April 10, 2003

CHICAGO - The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) delayed transmission until this summer of a final proposed social statement on health and health care to the 2003 Churchwide Assembly. Acknowledging the document's strengths, the council said it had several concerns about the document related to "definition of key terms, clarity of language and sequencing of thought."

The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here April 4-6. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 11-17, in Milwaukee.

In its action the council said it would send the document, "Caring for Our Health: Our Shared Endeavor" to the ELCA's 65 synods and inform them that a final draft would be approved by the council's Executive Committee and sent after June 6. The council followed the church's policy that synods receive text of proposed social statements at least four months before an assembly.

In a separate action, the council recommended that the assembly adopt the final text of the social statement, and asked that the assembly direct the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) to provide leadership for it. It also asked the assembly to request the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, in consultation with DCS, to develop worship and educational resources to interpret the social statement should it be adopted.

The draft of "Caring for Our Health" is the result of a 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly request for a social statement on health and health care. A task force, chaired by the Rev. Hebert E. Anderson, Seattle, has been working on the project for four years, said the Rev. John R. Stumme, DCS director for studies.

Because it is a social statement approved the DCS board, the council may only transmit the statement to the assembly but may attach a report for consideration, said Dr. Addie J. Butler, ELCA vice president and council chair.

In remarks to the council, Anderson said the topic of health care is "extraordinarily complex." The task force "struggled" to make the document relevant to immediate concerns and remain useful in the future, he said. The draft of "Caring for Our Health" attempted to "balance personal [health] responsibilities with the responsibilities of the larger community," Anderson said.

Before it acted, the council engaged in considerable discussion on the proposed text, its clarity and whether it should be sent to the assembly at all. Earl L. Mummert, council member, Harrisburg, Pa., asked if there was an urgency to act on the proposed document and what the costs would be in terms of "dollars and advocacy work" if there was a delay.

The DCS board would review the proposal again this fall, Stumme said in response. People involved in the project expected action on the proposed social statement at this year's assembly, he said.

The church's advocacy offices, including the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C., and state public policy advocacy offices are looking forward to the statement, said the Rev. Ronald W. Duty, DCS assistant director for studies, who worked with the task force. "They would be disappointed if we would not have a statement for consideration at the churchwide assembly," he said.

If the council was not prepared to transmit the proposed social statement, then it would "face a somewhat catastrophic decision" to delay the process, and there would be considerable financial costs to review it again, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary.

Sally Young, council member and chair of the Program and Services Committee, Waterloo, Iowa, said the committee did not have serious foundational questions about the text but wanted clearer language so that the document's foundation could be understood better.

After the council voted to delay transmission of the document to the assembly until the proposed text can be edited, and asked the assembly to adopt the final text, it took a third and final action related to the process for developing social statements.

It requested DCS to review the church's policies to address several processes related to social statements. They are "timely review and response" by the ELCA Conference of Bishops and the council to drafts of social statements; and evaluation of how "the substance and spirit" of social statements have been implemented by churchwide units and affiliated organizations. The council also asked for a report and possible recommendations to be brought to the council's November 2004 meeting.

The action addresses a concern that the Conference of Bishops was not able to make time to discuss the draft of "Caring for Our Health," and that the council didn't believe it had enough time to discuss the draft, Young said.

"This action is a good one," said Brian D. Rude, council member, Coon Valley, Wis. "It addresses a frustration we've all had about getting documents late."

"The process you have set in motion will mean we will have a better social statement," Stumme told the council following its actions.

ELCA News Service