CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "raised up" a September 2004
resolution of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that calls for
solidarity with survivors of violence in Darfur, Sudan. It also
encouraged the 5 million members of the ELCA to pray for peace in
Sudan.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11-15.
Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14,
2005, in Orlando, Fla.
At its meeting in October, the board of the ELCA Division
for Global Mission approved the LWF resolution and forwarded it
to the Church Council. LWF is a global communion of Christian
churches in the Lutheran tradition. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson,
presiding bishop of the ELCA, serves as president of LWF, which
now has 138 member churches in 77 countries representing nearly
65 million Lutherans.
Through the LWF resolution, the council endorsed the call
for solidarity made by "Catholic bishops of Sudan" and their
appeal for "help from the international community to prevent
'terror, rape, torture, murder and slavery' and 'annihilation of
an entire ethnic group in Darfur.'"
The council also encouraged the ELCA Division for Church in
Society in its advocacy efforts with the U.S. federal government
to respond to the "genocide" in Sudan; to allocate additional
funds for emergency relief; to exert pressure on the government
of Sudan to stop "arming the militia and allow humanitarian
assistance into the region"; and to provide "financial and other
appropriate assistance to the African Union peace-keeping
soldiers in Darfur, in concert with the United Nations."
The council asked members of the ELCA to continue to "give
generously" to the church's International Disaster Response and
the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, so "that the ELCA can intensify its
response to this humanitarian crisis."
Through its International Disaster Response, members of the
ELCA sent $145,000 this year to Action by Churches Together (ACT)
in response to ACT's appeal for funds to address humanitarian
needs.
ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies
that meets human needs through organized emergency response. It
is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and LWF, both
in Geneva, Switzerland. The ELCA is a member of WCC and LWF.
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INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:
Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
ELCA International Disaster Response PO Box 71764 Chicago, IL
60694-1764, 1-800-638-3522, or at
http://www.elca.org/scriptlib/dcm/giving/idisaster.asp on the
Internet.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
