CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is celebrating 2000 as the 30th anniversary of ordaining Lutheran women in the United States. The 5.2-million member church is marking the year with local and regional events across the United States and Caribbean.
At the end of 1999, 2,358 or 13.4 percent of the ELCA's 17,611 retired and active clergy were women. Of active clergy, 18.7 percent were women. In the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, 96 women accounted for 26.8 percent of the active clergy -- the highest number and highest percentage among ELCA synods.
"Forty-nine percent of the students presently preparing for ordained ministry in our eight seminaries are women," said the Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, executive director of the ELCA Division for Ministry.
"The vitality, spirit, faith and energy of our ordained women have substantially strengthened the gospel witness and outreach of this church. We thank God for the great gift which the ordination of women has brought to us in the ELCA, and thank these women -- who are always pioneers -- for their strong leadership," said Wagner.
In some places, women are still not accepted as church leaders, said Joanne Chadwick, executive director of the ELCA Commission for Women. Celebrating the 30th anniversary may "help congregations be welcoming and hospitable to women," she said.
Chadwick said local and regional celebrations are being planned this year, instead of a churchwide event. "Women can go away to a meeting and have a big celebration, then go back and it's not any more welcoming," she said.
A major event is planned for August 2001. "The first ELCA women's roundtable will be a celebration of all women's ministries, preceding the Churchwide Assembly in Indianapolis," said Chadwick.
Ordained ministry is only one leadership role women play in the church, Chadwick stressed. "We continue to celebrate the gifts of everyone in this church, not just women," she said.
"I suspect the people who made the original decision never dreamed that we would get to 30 years," said Chadwick. "In part, we celebrate for the early pioneers and the women and men who worked very hard to make it possible for women to be in this leadership role."
The ELCA was formed in 1988 from the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America. In summer 1970 the American Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church in America approved the ordination of women.
The Lutheran Church in America ordained the Rev. Elizabeth A. Platz in November 1970. Platz, a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., had been a lay chaplain at the Lutheran Campus Ministry, University of Maryland, College Park. This year she celebrates 35 years of ministry there.
The American Lutheran Church ordained Barbara Andrews in December 1970. Andrews used a wheelchair and died in 1978 in a tragic fire in her Detroit apartment.
The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches was founded in 1976 by former members of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Janith M. Otte was ordained in October 1977 at St. Paulus Lutheran Church, San Francisco.
In August 1979, the Rev. Earlean Miller became the first African-American woman ordained by the Lutheran church. She's now pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, Columbus, Ohio.
Each of the ELCA's 65 synods hosts an assembly this year. Most include a display or some other form of recognition of the 30th anniversary.
The ELCA Commission for Women suggests "Thirty Ways to Celebrate 30 Years of the Ordination of Women." The list includes: + If your pastor is a woman, find a way to celebrate her ministry this year; invite her to share her experiences. + Identify girls and young women with leadership gifts; give them opportunities to lead in the congregation and encourage them to consider a vocation of full-time ministry. + Provide a scholarship for a woman preparing for ordained ministry. + Write an article for the local newspaper about your congregation's experience with a woman as pastor. + Create occasions for men and women, clergy and lay, to reflect on what is different and good because we have ordained women for 30 years. + Accept women as clergy and tell others!
Among other responsibilities, the commission helps the ELCA to realize the full participation of women, to create a safe environment for women and to advocate justice for women in the church and in society. It works to enrich the church by encouraging the theological reflection of women, by identifying women of all cultures for leadership and by fostering partnership between women and men. -- -- --
The commission's list of "Thirty Ways to Celebrate 30 Years of the Ordination of Women" is at http://www.elca.org/CW/30ways.html on the ELCA Web site.
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
