CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society (DCS) has a vision and goals to "deepen and expand the ELCA's efforts" to eliminate poverty and hunger in its pursuit of justice. The DCS board met here Feb. 22-24, approved the vision and goals in a strategic plan for 2001-2003, and affirmed the staff's implementing work plan.
The division began work on the new strategic plan in June 1999, said the Rev. Leslie F. Weber Jr., associate executive director of DCS. Sixty-four staff, board members and other "stakeholders" participated in a "Future Search" planning conference in January 2000.
"One of the outcomes of the Future Search conference was to see congregations as a principal audience," said Weber. So, focus groups were assembled with pastors and lay leaders of congregational social ministry.
Several drafts of the DCS strategic plan were revised in 2000, Weber said. The process took the opinions of stakeholders into account, narrowed the division's focus while accepting greater responsibility, and charted a challenging yet achievable course toward God's vision for the world, he said.
The process leading up to adoption of the vision and goals "really engaged the board in great depth and wide participation," said the Rev. James M. Childs Jr., DCS board chair. Childs is director of academic development and professor of theology and ethics, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.
Board members devoted a great deal of time on the emphasis of "helping the church to understand and commit to the fact that our social justice concerns are integral to our gospel mission in the world," said Childs. "That is essential to seeing how the Division for Church in Society's mission is very much at the center of the church's gospel mission."
Childs said the goals to eliminate poverty and hunger emerged from that emphasis. "So much of the work of the division gets involved in those goals and those priorities," he added.
Titled "Vision for Ministry," the plan included the vision statement: "The Division for Church in Society seeks a future in which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's understanding of and commitment to justice as integral to the gospel are deepened and expanded, moving this church to join with others to work for local and global communities in which people are no longer oppressed by poverty and hunger."
The plan presented three goals: + Deepen and expand the ELCA's understanding of and commitment to justice as integral to the gospel + Deepen and expand the ELCA's efforts to eliminate poverty + Deepen and expand the ELCA's efforts to eliminate hunger
"This new strategic plan completes a process which brings into harmony the major focus of this division's program with the unit's annual budget. We can display with ease the total financial resources managed by this division that connect directly with our three strategic goals," said the Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive director of the division. -- -- --
The ELCA Division for Church in Society maintains a site at http://www.elca.org/DCS/ on the Web.
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.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
