Lutherans Develop Unified Response to September Tragedies

NEW YORK (ELCA) -- Members and leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) continue to develop and deepen their relationship here through a single, unified response to the destruction of the World Trade Center. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 people and injured scores more.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, was among a group of Lutheran church leaders who visited the World Trade Center site and met with ELCA pastors and members here Dec. 14-17. Among those with him were John Gilbert, president and chief executive officer of Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), and Bruce Nicholson, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran Brotherhood (LB). AAL and LB are fraternal benefits organizations; AAL is headquartered in Appleton, Wis., and LB is headquartered in Minneapolis.
One purpose of the trip was to express appreciation to those working to provide services to people affected by the tragedies, Hanson said at a reception at the Interchurch Center Dec. 15.
A few days earlier, the ELCA Church Council, through its executive committee, adopted a resolution expressing gratitude for the "compassionate response" of the church to all of the terrorist attacks, and appreciation for the "courageous efforts" of rescue personnel.
"I'm not sure we will be able to measure the impact of the sustained witness you have made to the presence of the living and redeeming God, and the degree to which you have embodied the crucified and risen Christ for this city and the world," Hanson told New York leaders. Hanson noted the Rev. David H. Benke, president of the LCMS Atlantic District, and the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod, have worked together in "solidarity."
To respond to significant material, counseling and respite needs here, members of both churches have responded through Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a joint ministry of the ELCA and LCMS. Members have also responded through AAL, LB and other groups responding to the disaster.
Lutherans have designated significant funds for September 11 disaster response. More than $5 million has been contributed by members to the ELCA; some $3 million has been given by members to the LCMS; and $8.7 million has been given to AAL and LB. In addition, AAL and LB each contributed $1 million of their corporate funds to the response. Other funds have been made available by Lutherans through many other agencies.
Most of the funds are being channeled through LDR to fund specific projects to meet a variety of human needs. The responses are aimed at counseling, help for students in Lutheran schools who lost parents in the attacks; individual emergency assistance; respite care for clergy; training for trauma response; a camp for children affected by the attacks; and interfaith initiatives.
Proposals for funding are being reviewed on a timely basis, said John J. Scibilia, local director for Lutheran Disaster Response, New York. "We want to do our very best to be good stewards of those funds," he said.
"Comfort and renew" is the theme of the LDR effort in New York, Scibilia said. Collaboration with a variety of other groups is important, he said. "We are together with the Muslim community and with the Jewish community," Scibilia said. "We work on all of these issues together with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and with government agencies."
The opportunity to respond to human needs from the tragedy has galvanized the relationship of New York-area LCMS and ELCA leaders and members in new ways.
"It has been three incredibly intense months, but we truly believe that God gave us this gift of a Lutheran community which is united at 'Ground Zero' and which really is a bridge to the wider, public and interfaith communities as well," Bouman said in an interview. Support from Lutherans and others from throughout the world has made the aftermath of the tragedy bearable, he said. The experience has emphasized that the church is the "body of Christ," Bouman said.
"We know it. We feel it. We see it. And, we thank you," Bouman said, directing his comments to the church.
Supporting each other and responding together is why the ELCA-LCMS disaster response relationship is important, Benke said in an interview.
"We are now linked -- and we've never been this close before and never been united in this way before -- to provide assistance as well as to be on the ground in action as God's baptized," he said.
"We're just Lutherans here," Benke said, emphasizing that denominational labels are not that important in responding to the New York disaster. LDR is viewed as a positive force among Protestant and Christian relief agencies, he said. Lutherans are serving anyone who needs help, especially people who have no access to people and agencies who can assist them, and children in the 180 Lutheran schools here.
Forty-seven children in New York-area Lutheran schools lost parents or caregivers Sept. 11 in the World Trade Center. Some children need scholarship help to remain in school, and assistance is being provided, said Marlene Lund, executive director, Lutheran Schools Association, New York.
"I am proud and privileged to be a Lutheran at this time," Benke said. "(We are) tremendously proud and appreciative of the assistance we have received from God's people around the country and around the world. God bless those who have come to our aid. Our prayers are with them as well."
Benke's efforts to reach out to others in the aftermath of Sept. 11 have not gone unnoticed by a few LCMS pastors, who say his actions violated church policy. Five pastors formally charged Benke with syncretism -- worship with non-Christians -- for his role in "A Prayer for America" at New York's Yankee Stadium Sept. 23, the LCMS News Service reported. The Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, is to investigate the charges.
Kieschnick himself recently faced similar charges brought by two LCMS pastors. They said he violated church policy by supporting Benke's action and by worshiping Sept. 19 in New York with the former ELCA presiding bishop, the Rev. H. George Anderson. The LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters ruled that Kieschnick is accountable only to the LCMS convention -- a ruling that, in effect, cleared him of the charges. -- -- --
A video news story on Bishop Hanson's visit to New York can be found at http://www.elca.org/co/news/video.index.html on the Web.

Photographs from the visit can be found at http://www.elca.org/co/news/image.index.html on the Web.

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