ELCA to Address Sexual Exploitation, Health and Health Care

BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- Commercial sexual exploitation, and health and health care were among the main topics of discussion at the Oct. 18-20 meeting of the board of the Division for Church in Society (DCS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The board also reviewed actions of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly and pondered the church's response to terrorist attacks against the United States.
Meeting at the Lutheran Center at Christ Church, Baltimore, the DCS board discussed and slightly revised a proposed message on sexual exploitation before approving it unanimously and sending it to the ELCA Church Council for adoption. The council will meet Nov. 9-11 in Chicago; it serves as the ELCA's board of directors.
The proposed message on sexual exploitation seeks to raise awareness of the flourishing sex industry which exploits vulnerable women and girls as well as men and boys.
The Rev. Alvin S. "Al" Erickson Jr., an ELCA pastor and director of the Grassroots Ministry Alliance, Minneapolis, founded the Alliance for Speaking Truths on Prostitution (A-STOP). He cited a recent University of Pennsylvania study which indicates that between 300,000 and 400,000 young people in the United States are involved in prostitution right now.
"The work we're doing is such a drop in the bucket compared to the sex industry," Erickson told the board. "I'm proud of the ELCA for taking on this job. Somebody has got to talk."
Stewart W. Herman, DCS board member and assistant professor of history at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., called the proposed message "a formidable step" for the church to take. "It is an indictment of an entire industry," he said.
The board also authorized the printing and distribution of the first draft of a proposed social statement, "Health, Healing and Health Care."
The proposed draft calls the lack of basic minimum health care for all citizens "a moral scandal that should no longer be tolerated." It deals with responsibilities of the individual, the role of the church in health care, and the advocacy process.
Board member Gloria Strickert, Waverly, Iowa, echoed the board's enthusiasm for the statement. "As a person who works in the health care arena, I just say 'thank you,'" she said. "I like the holistic values that this portrays."
The statement will be distributed to the ELCA's 10,816 congregations for study and comments. Through the ELCA Church Council, DCS is to present a final draft of the statement to the 2003 Churchwide Assembly for approval.
The ELCA defines a "message" as a "brief communication that draws attention to a social issue." It is not a new policy position of the church but builds upon previously adopted social statements. A message can be adopted by the council, while a social statement requires action by a churchwide assembly.
In August the 2001 Churchwide Assembly asked the ELCA Division for Ministry and DCS to lead a comprehensive four-year study of homosexuality that will consider issues such as the possibility of the church's accepting ministerial candidates who are in committed homosexual relationships and the blessing of same-gender relationships. The assembly also asked DCS to prepare a social statement on human sexuality.
In response to the mandates, the board considered several options of how to proceed. Although the ELCA Church Council will make the final decision, the DCS board's "straw vote" was heavily in favor of proceeding with the study and social statement in the fullest possible manner.
"It is so important to be able to say that we have given every opportunity for all points of view to be expressed," said the Rev. Carol Jensen, a board member from Stanwood, Wash.
The DCS board unanimously asked the council to authorize an initial expenditure of $250,000 for the study project, including provision for the appointment of a full-time study director.
The disasters which struck the United States on Sept. 11 ran as an undercurrent throughout the board's actions. Original plans called for the board to visit the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) and the U.S. Congress in nearby Washington, D.C., prior to the meeting. LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the ELCA and a DCS program.
The Capitol was closed due to possible anthrax contamination. Board members met at the LOGA office with ELCA spokespeople, as well as representatives of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American-Muslim Council and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In Baltimore, Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), told the board about the effects the disasters have had on his agency's work, including the "tremendous scrambling" of LIRS staff to adapt to everything from changes in refugees' transportation plans to the moratorium on new refugee arrivals imposed at the end of September.
The Rev. Mark B. Brown, an assistant director for public policy advocacy ministry at LOGA, briefed board members on the work of the Middle East Forum, a project of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
The Rev. John L. Halvorson, coordinator of the ELCA World Hunger Ministries, reported that, for the first time in 13 years, the ELCA has had what he termed "headline disasters" at the same time as the World Hunger Appeal. Although giving has increased to ELCA Domestic Disaster Response since Sept. 11, hunger funds have reached only $8 million of their $16 million goal for the year.
As the final action of its three-day meeting, the DCS board unanimously issued "Citizenship in a Time of Crisis," an appeal to the congregations of the ELCA. It asked Lutherans to "nurture members for constructive and critical participation in public affairs in this unsettled time."
The appeal draws special attention to the needs of youth and young adults and offers thanks to Lutheran agencies and their ecumenical partners who have responded to the terrorist attacks. -- -- --
DCS maintains information on "Projects in Process," such as the message on sexual exploitation and the social statement on health and health care, at http://www.elca.org/dcs/projects.html on the ELCA Web site. At http://www.elca.org/dcs/studies.html it keeps links to the full texts of adopted ELCA messages and social statements.
The complete text of "Citizenship in a Time of Crisis" is available at http://www.elca.org/dcs/citizenship_time_crisis.html on the Web.

* Linda Nansteel Lovell is communication coordinator for the ELCA
Delaware-Maryland Synod based in Baltimore.

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