Rebecca Larson Named Director for ELCA Church in Society

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Rebecca S. Larson, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, was elected July 23 to a four- year appointment as executive director of the Division for Church in Society (DCS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), effective Oct. 14. Since 1994 she has served the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) as secretary for research and development, Department for World Service, Geneva, Switzerland.
With the LWF Larson has responsibilities in the area of development education, public policy advocacy and disaster response policy development. She has led the federation's education efforts on such topics as poverty, international debt, humanitarian intervention in complex emergencies and HIV/AIDS. She edited the LWF publication "Development Education Forum."
Larson coordinated the LWF's involvement in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. She chaired the ICBL steering committee.
"Ours is a wounded and complex world with daunting social and humanitarian problems," said Larson. "As part of the world Lutheran communion, the ELCA has a long history of responding to these challenges, domestically and internationally, together with those who are most affected and most vulnerable," she said.
"It is a profound and humbling experience for me to be called to work with so many committed and creative people in living out the baptismal calling of our faith through the responsibility given by the church to the Division for Church in Society. I ask for your prayers for the division and myself in the days ahead as we together undergo a time of transition and new beginning," said Larson.
"Pastor Larson brings to this office a strong understanding of the biblical and theological grounding for our life and work as a church in society," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. "That understanding has been shaped by her global experience with the Lutheran World Federation and will assist us as this church lives out God's call to be the body of Christ in a global society," he said.
Hanson said Larson "will be attentive to this church in our conversations and discernment regarding God's call to our life in society. She will be mindful that all are included in this conversation. She will also help us to keep our conversation grounded in action in the world."
The Rev. Denver W. Bitner, DCS board chair, Zion Lutheran Church, Rockford, Ill., commended Larson for the "deep passionate sense of calling she feels in her work." He cited her "deep commitment to the poor people of world" and her ability to "connect with people."
Bitner said Larson has a global perspective of all issues dealt with in DCS. "The board saw the breadth of concern she has for all the work of the division," he said. The DCS board named Larson to succeed the Rev. Charles S. Miller during a special telephone conference meeting. Sixteen of the board's 21 members were in the meeting; Larson's appointment was unanimous.
The vacancy began Dec. 1, 2001, when Miller became the ELCA's executive for administration and executive assistant to the presiding bishop. The Rev. L. James Wylie serves as the division's interim executive director. Wylie was senior vice president, Lutheran General Health System, Park Ridge, Ill., and Advocate Health Care, Oak Brook, Ill.
Larson, 52, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, and Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash. Larson earned master's degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University and from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo. She earned a doctorate from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
Before attending seminary, Larson was an elementary school teacher in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. She was ordained in 1981 and served as pastor of Hosanna Lutheran Church, Edmonton, Alberta. In 1989, she joined the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva as secretary for development education in the Unit on Justice, Peace and Creation.
Larson is married to the Rev. Stephen M. Larson, an ELCA pastor who serves the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Geneva. They are parents of two adult daughters.
The next meeting of the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society, scheduled for Sept. 26-28, will be postponed until Oct. 24-26.
The ELCA is a member of the LWF -- a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing 60.5 million of the world's 64.3 million Lutherans. -- -- --
The Division for Church in Society home page is at http://www.elca.org/dcs/ on the ELCA Web site.

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