News
By the staff of The Lutheran, ELCA News Service and Religion News Service
Merger official
The merger between two ELCA schools—Pacific Lutheran Theo- logical Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks—became official Jan. 1. PLTS will be led by a seminary dean, beginning Jan. 6. The dean is Karen L. Bloomquist, an ELCA pas- tor and PLTS alumna who served congregations in Oakland, Brooklyn and Ferndale, Wash.; directed theo- logical studies for the ELCA; and led the Department for Theology and Studies of the Lutheran World Feder- ation in Geneva. Bloomquist replaces PLTS President Phyllis Anderson, who delayed her retirement one year to ease the transition process.
ELCA members tapped
The World Council of Churches held its 10th assembly in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30-Nov. 7, under the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.” Delegates Carlos Pena, ELCA vice president, and Ulysses W. Burley III, a national steering com- mittee member for “Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA,” were elected to the WCC Central Committee and the Execu- tive Committee, respectively.
“
God doesn’t expect me to be thankful for all circumstance, but in all circumstances.
There’s a huge difference. The first atti- tude is masochism. The second shows maturity.
California megachurch pastor Rick
Warren, writing in Time about thankful- ness during what he called “the worst year of my life” after his youngest son committed suicide.
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www.thelutheran.org
Council seeks gender-based violence social message
T
he ELCA Church Council called for the development of a social message on gender-based
violence when it met Nov. 8-10 in Chicago. Unlike social statements, which
are approved by the ELCA Church- wide Assembly, social messages are approved by the council. The pro- posed message on gender violence is to be ready for consideration at its November 2014 meeting. (This is not to be confused with the 2009 assem- bly’s call for a social statement on women and justice to be considered by the 2019 assembly.) A main topic of conversation dur-
ing the council’s meeting was the five-year, $198 million fundraising campaign, “Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA,” which begins in February. The council asked campaign leaders to provide reports at its April 2014 meeting on the entire campaign, as well as how the church- wide organization will implement and integrate the 2013 assembly’s addition of $8 million ($4 million for youth and young adult ministries and $4 million for disability ministries) to the original $190 million fundraising proposal. As far as the $8 million, staff in
the Congregational and Synodical Mission and Mission Advancement units were directed to consult with the Conference of Bishops and other partners and bring to the council’s April meeting recommendations related to implementation, including budget, staffing, programs and more. The continuing need to sustain
ELCA ministries in the U.S. and around the world despite the trend of declining mission support came
through as ELCA Treasurer Linda Norman reported that, although ELCA income was $5.7 million favorable to budget (due in part to underspending and positive invest- ment returns), mission support was down $629,000 from the previous year. However, “we feel good about meeting our expense projections [and] meeting our spending commit- ments,” she said. ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth
A. Eaton discussed the need to repair trust and diminish suspicion that is “prevalent in our culture [and] has seeped into our church.” Eaton said the church must “find
a way to live out [Martin] Luther’s explanation of the eighth command- ment and realize we’re all on the same team—Team ELCA. … At the heart of what we do is worship, and the heart of that is Jesus Christ. We are church for the sake of the world. We weren’t redeemed to just think good thoughts of Jesus Christ. We’re supposed to be out there, helping to bring about the abundant life.”
• Authorized appointment of a work- ing group to consider the question of
In other action, the council:
ordination of people currently serv- ing on separate rosters as associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers who will soon be serving on a unified word and service roster.
w • Authorized appointment of a orking group to explore ways
to encourage conversation and resource-sharing related to chang- ing family configurations and bring recommendations on next steps in pastoral care for same-gender couples and their families.
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