CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As the United States Congress considers legislation this month that will determine the nation's agriculture policy for the next decade, the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has written to ELCA leaders in an effort to strengthen the church's advocacy efforts surrounding independent food producers and their communities.
In a Sept. 5 letter, Anderson asked bishops of the ELCA's 65 synods to make farm policy "a priority issue for prayer, discussion and advocacy." He requested bishops to encourage pastors and lay leaders to write letters, meet with senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives "to stress the importance of farm issues."
The Lutheran Office for Government Affairs, the church's federal public-policy advocacy office based in Washington, D.C., and the ELCA rural ministry resources and networking desk are directing an advocacy campaign to encourage and empower Lutherans to urge their U.S. Representatives and Senators to reform farm policy, Anderson said. He added that bishops are in "a good position to help this effort."
"Our church has long been distressed by the continuing decline of independent, family-scale farming and the suffering that our rural communities have endured as a result of agriculture's restructuring," Anderson said.
The 2002 Farm Bill of the United States "offers a unique opportunity for [the] church to advocate for farm policies [that] will enable independent farmers and ranchers to compete in today's agricultural marketplace, thus helping to assure the safety and security of our food supply," Anderson wrote.
Last fall the ELCA convened a meeting at the Lutheran Center here in which presidents of three leading farm organizations in the United States -- American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union and National Farmers Organization -- agreed to an eight-point agenda on the future of agriculture and rural communities. The agenda included topics on insuring a safe food supply, providing financial resources for rural communities and emphasizing conservation. A second summit took place last spring that "further defined the common ground among the church, rural advocates and farming interests," Anderson said.
"Memorials and statements of support for rural communities have consistently found overwhelming support among the [ELCA] Church Council and at synod and churchwide assemblies," he said. - - -
The ELCA rural ministry resources and networking desk maintains information at http://www.elca.org/do/ruralhome.html 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
