ELCA Churchwide Leaders Dialogue with People in Poverty

MILWAUKEE (ELCA) Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) churchwide organization met in retreat here Sept 11-12. They spent much of their time in dialogue with people living in poverty and with leaders in ELCA congregations who work to create hope and improve inner city neighborhoods.
The retreat included Chicago-based executive directors, department heads and staff from the ELCA Office of the Bishop, plus executives from Minneapolis-based Augsburg Fortress, publishing house of the ELCA, and the ELCA Board of Pensions. The retreat was part of an organizational effort to raise awareness of the church's Ministry Among People in Poverty (MAPP) emphasis. It was also intended to show how some 30 congregations in the ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod have redefined their missions to serve people in changing neighborhoods. The congregations are organized as the Milwaukee Lutheran Coalition.
Coalition congregations provide Bible study and worship, neighborhood "ministers" to assist nearby residents, tutoring, English language classes, neighborhood work groups, youth groups, meals and support for neighborhood concerns. The neighborhood outreach programs of the congregations are supported by various units of the ELCA's churchwide organization.
The Rev. Richard G. Deines, assistant to the bishop, Greater Milwaukee Synod, coordinated the event. Deines works with coalition congregations.
Deines said his strategy in working with coalition congregations has been to "stand with" people who are already working to change neighborhoods, some of whom have been working there for many years.
Introducing the agenda for the retreat, Deines said he hoped the ELCA leaders' experience in Milwaukee "would be like experiencing art."
"What would it be like to consider every human being an art form?" he said.
During the retreat, the ELCA leaders:
+ Heard about poverty's causes and effects from neighborhood ministers at Reformation Lutheran Church. The group also participated in a Bible study on the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah with the ministers at Reformation, and worshiped with them.
+ Toured changing neighborhoods with coalition leaders in areas served by Cross Lutheran Church, Faith Lutheran Church, Incarnation Lutheran Church and Reformation.
+ Dined and had conversation in small groups with families in inner-city Milwaukee.
+ Listened to concerns and learned about ministries offered by youth at Hephatha Lutheran Church.
+ Visited an area where clusters of new homes were being built by Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity. Members of coalition congregations were involved in these projects.
+ Met with prison inmates and ex-offenders served by Project Return, a prison ministry.
Most of the Lutheran congregations in the Milwaukee coalition work ecumenically with other faith groups in a similar organization -- Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH).
Lutheran neighborhood ministers meet directly with neighborhood residents, said the Rev. Edgar M. "Mick" Roschke, Reformation. "The ministers do not do demographic studies," he said. "They embody who Jesus is. They stand against cynicism and despair."
In their visit to Hephatha, the ELCA leaders learned about the congregation's emphasis on youth ministry in a diverse and changing neighborhood.
"It is important for us as leaders to cultivate the idea that this (Hephatha) is a church home," said the Rev. Mary Martha Kannass. "We say it's a place you can come back to, a place that will always be here. Youth are an important part of the ministry here."
Project Return at Cross Lutheran Church responds to the needs of people in prison or recently released from prison. There are four minimum-security prisons within a two-mile radius of the congregation, said the Rev. Joseph W. Ellwanger. Project Return strives to help ex-offenders make "a positive and lasting return to the community," he said.
The congregation provides a place for support groups for ex-offenders and transports inmates to church, with the prisons' approval, Ellwanger said.
"For us not to do prison ministry would be not to reach out to hundreds of people," he said. "It has enriched us all."
Project Return is supported in part by funds from the ELCA World Hunger program.
In March the ELCA's Conference of Bishops, meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., adopted "A Pastoral Letter on Wealth and Poverty." It called on the ELCA's 5.15 million members to become "repairers of the breach" and reach out to people living in poverty. During the same meeting, the bishops visited area churches and talked with Lutherans about their work with people living in poverty.
In 1999 the ELCA Church Council designated $3 million for the church's ministry among people living in poverty and authorized the ELCA's presiding bishop to allocate funds for global and domestic mission. The council functions as the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, established four groups to distribute the funds. An allocation of $900,000 will help some congregations cancel their debts; another $900,000 will support domestic hunger projects and programs, advocacy, and rural and small-town ministries; an additional $900,000 will fund international causes with priority given to programs supporting people most in need; and $300,000 is designated to facilitate relationships between members of the ELCA and people living in poverty.
No MAPP funds were used to pay for the ELCA leaders' retreat, said Myrna J. Sheie, executive assistant, ELCA Office of the Bishop. -- -- --
The ELCA Conference of Bishops' "Pastoral Letter on Wealth and Poverty" can be found on the ELCA's Web site at http://www.elca.org/ob/wealth.html.

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