CHICAGO (ELCA) - With four years of implementation, the
Evangelism Strategy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
has stimulated activity in key areas such as prayer, leadership
preparation and renewal, discipleship teaching and congregation
starts and renewal. The 2007 Churchwide Assembly heard an update
on "Sharing Faith in a New Century: A Vision for Evangelism in
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America," adopted by the 2003
Churchwide Assembly.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall.
About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,071 ELCA voting
members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's
Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"
"As we move into the Evangelism Strategy, we move from the
expression, 'evangelism,' to a new action word, 'evangelizing.'
We are seeking to be an evangelizing church," said the Rev.
Kathryn I. Love, assistant director for evangelism, and director
for prayer and renewal, ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.
First of the Evangelism Strategy's four main objectives is
calling the church to prayer. In addition to prayer conferences,
workshops and retreats, the ELCA online prayer network has seen a
surge of activity. "In June 2003, there were 822 monthly prayer
requests. Simply four years later, June 2007, we have 27,128
prayer requests with 703 praise reports and thanksgiving
reports," said Love of the site at
http://www.ELCA.org/prayer/network.html on the ELCA Website.
Evangelism grants have been used to advance the objective of
preparing and renewing evangelical leaders. "Identifying,
recruiting, training and affirming the giftedness of" ethnic-
specific leaders is also part of the strategy, said Love.
As the ELCA seeks to reach the objective of teaching
discipleship, coaching and an evangelism newsletter are being
utilized. "A portion of [this objective] invites us to host a
variety of inspirational mass rallies, gatherings, and yes,
revivals," said Love.
Evidence that the ELCA is starting and renewing
congregations, the last strategy objective, is 172 new starts
currently under development by the church and 56 new proposals
approved for 2007, according to Love. She noted that of these new
starts, 53 percent are amongst people of color and/or people with
primary languages other than English.
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Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be found
at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
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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
