Lutherans Host Summit on Rural America March 26 in Chicago

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will host a summit on the state of rural United States from the perspective of leaders from three major U.S. farm organizations and others working to improve rural and farm life. The summit will be held March 26 at the Lutheran Center here.
The summit will be composed of two major sessions. The first session, beginning at 9:00 a.m., will highlight the state of rural life according to Bob Stallman, president, American Farm Bureau Federation, Park Ridge, Ill., and member of St. Paul Lutheran Church (ELCA), Columbus, Texas; Leland Swenson, president, National Farmers Union, Washington, D.C., and member of Lutheran Church of the Cross (ELCA), Evergreen, Colo.; and Paul Olson, Taylor, Wis., president, National Farmers Organization, Ames, Iowa.
In the second session, beginning at 2:15 p.m., participants will engage in small group and panel discussions on the future of rural life.
The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will open the summit. "The purpose of the summit is to gather organizations that have a stake in the future of rural America and to express our solidarity with the people who live and work there," he said.
"A goal of the summit is to develop a two- to three-sentence vision statement" on the future of rural life, said Sandra A. LaBlanc, Des Moines, Iowa. LaBlanc is an associate in ministry and the director for rural ministry resources and networks, ELCA Division for Outreach.

Last fall Anderson met with Stallman, Swenson and others to discuss how the church may help to improve the future of rural life and farming. The presidents invited the church to organize a summit intended to address the "spiritual, social and economic" perspectives of the rural crisis and developed a "Joint Statement on Rural America."
"Small businesses, banks, schools, churches, medical facilities, social and fraternal clubs and organizations, and the people who provide a whole range of services to neighbors and friends all share the concern of lives uprooted and livelihoods diminished. The entire social fabric of rural America is being torn," the statement said.
"What is taking place throughout rural America is in many cases more than a transition from an old to a new way of life. We are witnesses to a systematic restructuring of agriculture, which places the safe, abundant food supply for a hungry nation and world at risk," said the statement.
The statement features "issues, concerns and needs" that form the "core of the initial agreement." They include:
+ insuring a safe, abundant food supply for the world
+ building upon, improving or replacing existing structures to respond to the effects of low commodity pricing
+ providing human, financial and spiritual resources for rural communities
+ providing opportunities for farmers, ranchers and their communities to meet
+ studying agriculture concentration, industry-wide consolidation and other phenomena and adopt legislation to promote fair, open and competitive markets
+ emphasizing conservation, protection and regeneration of land
+ educating agricultural producers and others on production and economics
+ engaging in dialogue on issues related to rural and farm life
Anderson, LaBlanc, Olson, Stallman, Swenson and the Rev. Russell Siler, director for Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C., signed the statement. LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the ELCA. -- -- -- The rural and small-town ministries desk provides information at www.elca.org/do/ruralhome.html on the ELCA's Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html