To read more about a day in the life of one ELCA resource center director, see
www.thelutheran.org/june/feature.
popular, as are the NOOMA DVDs by author and pastor Rob Bell. At least one center loans out an 18-by- 20-foot labyrinth. Another offers a multimedia projector and percussion instruments.
The most challenging request? That may well be one that came to Catherine Fink, director of the North Carolina Synod’s Heilig Resource Center in Salisbury. She was asked to find a 45-rpm album from 1958 featuring a Ten Commandments song written by a Lutheran pastor to supplement cat- echetical instruction.
Networking needed While many requests are for a spe- cific item, increasingly people want help choosing the right materials or identifying best practices. The idea that today’s resource center is more about networking than materials on hand is what some are calling Resource Center 2.0. Kaufman jokingly pointed to a Facebook posting that proclaimed: “Librarian ... the original Google search engine.” As information on the Internet grows exponentially beyond the walls of the local library (or ELCA resource center), it’s more important than ever to have someone with experience and knowledge to help users, Fink said. The Heilig center, established in 1955, is among the oldest in the ELCA. The founders’ vision was “to have the best and most up-to- date teaching tools available for congregational leaders.” Some 57 years later, “the tools have changed, the delivery system has changed, and technology has certainly changed, but the goal is the same,” Fink said.
“All our resource centers face challenges as technology continues to evolve and people have so many options to communicate,” said Ellen
Johanson, manager of the Regional Media Center, serving United Meth- odist churches and ecumenical part- ners in the Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences.
Johanson and others also point
to the financial challenges that have caused the closing of at least one ELCA resource center. But Eckert believes the distressed economy has helped. “Churches are now ... utiliz- ing the center on a more frequent basis,” she said.
What is
Feautor.org? W
Faithful members in the South- western Pennsylvania Synod raised funds to establish a resource center in 2009, “enriching the lives of many,” said Elizabeth Caywood, the center’s director.
Speaking for her fellow directors, Aageson concluded: “The bottom line for resource ministry is support for congregations and their leaders for building up the body of Christ. It’s both a privilege and vocational call for all of us.”
public, nonprofit use.
hat do Vanuatu, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Malawi and the U.S. have in common? At least one person in each country visited
www.feautor.org last February. In fact, this self-described “free, mul- tilingual and open space to share religious resources” hosted church leaders, educators and others from 75 countries in that month alone. The site is the brainchild of a
World Council of Churches group. Feautor means faith author in Span- ish, a tribute to the site’s origins as well as its commitment to being multilingual.
The site launched with more than 1,000 unpublished resources shared by congregations and leaders, said Julie Aageson, coordinator of ELCA resource centers. Within the site is an area dedi- cated to materials provided by ELCA participants. Members of the Association of Lutheran Resource Centers edit these. “We’d love to get many more submissions,” Aageson said. Links and brief videos explain how to submit and/or use the site. Opportunities also exist for those who can translate materials. The resources are protected by Creative Commons licenses (www.
creativecommons.org) to allow
What kinds of materials are available? One day the site’s ELCA page featured four first-person Passion narratives, an outline for a youth retreat on human sexuality, an in-depth study of The Shack, a Bible verse scavenger hunt, and an activ- ity for singing the Gospel of Mark in 30 minutes.
Minimal digging through the
ELCA area yielded a sample policy for the protection of children, a guide to starting a church Facebook page, a funeral and memorial service plan- ning guide, a series of newsletter/bul- letin “blurbs” for promoting steward- ship over the summer when people are traveling, and more.
Linda Lovell Find a center
• The Association of Lutheran Resource Centers (
www.elca.org/ alrc): Congregationally based resource centers may join and have access to its e-newsletter Loaves and Fishes. • ALRC blog (
http://blogs.elca.org/ alrc): postings by resource ministry directors and others. • Directory (
www.elca.org/ resourcecenters): resource centers, listed by synod.
June 2012 37
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