CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We need to get Africa back on the map," said Belletech Deressa, ELCA director for international development and disaster response, at the Division for Global Mission board meeting Oct. 21-23 in Mundelein, Ill. At the meeting the board called for a "review and evaluation of ELCA commitments and resources to Africa within the context of the total deployment of ELCA resources internationally."
"We became concerned about why Africa was being left out, as if it had fallen off the map of the world," Deressa told the board in her report. "There are more refugees in Africa than in any other country. For Kosovo, $39.4 million was raised with one ACT appeal. So far $27 million of it has been received."
ACT is Action by Churches Together, a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The ELCA, through Lutheran World Relief, works closely with ACT.
"For Africa, 24 different appeals have raised only 30 percent of the funding requested," Deressa continued. For every $1.23 the United Nations High Commission on Refugees spent for Kosovo relief, only 11 cents was raised for Africa relief, she said in her report.
"Many of us in the North have tunnel vision about who are our brothers and sisters," said board member Carol LaHurd, Hickory, N.C. "More than $2 million was raised [in the ELCA] almost overnight for Kosovo, but there have been similar conflicts in Africa and other countries."
"When genocide happens in Africa, I think we look at it differently than in other countries," said board member David Ellwanger, Plano, Tex.
In a resolution that received unanimous approval, the board asked the division to prepare strategies that would address the crisis in Africa by initiating "a call for repentance" for "our complicity in the exploitation of resources and [under] development of Africa over the centuries"; advocating for justice in public and corporate arenas; building awareness, education and advocacy through such programs as sending missionaries from poorer countries to the ELCA; and cooperating with full communion partners and ecumenical forums.
In other actions, the board:
+ Adopted revised ELCA missionary personnel policies and expectations, to take effect Jan. 1. Revisions include new options for salary and pension allocation, a shorter initial term of service (2 years) and increased student loan, maternity leave and college tuition assistance benefits.
+ Formed a committee to examine the division's ecumenical commitments in light of full communion agreements.
+ Approved a budget for fiscal year 2000-2001 of $25,199,800.
+ Re-elected the Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen to another 4-year term as executive director of the ELCA Division for Global Mission.
[**Elizabeth M. Hunter is a section editor for The Lutheran, the
magazine of the ELCA.]
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.
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Candice Hill Buchbinder
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Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
