Lutheran Leaders Find Ways to Nurture Children

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders in children's ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered for a "Future Search" conference, "Treasured and Safe: A Future for Children in Families, Congregations and Communities," here Jan. 4-6. Participants discussed ways in which the ELCA can provide direction to families, congregations and communities to nurture children.
About 40 participants represented the ELCA's 65 synods, social ministry organizations, colleges and universities, Women of the ELCA, youth-oriented initiatives, ecumenical partners, congregations and congregationally-based schools, outdoor ministries and other "stakeholder" groups. Their goal was to develop a plan for the ELCA to help children "live without poverty, be safe and grow in faith."
"The conference provided an opportunity for the ELCA to creatively and collegially look to the future on how the church can address the needs of children in communities and congregations," said Myrna J. Sheie, executive assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, greeted participants. Hanson asked participants, "How can we turn weeping children into rejoicing children as they receive the gift of the fullness of life which God wills for them?" Hanson was a member of the ELCA's Help the Children Initiative task force.
The Rev. Roland D. Martinson, the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Children, Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., delivered the keynote address. He outlined the role of children in the world, past and present. He called today's children "social pioneers who are redesigning every indicator of what it means to be, belong and become."
These children are already leaders, poised for incredible possibilities, but they are also more disenfranchised than they were a decade ago, Martinson said. The divide between the "haves and the have nots" is increasing. Services for children are being cut out of the budgets of local, state and federal governments, he said.
Martinson challenged the group to answer questions: "Can the church not have children at the center of worship? How will we tend to the presence of God in the children who are suffering in the world?" He said, "Children copy us. If you want to influence the future, care for a child."
Suzanne Gibson Wise, president, Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, Raleigh, N.C., facilitated a discussion on the history of the church's involvement with children, what that involvement looks like presently, and a vision of what it could be in the future. Dr. Herbert A. Marlow Jr., Newberry, Fla., a consultant in organizational development, assisted Wise in facilitating the discussion.
Sixteen recommendations to the church under four categories evolved from the discussion. The categories are children in congregations, external collaboration, advocacy and media. The recommendations will be provided to the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop as part of the church's overall strategic planning process.
In the discussion, participants suggested writing a memorial to the ELCA 2003 Churchwide Assembly designed to request the establishment of an ELCA Commission on Children and Family. Participants also pledged to renew their efforts on behalf of children in their neighborhoods, congregations and synods.
The conference was funded in part by Aid Association for Lutherans/Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits society, and Women of the ELCA, the women's organization of the church. -- -- --
** Myra Fozard, Aliquippa, Pa., is a communication professional with the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh.

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