December 17, 2010

CHICAGO – 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 ELCA, 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."

"The people I talk to are interested in reinvigorating synods as facilitators of mission outreach," he said. "They're interested in local communities and synods."

The timing of the task force's work is important because of significant changes happening throughout the ELCA, said Kenn Inskeep, executive director, ELCA Research and Evaluation.

"We're in the midst of lots of changes," he said. "It's important for us to be talking together about what our hopes and dreams are for this church for the future. The LIFT process was designed to try to get as many people as possible engaged in that conversation about their hopes and dreams, and what their expectations are for this church."

Engaging church members in conversations about the future of the ELCA was an important task force goal, said the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration and staff resource person to the task force from the Office of the Presiding Bishop.

"The task force always wanted this to be a conversation throughout this church in its various settings, but particularly in congregations," she said. It was also important to move ELCA congregations forward in mission, Bullock said.

"We hope for renewal, we hope for transformation, and we hope for engagement and action. The task force really wanted to ignite a conversation across this church," she said.

To meet constitutional requirements for adequate notice, the ELCA Church Council was asked last month to consider task force proposals related to ELCA structure and governance. It adopted and sent those proposals to the 2011 Churchwide Assembly, which must approve amendments to the ELCA Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions. The council recommended:

+ a three-year churchwide assembly cycle, to commence after the 2011 and 2013 assemblies.

+ changes in Church Council membership to include the four churchwide officers, the chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, and "at least 33 and not more than 45 other persons" elected by the assembly.

+ re-allocating program committee responsibilities to a council committee.

+ strengthening of interrelationships through possible synod establishment of "conferences, clusters, coalitions, area subdivisions and networks" in their territories, and in collaboration with other synods and partners.

ELCA News Service