schoenhals, bishop of the ELCA's Arkansas-Oklahoma = Synod, illustrated low farm prices with a reference to his days growing up on a farm. In 1961, he said, it took 1,000 bushels of wheat for his father to buy a new pick-up truck. At current prices, it would take 8,000 to 10,000 bushels, he said.
The resolution adopted by the assembly also reaffirms the ELCA's commitment to small-town and rural congregations through the work of various churchwide units. It asks the church's director for rural ministry resources and networking to continue assisting the ELCA to respond to the farm and rural crisis and to identify resources for use in that response.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.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
