March 4, 2009

CHICAGO – As a mainline denomination, the 4.7 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is engaging in an effort to start new congregations and strengthen its existing 10,448 congregations across the country.

Each of the ELCA's 65 synods is creating a mission strategy unique to its regional settings, that brings together congregations and unite them in serving their communities, said the Rev. Stephen Bouman, executive director, ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission (EOCM).

"All mission is local, and mission is about relationship," he said. "Every person is a missionary, every pastor is a mission director, and every congregation is a mission station for the sake of the world," Bouman said.

The new design, "Evangelizing Congregations Missional Plan" embraces America's growing diversity while renewing congregations.

"When (a congregation) loses its connection with community, the congregation begins to die," Bouman said. "We want to help congregations reconnect or strengthen their relationships with the surrounding communities."

"Our move is not a program but people, who will serve as icons for evangelical mission," Bouman said.

In February Bouman announced the implementation of a director for evangelical mission in each of the synods. That person will serve as a mission leader, trained in community organizing and versed on current U.S. immigration issues, he said.

"If we don't get the immigration thing right, we don't deserve to be a church," Bouman said. "We are Lutheran, we are pro-immigrant. We must invite people, as they are, to be part of this church."

The Rev. Patricia A. Davenport, director for evangelical mission in the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Philadelphia, said the plan involves not only the commitment of pastors "but the equipping, empowering and enabling of local indigenous people for leadership."

Davenport said there are people of African descent and African immigrants, primarily from Liberia and Tanzania, who are working to build up the synod's mission congregations and deepen connections with communities. "We are seeing change," she said, adding that the plan "brings us back to our Lutheran core. We're all disciples, wherever we are."

According to the Rev. Gloria Keiser Dovre, director for evangelical mission, ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, Iowa City, for many people "faith is first taught in the home," with respect to how people define home and family. While "teaching faith at home" is critical work, Dovre said the synod will also work to lift up Word and Sacrament, build connections with people, support spiritual wholeness and health and wellness.

EOCM's plan also calls for a new "faith practice initiative" to focus the church's mission among people living in poverty and "the stranger among us," central to a biblical vision of the church's outreach, Bouman said. "Prayer will permeate every meeting, decision and area of congregational life," he said.

"Those who do collective faith practices grow. When we're in prayer and discernment about God's plan, that way of being corporate disciples will help us thrive," Bouman said.

"We need to find connections with communities, especially if it's about making a difference in the lives of people. It's about where the people of God live, and building mission there."

Information about ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission is at http://www.ELCA.org/eocm/, on the church's Web site.

ELCA News Service