ELCA Assembly Hears Variety of Greetings from Ecumenical Guests

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Leaders of three ecumenical partners of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) thanked the church
body Aug. 9 for its role with their agencies. They also brought
greetings to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11at Navy Pier's Festival Hall.
About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,068 ELCA voting
members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's
Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"
The three ecumenical leaders -- Dr. Ishmael Noko, general
secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); the Rev.
Deborah DeWinter, program executive for the United States for the
World Council of Churches (WCC); and Clare Chapmann, deputy
general secretary for administration and finance for the National
Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A. (NCC) -- congratulated the
Rev. Mark S. Hanson on his re-election earlier this week to a
new six-year term as ELCA presiding bishop.
Noting that this is the fourth churchwide assembly he has
attended, Noko said he is grateful "because I admire the way you
do God's business among yourselves [while] you have become a
church for others."
He specifically mentioned the ELCA's leadership in Lutheran
World Relief, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, other
areas of compassionate ministry; for "opening up your seminaries,
colleges, Bible schools and institutions for men and women from
sister churches to come and train and go back as leaders of there
own churches;" and for the ELCA's "becoming seriously engaged in
ecumenical affairs."
"God is doing amazing things ... extraordinary things in
ordinary ways within the ELCA," Noko said, echoing the assembly's
theme.
2007 marks the 60th anniversary of the Lutheran World
Federation, which Hanson serves as president. It includes 141
Lutheran church bodies worldwide, with 66 million members in 78
countries.
DeWinter said that she was primarily at the assembly to
"bring heartfelt thanks for all the particular ways in which the
[ELCA] contributes to the ecumenical mandate of the [WCC] and the
wider ecumenical family.
"So many of you are deeply committed on local and regional
and even global levels," she said. "But what you may not all know
is the special commitment that the ELCA has made to mentoring
young-adult leadership in the ecumenical movement."
She said that the ELCA has recently nominated and supported
"several outstandingly gifted young adults who have gone on to
take responsibilities at the highest levels of the WCC."
"We live in a world increasingly torn by economic and social
inequality, political conflict, religious tensions, violence, the
unprecedented uprooting of people all over the globe, and
environmental destruction," DeWinter said.
In response, she said, the WCC "commits itself to heeding
Christ's call that they may all be one by serving together as a
voice and a catalyst for unity for life and ministry throughout
the world."
Noko and DeWinter are based in Geneva.
Chapmann, whose NCC offices are in New York, thanked the
assembly for its action authorizing the church body's "Book of
Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible" five-year initiative, and spoke
of its "common focus" with the NCC on "the role of Scripture in
the life of the church." She compared that focus with a porch
light "to let you know where home is."
"When you travel as much as I do, seeing that porch light is
like seeing a beacon that draws you back to a quiet, strong
presence of love," she said.
Chapmann spoke of the NCC's "significant program work in
biblical translation and utilization, having produced the 'New
Revised Standard Version' of the Bible," and "continuous work"
with publishers such as Augsburg Fortress, "to ensure that
Scriptures are available" in portable versions, study versions,
children's editions, large-print editions, devotional Bibles, and
audio versions. Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of
the ELCA.
"In this very basic way, the council provides for the place
of Scripture in the life of the church," Chapmann said.
She told the assembly she wanted "to take a moment to add my
voice to the celebration of the ministry" of the Rev. Charles S.
Miller, executive for administration with the ELCA's Office of
the Presiding Bishop, who is leaving office Oct. 31.
Chapmann spoke of Miller's "significant leadership" with the
NCC as a member of its administration and finance committee "over
many years." He has exemplified the term "servant leader," she
said.
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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
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