by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
Hospitality is key to growing any organization, but Women
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is
looking beyond hospitality to providing a "Radical Welcome."
Women of the ELCA participants are discussing through May
online and in person "Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The
Other and the Spirit of Transformation" by the Rev. Stephanie
Spellers. The online discussion includes live chats and a
blog that are supported by downloadable resources.
Spellers is an Episcopal priest and lead organizer for the
Crossing -- an emerging worship community in Boston -- while
she's the minister for radical welcome for the Episcopal
Cathedral Church of St. Paul. She describes a radical welcome
as "one that recognizes every person as a bearer of Christ
and seriously tries to welcome each person's gifts, presence
and power -- regardless of the structures of oppression in
the wider church and society" in an article she wrote for the
January/February issue of Lutheran Woman Today, the magazine
of Women of the ELCA.
---
Information about the online discussion is at http://tinyurl.com/dbwwxx on the ELCA Web site.
- - -
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
