ELCA Commission Celebrates Women Leaders, Calls for More

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Women told the church it is time to celebrate but not to be satisfied with the number of women in leadership. The committee passed two resolutions on that issue, adopted another resolution on a possible war with Iraq and studied churchwide planning when it met here Oct. 11-13.
Predecessor church bodies of the ELCA began ordaining women as pastors in 1970. The ELCA's 10,766 congregations are organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop. Since 2000, the number of women serving the church as synod bishops rose from two to seven.
The steering committee noted that more than 10 percent of ELCA synod bishops and 40 percent of the church's Cabinet of Executives are women -- 10 of 25 clergy and lay people. The Cabinet of Executives consists of the heads of various units of the ELCA.
"The ELCA Commission for Women recognizes and celebrates with thanksgiving the progress that the ELCA has made toward its vision of full participation of women in this church and society," said the steering committee resolution. "The growing numbers of women bishops and women members of the Cabinet of Executives serve as role models and mentors for girls and young women who dream of ministry and leadership in this church," it said.
Earlier in 2002, the ELCA Upstate New York Synod elected the Rev. Marie C. Jerge and the ELCA Slovak Zion Synod elected the Rev. Wilma S. Kucharek to six-year terms as bishops. The Rev. April Ulring Larson was re-elected bishop of the ELCA La Crosse Area Synod; she was first elected bishop in 1992.
In 2001, the ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod elected the Rev. Carol S. Hendrix and the ELCA Caribbean Synod elected the Rev. Margarita Martinez as bishops. The ELCA South Dakota Synod re- elected the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl as bishop; she was first elected bishop in 1995.
The ELCA New England Synod elected the Rev. Margaret G. Payne its bishop in 2000.
"We're moving in the right direction, but we should not become complacent," said the Rev. Janet M. Corpus, chair, ELCA Commission for Women. Corpus is an assistant to the bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Philadelphia.
The commission called on all ELCA members "to recommit ourselves to continued support of and increase in the number of women in leadership roles, particularly in positions in which women have been historically under-represented."
In a related resolution, the steering committee called attention to the fact that "only one of the 65 ELCA synodical bishops and only one of the 25 members of the Cabinet of Executives are women of color." Martinez is Latina, and the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, executive director, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, is African American.
"The ELCA Commission for Women calls upon this church to intensify efforts to increase the number of women of color among the bishops and Cabinet of Executives," said the steering committee.
In a separate resolution on "Potential War and Military Action on Iraq," the commission affirmed the "public witness" of the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, supporting diplomacy instead of the threat of war. "I believe it is wrong for the United States to seek to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein with military action," Hanson said in an August 30 statement.
The resolution asked the ELCA to "examine the possibility of developing a 'message on terrorism' to be issued in 2003." The steering committee urged "individual members, agencies and all expressions of the ELCA prayerfully to consider and to engage in conversation about the consequences of war" and "to denounce terrorism and violence."
Corpus noted that the steering committee met days after the U.S. Congress gave President Bush authority to take unilateral military action against Iraq if diplomatic efforts failed. "We are concerned that every effort be made to avoid that unilateral military action," said Corpus.
"We encourage members of the church to refer to and use the resources that our church has for study and conversation around difficult subjects like peace," said Corpus. The committee's resolution mentioned the ELCA social statement "For Peace in God's World," materials on the principles of "just/unjust war," the ELCA declaration of 2001-2010 as the "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence" and the resource guide "Talking Together as Christians about Tough Social Issues."
The commission's steering committee devoted much of its meeting to reviewing draft material on the ELCA's comprehensive planning process. Corpus said the committee made specific suggestions to sections on "mission, vision, values and strategic directions." The committee gave special attention to "the concerns that we are responsible for in the church -- women's concerns," she said.
In relation to that process, the commission completed its own strategic planning, which focused the commission's work on "participation in the Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence; the elimination of sexism in our church; leadership, discovery and development, particularly among young women and women of color; and advocacy for marginalized women," said Corpus. -- -- --
The Commission for Women's home page is at http://www.elca.org/cw on the ELCA Web site. The August 30 statement of Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson on Iraq is at http://www.elca.org/bishop/iraq.html on the Web.

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