Reader call
For a story in an upcoming issue of this magazine, we want to know: Are you a pastor or church worker who supple- ments your income with additional jobs? If so, what else do you do? What is your weekly schedule like? How does your faith impact your work (in church and outside of it)? Send your name, contact information (email and phone), home con- gregation, job titles and up to 300 words or less describing your work to
erin.strybis@
thelutheran.org by Jan. 31.
A pastor & 18 drivers
When Tom Stutelberg, East Union L u t h era n Church, Carver, Minn. , devel -
oped a heart condition called
cardiomyopathy he was told not to drive for six months. The congrega- tion asked for volunteers to drive the pastor to the homes of homebound members and get him to and from the church office, 30 miles from his home. Eighteen people signed up to be chauffeurs, and a council mem- ber who couldn’t help because of his work schedule donated $300 in gas gift cards to the drivers. On the Sun- day Stutelberg was able to drive again he gave all the drivers chauffeur hats as he thanked them. His heart is back to normal, but he says he misses hav- ing a driver at his beck and call.
Nun wins ‘Chopped’
Sister Alicia Torres was named Food Network’s Chopped champion during a recent edition of the show that fea- tured volunteers. Torres, who helped found the Franciscans of the Eucha- rist of Chicago, won $10,000, which she gave to Our Lady of the Angels Mission to provide home-cooked meals for people in Chicago’s Hum- boldt Park neighborhood.
10
www.thelutheran.org Church Council looks to future M
eeting in Chicago Nov. 12-15, the ELCA Church Council took action on a variety of
matters it hopes will move forward the church’s mission and ministries. The council adopted a social mes-
sage on gender-based violence and adopted an accompanying founda- tional document designed for study and analysis. Two years ago, it autho- rized the work of the social mes- sage in response to a request from the ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice: One in Christ, which received concerns from across the church on the growing level of gen- der-based violence in the U.S. Since 2012 the task force has been
engaged in study toward a proposed social statement on women and jus- tice to come to the Church Coun- cil in April 2019 and for possible consideration by the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. (To read the text, search for “Gender-based vio- lence” at
www.elca.org.) The council also invited the
church into a conversation about the future of theological education in the ELCA. It approved a working group to receive feedback and cre- ate possible implementing strategies for recommendations featured in a report from the Theological Educa- tion Advisory Council (TEAC). The Church Council authorized TEAC to address in a holistic way issues on theological education, leader- ship development, candidacy, call and rostered leaders. TEAC recom- mendations will be considered at the council’s April 2016 meeting. In its actions, the council
expressed appreciation for TEAC’s work, recognizing and embrac- ing the “Spirit led convergence of new possibilities” for theological education. It affirmed the “innova- tion and collaboration” underway
among the ELCA’s eight seminar- ies, recognizing the “changing cli- mate of theological education.” It also directed its budget and finance committee to give thought to the funding implications of the TEAC recommendations. In other business, the council:
• Recommended an action to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assem- bly that would unify the three rosters of laypeople—associates in ministry, deaconesses and dia- conal ministers—to a roster of ministry of word and service.
• Received a report from ELCA Vice President Carlos Peña, who announced that he would not be seeking a third term.
• Accepted the 32 “statements of agreement” from “Declaration on the Way,” an ecumenical docu- ment that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Roman Catholics and Lutherans. It will be considered by the 2016 Churchwide Assembly.
• Received a report and referred recommendations of the Min- istry to and with Same-Gender Couples and their Families Working Group to the appropri- ate units of the ELCA churchwide organization for implementation with a report back to the council at its fall 2016 meeting.
• Affirmed the efforts of the ELCA presiding bishop to call the entire denomination to confront rac- ism, including a broader, com- prehensive strategy to becom- ing a racially, ethnically diverse church.
• Approved a revised 2016 fiscal- year fund spending authorization of $66,514,340 and a revised 2016 fiscal-year ELCA World Hunger spending authorization of $21 million.
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