ELCA Board Focuses on Human Rights, International Conflict

Mundelein, Ill. (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission (DGM) is addressing human rights and asking the church to advocate for peace and justice in Africa and the Middle East. The DGM board approved that request and several others when it met here March 16-18 at the University of St. Mary's on the Lake.
The board asked DGM staff to begin work on a statement for the board that will illustrate "DGM's commitment to human rights." The statement is to be written in connection with DGM's goal to "be in solidarity with and advocate for people who are oppressed, poor and suffering, and share our resources to meet human need."
In a related resolution, the board requested that staff provide an "interim report" on the progress of the statement for its meeting in the fall and a final document for the board's consideration in 2002.
"Over the years we have been witnessing the human catastrophe in Bosnia, Colombia, Kosovo, Liberia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Eritrea, Somalia, southern Sudan, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, East Timor and in many [other] countries around the [world]," said Belletch Deressa, ELCA director for international development and disaster response, DGM, in her report to the board. She said the church, through DGM and in cooperation with the ELCA Division for Church in Society, must work to be "more pro-active" in addressing human rights.
"Our mandate is to accompany those 'who are oppressed, poor and suffering,'" Deressa said. "We wait for countries to tell us what to do. In the meantime, people are dying." The church must develop ways it can "accompany people in a more practical way," she said.
Deressa provided reasons for the church to get involved in human rights and advocacy.
The ELCA is a church "independent" from the U.S. government and "one of the largest Protestant churches in the United States," she said. The separation of church and state lends "credibility" to the ELCA's Division for Global Mission in addressing human rights, and the church, through DGM, is in "companion relationships" with churches in more than 60 countries around the world, she said.
"DGM staff members have up-to-date information regarding the situations of many countries, as well as the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches," Deressa said.
Dennis M. Frado, director, Lutheran Office for World Community, United Nations, New York, outlined some ways in which ELCA social statements provide guidance on how members of the church commit to human rights worldwide.
"The ELCA's firm commitment to human rights is rooted in at least two of its social statements," Frado said. They are "For Peace in God's World," adopted by the 1995 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, and "The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective," adopted by the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
"The advocacy staff of the ELCA Division for Church in Society -- through the Lutheran Office for World Community at the United Nations and the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C. -- consults regularly with staff of the Division for Global Mission," Frado said.
DGM cooperates with churches in other countries. The division has eight program directors who relate to churches in Europe (Western and Nordic); East Africa, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific; French- speaking Africa and Madagascar; English-speaking West Africa and Southern Africa; East Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; and (Eastern and Central) Europe, the Middle East and Horn of Africa.
"As a result of their visits to other churches, DGM staff members have in-depth knowledge about the specific situations facing the members of these churches and their societies. The Division for Church in Society staff, on the other hand, closely follow political developments in the United States and abroad. Staff can then strategize together, on the basis of all of this information, what may be the appropriate steps to take to protect human rights. Sometimes it may be a letter to a government or a statement in a United Nations forum, but other times it may be private discussions with that government. This may be the case when churches are a religious minority in a country," said Frado.
"From the Division for Church in Society, we also ensure that the ELCA's public pronouncements are consistent with our social statements, assembly resolutions or ELCA Church Council actions. We also take steps to coordinate these concerns with ecumenical bodies in which we hold membership, such as the Lutheran World Federation, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches," he said.
In a separate resolution the board "reaffirmed" its commitment to "encourage" members of the ELCA [through the ELCA Church Council] to support, through prayer and material assistance, people [in the Middle East] affected by civil strife." The ELCA Church Council is the church's legislative authority between churchwide assemblies, which are held every two years.
The board asked DGM staff, the ELCA Division for Church in Society and others to "strengthen efforts and financial resources committed to education and advocacy programs" about the Middle East; urged the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, to communicate the church's "ongoing solidarity and concern" for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Palestine; and requested that pastors, lay leaders and the 65 synod bishops of the church encourage participation in the Ecumenical Prayer Vigil, which began Dec. 3 and will "continue until the violence ends."
"A new apartheid now exists in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the world is not blinking an eye," the Rev. Said Ailabouni, ELCA program director for the Middle East, DGM, told the board. "In fact, the world is not being fully informed of what is happening in the occupied territories."
Ailabouni said, "The violence is escalating and the cycles of revenge attacks and counter-attacks continue to happen."
"I ask that you strengthen your presence in the Middle East," said Dr. Agnes Wakim Dagher, director, Contact and Resource Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
"There are three ways you can be present in the Middle East," Dagher told the board. The first is to "break bread with the small people. It is the small people who need you. This is what Jesus did."
[The second] is to experience what is taking place in [the Middle East], Dagher said. "Don't be afraid of long-term commitments. You are needed here for a long time, so maintain your presence with us."
And, third, organize leadership training. We need Christian leaders in the Middle East," she said.
"The people in the Middle East should not witness the crucifixion [of Jesus Christ] alone. They should witness the Resurrection. That is why I came. Now is the time for the ELCA to go to the Middle East," she said.
In other actions, the board:
+ moved to transmit "Stand With Africa: A Campaign of Hope" to the ELCA Church Council for its consideration and recommendation to the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly this summer. The board committed itself to "join others" in learning more about Africa, to address the HIV/AIDS crisis there, and to respond to "urgent needs" in Africa by increasing DGM's support to ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
The campaign, scheduled to begin this year, is designed to increase awareness about Africa. The ELCA World Hunger Program and Appeal, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) World Relief, and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), developed the campaign, which includes a strategy for increasing available financial resources by encouraging individual and congregational giving for Africa through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal; public media fund-raising efforts by LWR; and ELCA and LCMS work with Bread for the World, which is planning a 2001 advocacy emphasis on<