ELCA Starts Advisory Committee on Rural Ministry

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eighteen people from across the United States and from churchwide offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered here Aug. 27-29 for the first meeting of the ELCA's Rural Desk Advisory Committee. The group arrived at "an incredible amount of consensus about what the director for rural ministry resources and networking needs to do," said Sandra A. LaBlanc.
LaBlanc became the church's director for rural ministry resources and networking on May 1. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 1997 asked that a "rural desk" be created to coordinate the church's ministries in small town and rural settings.
Although committee members came from "different expressions of rural life," they discovered "commonality," she said. "The basic issues of consolidation ... price supports and hard times for farmers and ranchers" were shared by everyone, as well as basic issues facing rural and small churches.
The ELCA Division for Outreach assembled an advisory committee to assist LaBlanc. Its members got to know one another and began a process of setting short-term goals for the next six months to a year and = long-term=20 goals to effect systemic change in the ELCA's rural ministry practices, said LaBlanc.
"We spent several hours developing a vision of what we would like to see the ELCA become in terms of addressing rural ministry issues," said LaBlanc. "The final vision statement is still in process and a subcommittee has been appointed to flesh that out."
Committee members divided themselves into three groups to discuss specific areas of LaBlanc's work: community and congregations, leadership and advocacy.
LaBlanc said the first group addressed "community life" within small town and rural congregations and how those congregations fit into their communities. The "leadership" group talked about training for pastors and lay members in small congregations, she said, and the "advocacy" group discussed ways to advance the concerns of farmers and ranchers in the public arena.
The committee's immediate advice was to continue LaBlanc's "ministry of presence." She told the group several stories of how she offered pastoral care to individuals after speaking to large groups about the hardships of rural life.
The advisory committee elected the Rev. Jerry W. Erickson, Lebanon Lutheran Church, Amidon, N.D., its chair. It also named Dory Campbell, coordinator, Evangelical Lutheran Coalition for Mission in Appalachia, Indiana, Pa., and the Rev. Richard J. Bruesehoff, director for leadership support, ELCA Division for Ministry, Chicago, to its executive committee.
"I used to think I was pretty aware of the rural scene. After all, I had grown up on a small Minnesota farm, and my first parish had been a scattered four-point parish with three of the church buildings located in the open country," Erickson said in his sermon during the committee's closing worship service.
Seventeen years ago, Erickson and his wife moved to Amidon -- a town of 24 people -- to enjoy a simple lifestyle and run the community store, he said. He discovered that the "busyness" of a larger town had insulated him from the realities of rural life.
"Though we love our life there and love the people of our community, it is not easy to watch the financial and emotional problems they face," said Erickson. "Things are hard in the Dakotas."
Erickson related the logic a university professor shared with him about the growth of hate groups in rural America. He said people who have worked hard all their lives and are failed by "the system" are susceptible to groups claiming to know where to place the blame.
Telling farmers and ranchers that "this is their cross to bear" is a "distortion of the cross," said Erickson. "The cross becomes a symbol that justifies passive acceptance of wrong."
"Jesus does not command us to bear the cross," he said. "It is not a cross imposed by someone else."
If we choose to "take up the cross," Erickson added, "we don't stand still, crushed by the weight of this thing. We are to move forward, following Jesus."
"The ultimate outcome of carrying the cross is not suffering and death, but resurrection and life," he said.
Other members of the advisory committee are: + James Barclay, Sioux Falls, S.D. + Sharon Barrick, Boardman, Ore. + Rev. Michael Cooper-White, Chicago + Dr. Robert Drakeford, Auburn, Ala. + Rev. Polo Garcia, Woodburn, Ore. + Helen Harms, Altoona, Pa. + Sandra LaBlanc, Des Moines, Iowa + Bishop April Ulring Larson, LaCrosse, Wis. + Rev. Milo Mathison, Menton, Minn. + Rev. David Poling-Goldenne, Chicago + Rev. Russell Siler, Washington, D.C. + Sandy Simonson Thums, Rib Lake, Wis. + Marilyn Sorenson-Bush, Chicago + Diane Wagner, Wilson, Kan. + Rev. Gilson A.C. Waldkoenig, Gettysburg, Pa.
The Rev. Richard A. Magnus, executive director, and the Rev. Warren A. Sorteberg, executive for congregational outreach services, staff the committee for the ELCA Division for Outreach. Lois Ahntholz is executive secretary to LaBlanc in Des Moines, Iowa.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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