News
By the staff of The Lutheran, ELCA News Service and Religion News Service
Bishops discuss unifying lay rosters Campaign at 23%
The ELCA’s first comprehensive cam- paign, Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA, completed its first year with nearly $45 million raised, representing 23 percent of the five-year, $198 million by Jan. 31, 2019, goal. The campaign received another $3.4 million in current gift commitments and $10.8 million in planned gifts commitments to the priorities of the campaign. For more information, visit,
www.elca.org/ campaign.
Good Gifts record
The ELCA reports that a record- br e a k ing $4.5 million was given to Good Gifts in 2014. Some 90 percent directly
supported ELCA churchwide min- istries to al levi- ate domestic and global hunger, start cong regat ions, fund scholarships for seminarians, send missionar- ies and more. The most popular gift was chicks ($10) followed by a goat ($50). For more information, go to
www.elca.org/ goodgifts.
T
he ELCA Conference of Bish- ops recommends that the ELCA Church Council move forward
on unifying the denomination’s three lay rosters—associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal minis- ters—but delay consideration of the entrance rite “and related issues.” Associates in ministry are com-
missioned; deaconesses and diaconal ministers are consecrated. A deci- sion will need to be made about the appropriate entrance rite for the uni- fied roster. “This change connects with
deeply held, often differing con- victions about orders and offices of ministry, the vocation of all the baptized to serve in the world today, and the most helpful ways to honor, celebrate and exercise the gifts of all who serve in public ministry,” said William Gafkjen, bishop of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, member of the Word and Service Task Force and chair of the Entrance Rite Dis- cernment Group. “Ecumenical, global Lutheran and multicultural relationships and reali-
ties are also part of the complexity. The rite by which people are entered onto a roster of public ministers con- nects with these and other concerns.” Gafkjen said the recommenda-
tion from the bishops is intended to continue helping the church define and honor ministries of word and sacrament in preparation for the 2016 Churchwide Assembly, so an “ample and appropriate time and process” can include as many people as possible. The ELCA’s study and dialogue
about the work and ministry of its lay rosters began in 2007, which led to the Church Council appointing the Word and Service Task Force to con- tinue overseeing this process. A dis- cernment team was also appointed to give particular attention to the “entrance rite” for the roster and to offer a recommendation about this rite for consideration by the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. A frequently asked questions
document is available at www.elca. org/en/Resources/Lay-Rostered- Leaders.
2015 Selma-to- Montgomery march
ELCA members joined civil rights activists, faith leaders and elected officials, including President Barack Obama, in Alabama March 7-8 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. Judith Roberts (second from left), ELCA program director for racial justice, also participated. The events of that day—also known as Bloody Sunday—led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The ELCA social statement “Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture” expresses the church’s call to confront rac- ism; to engage in public leadership, witness and deliberation; and to advocate for justice and fairness for all people.
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