Task Force Calls Lutherans to Prayer Every Day at Noon

ST. CHARLES, Ill. (ELCA) -- A "blue ribbon" task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met here April 18-20 to begin developing a comprehensive evangelism strategy for the church. It began its meeting with prayer and decided to include prayer at every stage of its work, including a call to prayer every day at noon for the renewal and growth of the ELCA.
The ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries assembled the 33- member task force on evangelism to develop the strategy for presentation and possible action at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, August 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee. About 20 staff members of the ELCA and a half-dozen consultants assisted the task force.
"We realized before our meeting that prayer would be the most important thing that we could do," said the Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop of the ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, Rockford, and chair of the task force on evangelism.
A month before the meeting, the Rev. Brent W. Dahlseng, associate director for prayer ministries, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, gathered several Lutherans from across the United States to form a "prayer team." Three team members attended the task force meeting, said Dahlseng; "the remaining members lighted candles and have been in prayer wherever they are located around the country."
"We surrounded everything with prayer," said Wollersheim. "We realize that in evangelism it is the Holy Spirit who calls and gathers, so we began with calling the Holy Spirit to make this happen."
The task force decided to pause every day at noon until the 2003 Churchwide Assembly, to pray "for the Holy Spirit to renew and grow the church," said Wollersheim. "We would ask that synods, congregations, worshipers, leaders, congregational councils and bishops join us in this commitment. Every noon pray for the evangelization of the church," he said.
Prayer is a twofold process of talking and listening, said Dahlseng, "bringing before God the things that are on our hearts, as well as seeking to learn how to listen for God in God's voice, whether that be through Scripture, through other people, through ideas or dreams God brings to a person."
The task force began its work by developing a vision statement -- "Every place a mission field, all the baptized missionaries" -- and by dividing its work among five working groups. It elaborated on its vision statement with an "aspiration" statement -- "In response to Christ's command to make disciples of all and as faithful evangelists in God's mission, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will grow deep and wide."
"The 'deep and wide' part is that we grow more deeply connected with Christ in our practice of the faith, while reaching those who are yet to be 'churched' and having them become part of our worshiping communities," Wollersheim said.
One working group will analyze the effects of "Call to Discipleship," an ELCA initiative to engage Lutherans in learning and growing through a series of "faith practices."
Another working group will "try to figure out how we can empower all the baptized, including church leaders and clergy, to be 'missional' leaders," said Wollersheim.
A third working group will engage the ELCA's 5.13 million members, through the church's 65 synods and 10,816 congregations, to learn what Lutherans need to conduct effective evangelism in their contexts.
A fourth working group will garner the "best practices" of congregations and synods, as well as those of the church's eight seminaries, to provide as examples for the evangelism strategy.
A "core" working group will oversee the work of the other groups and coordinate the work of the whole task force.
"We have a lot of communication to do with the church, and we have groups and individuals assigned to do that," said Wollersheim. The task force will meet Sept. 5-7 in Chicago to begin drafting its presentation to the church.
Wollersheim noted that the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has engaged the church in a strategic planning process leading up to the 2003 Churchwide Assembly. "We know his heart is to have evangelism front and center in this whole visioning," said Wollersheim. "We look forward to fitting into that picture as a prime emphasis."

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