ELCA Council Commits to Education, Prayer for the Middle East

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) resolved to encourage the 10,851 congregations and 65 synods of the church to learn about the treatment of refugees in the United States, "lift in prayer" people of the Middle East, and refer to the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop funding requests made by the church's Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide assemblies. The council met here April 5-7. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee.
The council requested that the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, send a letter to President Bush, the U.S. Secretary of State and Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service expressing the church's concern about the "treatment of refugees by the United States since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11," the decline in U.S. refugee admissions, the increase in the number of unused resettlement places in the past 10 ten years, and the process for admittance of unaccompanied minors, "the most vulnerable refugees."
To help congregations and synods learn about the treatment of refugees and immigrants in the United States, the council moved to suggest use of the church's study resources, such as the ELCA Message on Immigration, adopted by the council in 1998; "For Peace in God's World," a social statement adopted by the 1995 ELCA Churchwide Assembly; and "Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture," a social statement adopted by the 1993 Churchwide Assembly.
The council acted to "express hope" that congregations will be "communities of welcome for people who are refugees and immigrants." It advocated for just immigration and refugee settlement policies and to encourage members of the church to pray for refugees, their families and for those who minister to refugees, including Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Lutheran social ministry organizations.
In a separate action, the council affirmed the continuing ELCA Prayer Vigil for Peace in the Middle East "as one means of lifting in prayer the people of the Middle East." The council acted at the request of the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
At its meeting last month, the steering committee of the commission moved to request that the Church Council call on members of the ELCA "to lift all people of the Middle East and Muslims in their prayers" and support the thousands of Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim people detained in the United States without reason and/or due process since the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11.
In another action, the council moved to refer to the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop two requests made by the commission's steering committee. The committee requested funds to:
+ assist the church in increasing the ELCA's membership of people of color or whose primary language is other than English, and
+ support the commission in establishing a budget to implement and fund the church's Asian and Pacific Islander Ministry Strategy, the Latino Ministry Strategy and the American Indian and Alaska Native Ministry Strategy, as well as future ethnic-specific ministry plans. The Asian and Pacific Islander and Latino ministry plans were adopted by the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
The council requested that "these actions of the Commission for Multicultural Ministries related to funding be considered" as part of the ELCA Churchwide Strategic Planning process currently under way.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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