MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 2009 Churchwide Assembly engaged one another in serious discussion about the church’s mission and direction during its session on Aug. 22. The conversation, an effort to prepare voting members for effective ministry following the assembly, was led by the Rev. Mark S. Hanson , ELCA presiding bishop, and the Rev. Stephen Bouman, executive director, Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission in the 4.6 million member denomination.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, met here Aug. 17-23 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. About 2,000 people are participated, including 1,045 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly was “God’s work. Our hands.”
Members were asked to consider a story from the Gospel of Mark, which describes friends of a paralyzed man removing a portion of a roof so that he could be lowered to Jesus for healing. Hanson asked members to decide whether, as church leaders, they identify more with Jesus, the paralyzed man or the man’s friends.
Bouman quoted one-time U.S. congressional leader Tip O’Neill, who once said, “All politics are local.” Said Bouman, “The same is true in ministry. It happens on the streets where we live.” He related the story of a Lutheran congregation on Long Island, N.Y. St. Michael Lutheran Church, in a changing neighborhood with a large local unchurched Latino population, was declining and feeling paralysis, he said. Members decided to search for additional funds in order to call a bilingual pastor. “They decided that, if they were going down, they were going down serving,” he said.
“The turning point of Lutheran theology,” said Hanson, “is the forgiveness of sins.” He invited voting members to declare forgiveness to one another.
Said Bouman, “We in the church are afflicted with spiritual narcissism. He called voters to focus on listening -- to God, to residents in the community, and to one another in the community of faith.”
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Information about the 2009 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
