CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are invited to participate in a yearlong focus on discipleship beginning in September. Under "Living Faith: A Call to Discipleship," congregations will focus on seven key faith practices for discipleship: prayer, study, worship, invitation, encouragement, service and giving.
The invitation to congregations came from members of the ELCA "Teach the Faith" Initiative team. "Teach the Faith" is one of seven ELCA "Initiatives to Prepare for a New Century."
Initiatives are significant areas of ministry for the ELCA this century. They were selected by the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Leadership teams were formed to provide guidance for the work of congregations, synods and churchwide organizations. Team leaders help provide an overall picture of how the church may be different as a result of the Initiatives.
"A Call to Discipleship is an invitation for congregations to reaffirm and reclaim their common identity as a teaching church," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA.
"A Call to Discipleship is an invitation for all ELCA congregations to commit to a yearlong focus on discipleship from September 2000 to August 2001," said the Rev. David Poling-Goldenne, ELCA director for evangelism and Christian education. He said this spring the ELCA's 11,000 congregations received a planning guide for Living Faith.
The guide includes information to assist congregations in articulating a vision and plan for Living Faith. The guide also includes a Bible study, a catalog of promotional materials and other resources.
"While most Lutheran congregations put a strong emphasis on teaching and preaching, we sometimes soften our emphasis on the practices of faith," Poling-Goldenne wrote in the planning guide.
"Discipleship is something we haven't been very good at in the past," according to the Rev. Lori Strang, Grace Lutheran Church, Luckey, Ohio. "It's high time we focus on being disciples -- those who follow the Lord and learns continually in an active way," she said.
Strang took an active part in introducing Living Faith: A Call to Discipleship to the ELCA Northwestern Ohio Synod Assembly, Findlay, May 19-20. After receiving a seven-piece puzzle in the shape of a cross as a birthday gift from her mother, Strang connected the seven pieces of the puzzle to the seven faith practices of Living Faith. As a result, during opening worship participants of the synod assembly brought together seven pieces of wood -- each inscribed with one of the faith practices -- and assembled them together in a large three-dimensional cross that also included the words "Living Faith" and "Call to Discipleship." The cross served as a visual focal point throughout the assembly, and participants received a small replica of the seven-piece cross to take home as a reminder of their call to discipleship.
Other synods of the ELCA have also embarked on the call to discipleship. The ELCA's 11,000 congregations are organized into 65 synods.
Congregations of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod, Akron, are in the process of suggesting how Living Faith may be implemented, according to the Rev. Carl L. Johnson, evangelism resource pastor for three Ohio synods, Lewis Center, Ohio. At the synod's assembly May 19-20, five workshops were held on Living Faith, he said.
The ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus, hosted a series of luncheons this spring for clergy and lay people about the call to discipleship.
"Living Faith" is the theme of the ELCA Southwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly, Redwood Falls, June 8-10. The Living Faith logo will serve as the synod assembly's primary logo creating a "full color visual presence" on the Call to Discipleship, according to the Rev. Lawrence R. Wohlrabe, assistant to the synod's bishop.
The Rev. Paul J. Blom, bishop of the ELCA Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, Houston, and the Rev. Jon V. Anderson, Christ the King Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minn., will spend one hour presenting Call to Discipleship to that synod's assembly June 1-3.
[*The Rev. Rick Summy is director of admissions at The Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the communicator for the "Teach
the Faith" Initiative.]
Editor's Note: For more information about Living Faith: A Call to
Discipleship, contact the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries
Education and Evangelism Team at 1-800-638-3522, extension 2472, or=20
E-mail the Rev. Paul Lutz at plutz@elca.org.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
- - -
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
