by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
The 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) commended the church's five ethnic ministry
strategies and asked the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop to
review the strategies, their implementation and any budget
implications. It requested an initial report to the April 2006
meeting of the ELCA Church Council and a "report of plans and
accomplishments" to the next Churchwide Assembly in 2007.
The ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop assembled a
representative group in March to review the African Descent,
American Indian and Alaska Native, Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian
and Pacific Islander, and Latino Ministry Strategies. The group
prepared a report to the ELCA Church Council on the
"implementation of the ethnic ministry strategies and the plans
for coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the strategies."
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
the legislative authority of the church between churchwide
assemblies. It met here April 1-2 and received the group's
report. The council asked that "a more extensive report on the
plans and accomplishments of and budgetary support for the
strategies, plus possible recommendations be presented to the
Church Council in April 2007 for transmittal to the 2007
Churchwide Assembly." ELCA Multicultural Ministries will
reconvene the group in May to gather information on "the
performance indicators, persons responsible and priorities for
all the strategies."
The 2005 Churchwide Assembly
http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/05/index.html
commended the church's five ethnic ministry strategies
http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/05/VotingMatters/RecommitmentMulticu
lturalMinistryStrategies.pdf
ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop
http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/office.html
African Descent ... Ministry Strategies
http://www.ELCA.org/multicultural.html
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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
