ELCA NEWS SERVICE
December 17, 2010
ELCA Task Force to Suggest Recommendations for Church's Future
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which has engaged the church's membership in an extensive conversation about the denomination's future, will soon begin preparing its report and recommendations to the ELCA Church Council. The council is expected to transmit to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly recommendations related to the task force's work.
Task force members will meet here January 28-29, 2011, a key face-to-face meeting prior to issuing their report and recommendations.
In November 2009 the ELCA Church Council approved the charter for the project, "Living into the Future Together: Renewing the Ecology of the ELCA" and appointed a task force. The project task force was asked to study social, economic and other environmental changes in the 20 years since the ELCA was formed and "evaluate the organization, governance and interrelationships among this church's expressions," according to the project charter.
The task force was asked to develop a report and recommendations "that will position this church for the future and explore new possibilities for participating in God's mission," the charter states. The report and recommendations are to be reviewed by the ELCA Conference of Bishops in March 2011 and presented for action to the Church Council, which meets in April 2011.
The task force, which met for the first time in January 2010, focused on two key questions as it gathered information from throughout the church, said the Rev. Diane "Dee" Pederson, St. Cloud, Minn., task force chair:
+ What is God calling this church to be and do in the future?
+ What changes are in order to help us respond most faithfully?
"The task force was committed to beginning a conversation that would invite engagement, ideas, imagination and wisdom from people across this church," she said in an interview. Task force members developed questions on topics such as Lutheran identity, ELCA membership and priorities for ministry, she said. Task force work teams focused on specific topics such as ELCA identity, opportunities, interrelationships, congregations, partnerships, financial resources, and structure and governance.
The task force posted questions online at http://www.ELCA.org/lift on the ELCA project website for response, and it invited responses through a blog at http://liftELCA.org on the Web, Pederson said.
More than 1,000 people responded to the online survey questions, and ELCA Research and Evaluation staff randomly sampled additional pastors and members. Many leadership groups commented to the task force, such as the ELCA Conference of Bishops, the ELCA Church Council, campus ministry staff, college and university presidents, multicultural organization leaders, global mission partners, and youth and young adults. Voting members at more than 40 synod assemblies offered input.
The task force also met with several consultants, held conference calls, and conducted focus groups and interviews. In August it brought together bishops, pastors, leaders from institutions of higher education, ecumenical partners and leaders from various partner agencies to consider mission capacity and funding, Pederson said.
Task force members learned that ELCA members have deep commitments "to our theology, our understanding of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, to sharing the 'Good News,' to theological education and to lay leadership," Pederson said. Members are less clear about Lutheran identity or what it means to be an ELCA member, she said.
The task force invited comment on possible future scenarios for the EL
CA, she said. Its report will likely focus on the roles of congregations and synods, sustainability, mission support funding, and ELCA structure and governance, Pederson added.
While much information has been gathered, there is still time for members to comment to the task force through the website or the blog.
"I've described the process as something that was intended to engage as many people as possible," said the Rev. Richard H. Graham, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod, and task force member. "We want to hear from anyone who wants to give us information."
From his perspective, Graham said, members have expressed a desire to renew congregational life and mission, and "to help congregations understand themselves as places where mission has to take place."
