ELCA Assembly Hears Thanks For Action on Refugee Ministries

ORLANDO, Fla. (ELCA) -- Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president
of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), Baltimore,
brought greetings to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) 2005 Churchwide Assembly today and thanked the ELCA for
actions it took to expand ministries that welcome refugees. LIRS
is a national, inter-Lutheran cooperative agency that resettled
9,304 refugees last year, provided shelter to refugees of war,
reunited families separated by borders, and provided homes to
unaccompanied children.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here August 8-14 at the World Center
Marriott and Convention Center. About 2,300 people are
participating, including 1,018 ELCA voting members. The theme for
the biennial assembly is "Marked with the Cross of Christ
Forever."
Deffenbaugh, a human rights lawyer, who has worked with
Lutheran agencies and institutions since 1981, thanked the
assembly for action it took earlier in the day to spread the
advocacy, education and support for refugees, asylum seekers, and
immigrants. "We are excited to see this groundswell of people
want to be more involved in this ministry," said Deffenbaugh.
The assembly committed the ELCA to "recommit to being an
advocate and justice-seeker in regard to refugee and immigration
issues," and that the synodical bishops be requested to "appoint
a task force to give leadership in involving congregations in
refugee and immigration justice issues, including education,
advocacy, and local service."
According to Deffenbaugh, the action began as a grassroots
effort across the church among people who felt that the church
could be more vocal in "welcoming the stranger." Initiatives and
resolutions moved through several synods, and then the Rev.
Stephen Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod,
"got fired up about it, and tithed proceeds of the sale of a
church toward this effort," said Deffenbaugh. The gift is to be
matched through "Ministry Among People in Poverty" (MAPP), a
special fund available to the ELCA Conference of Bishops.
Deffenbaugh said he was not surprised that Lutheran
Christians should be so involved in the welcoming of strangers.
He said "when we open our Bibles, in the Old Testament we see the
story of a refugee people. In the New Testament, we see the story
of a refugee family. In our Reformation history, we see the story
of Luther being given refuge at Wartburg. And after World War II,
one out of every six Lutherans in the world was a refugee or
displaced person."
Among the challenges Deffenbaugh reported to the assembly is
the "the nation's broken immigration system." He added "our
nation's precious immigration enforcement resources are diverted
to trying to stop otherwise law-abiding workers instead of being
concentrated on those who mean us harm." LIRS and Deffenbaugh's
work was noted in a recent column in The Wall Street Journal
about the important role that church-related voices are playing
in the national discussion about immigration policy.
He concluded with a challenge to the voting members and
hundreds of visitors of the assembly, urging them as they return
to their homes, congregations and communities "to dare to be
welcoming."
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Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.elca.org/assembly/05 on the Web.

For more information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news