Women Of The ELCA Share Common Interests

SAN ANTONIO (ELCA) -- From high school principals to global advocates, Lutheran women in these roles and others are sharing and learning from one another how to encourage women in their local settings to “Act Boldly” in their faith, vocation and life. To help bring together women with common interests, Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) organized eight “affinity” or special interest groups here July 6-7.
Women of the ELCA's Sixth Triennial Gathering is meeting here July 5-10 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The organization's three-year theme, “Act Boldly” is being unveiled at the convention amid Bible study, keynote presentations, workshops, community service, business sessions and elections. More than 2,100 women from across the United States and around the world are participating.
The affinity groups are young adult women; clergywomen, who are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the ordination of women in the ELCA; global advocates -- women who have had international travel experiences; health field workers; people living with disabilities; editors and communicators; paid and volunteer educators; and “Way-Making Women” -- women of color who are gathering to explore the gifts of culture and community.

Beyond the Ramp
In “Beyond the Ramp,” women living with disabilities shared and learned how environmental and cultural barriers affect their lives, and they discussed the importance of ministry with youth who are disabled.
“We are all people. God created us with differences, and those differences are not necessarily bad,” said the Rev. Lisa T. Cleaver, director for disability and deaf ministries, ELCA Division for Church in Society, and affinity group leader.
During a question-and-answer session, one participant asked Cleaver if a possible new ELCA hymn book will be accessible to visually impaired people. The book is part of a plan to develop new worship resources, a component of the ELCA’s “Renewing Worship” project. Cleaver said she has been working with the worship staff during the development of the resources.
“They [new worship resources] are going to be in Braille and may be on tape, too,” Cleaver said.
In her role, Cleaver also works with the Definitely Abled Advisory Committee (DAC), a group that represents youth with physical and mental disabilities in the ELCA.
“They would tell you that they have abilities and gifts as others do, and they want to use these gifts as anybody else,” she said.
Heidi Hagstrom, director, ELCA Youth Gathering and DAC liaison, said youth with disabilities “are powerful, powerful witnesses” to God’s love and compassion. Yet, Hagstrom said she has heard many stories from young people with disabilities who have been excluded from youth activities in congregations.
In response, Hagstrom and Cleaver applied for grants to help educate the ELCA about this problem with a goal to help youth with disabilities be included in local activities. Through Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a fraternal benefit organization based in Minneapolis, they secured a grant, “Drawing Out Extraordinary Gifts.” The grant made it possible for Hagstrom and Cleaver to invite 12 regional teams of youth with disabilities and adult sponsors to meet together with a facilitator to talk about their experiences and to discuss how they can interact with the church. Each team was trained and is available to congregations and synods to provide “a learning experience” on living with disabilities, Hagstrom said.
Cleaver and Hagstrom got a second grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries, Itasca, Ill. The grant, “Born to Serve: Empowering Youth With Disabilities,” provided funding for the trained teams to get into congregations and synods to present their programs.
Hagstrom encouraged participants to talk to young people in congregations and to bring them into the congregation community. “I encourage you to talk to youth in your congregations, but particularly youth with disabilities,” she said.

'Way-Making Women'
African American and Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Latina, Middle Eastern and Arab, and European American Lutheran women gathered to share and celebrate God's gift of culture and community in an affinity group called “Way-Making Women: Working Hard, Acting Boldly.”
The purpose of this group “is to encourage women in their faith journey, looking to our baptism as a source of strength,” said the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, executive for leadership, ELCA Office of the Bishop. Bullock served as a facilitator of the Way-Making Women affinity group. “We are incomplete without each other. What God is doing in the church and in the world requires all of God's people to participate together,” she said.
The Rev. Ivis LaRiviere-Mestre, associate director for Latino evangelism and outreach, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, highlighted the biblical stories of Naomi and Ruth, two women who experienced suffering. LaRiviere-Mestre outlined four types of suffering -- unjust suffering, transforming suffering, evil suffering and social suffering -- weaving these into the experiences of Naomi and Ruth. She also serves as group facilitator.
“God is in solidarity with our suffering,” LaRiviere-Mestre told participants. “That is a message to be understood by way-making women.
The group participated in a “life-mapping” exercise, where women identified and noted on paper significant events and experiences in their lives. “We asked women to look for clues or patterns among their life experiences that would show how God is leading them into the future,” Bullock said.

35th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in the Lutheran Church
Dr. Jeanne L. Porter and Dr. Audrey L.S. West led an affinity group on the 35th anniversary of the ordination of Lutheran women in North America that attracted women in a spectrum of church leadership roles -- seminarians, retired chaplains, new pastors, veteran pastors, associates in ministry and other lay leaders.
Porter, an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and associate professor of communication arts at North Park University, Chicago, wrote two books published by Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the ELCA, Minneapolis -- “Leading Ladies: Transformative Biblical Images for Women’s Leadership” and “Leading Lessons: Insights on Leadership from Women of the Bible.”
West, associate professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, wrote a Bible study series, “Everyday Surprises: The Parables of Jesus,” published in Lutheran Woman Today, the magazine of Women of the ELCA, and was a keynote speaker at events across the United States to introduce the Bible study.
Modeling a collaborative method of leading, Porter and West shared goals for the affinity group -- building relationships among women in pastoral and other leadership roles, helping women get a sense of the assets they can use and share to deal with “roadblocks” that all ministries face, and “retooling” the women with new ways of seeing their roles, especially in light of lessons on leadership in the New Testament.
“We've had fun putting the program together,” Porter and West said, hoping the participants were empowered, were refreshed and had fun, too.

Young Women Acting Boldly
More over 60 young adult women of the ELCA joined in the affinity group called Young Women Acting Boldly and discussed physical, mental, sexual and spiritual health. Three speakers led presentations, discussions and activities on these topics.
Barbra Swanson, a dietitian at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio, told the women “that the choices they make today about what they eat or don’t eat is going to profoundly affect their future health. (This) will go a long, long w