News, Saturday May 14

Plenary 4

Story People

(When voting members arrived to the Assembly Saturday morning members found cardboard cutouts of “Story People” on every chair. Decorated by students of Faith Lutheran Church in Redmond and Glendale Lutheran Church in Burien, and the congregation at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Bellevue, each cardboard cutout told a story of a child affected by HIV/AIDS or Malaria.)

Every 45 seconds malaria claims a life. In the country of Zimbabwe, lout of 5 people is HIV positive. We all know that HIV/AIDS and malaria have become enormous killers of people of all ages all over the world. But it is easy to feel separated from the pandemics because we may not know anyone personally who has been effected by it. That being said, I would like to introduce you to someone who has become very important to me over the past few weeks since I first met her.

Story People This is Sofi. She is 2 years old and has been HIV positive since before she was even born because her mother contracted the virus. I have heard her tell me how horrible the medicine her mother makes her take tastes. And when she can't swallow it, her mother gets mad. She cries every time she has to take it. And her mother spanks her when she fights against it. Sofi is still too young to understand the importance of her anti-retroviral drugs. All she understands is the bad taste, and the pain of the spanking. I hear her tell this story and it makes me sad and it snaps me into the reality that this is not just happening to someone out there. It's happening to Sofi and billions of other people. As you came in this morning, you found sitting in your seats another person. A person who has a story of their own. On the back of your little people, you will find that story of a real person and their very real encounter with HIV/AIDS or Malaria.

As you read your little story, you also are able to relate, even if only a small amount, to how HIV/AIDS and malaria are devastating parts of the world. What we ask you to do from here is to take your little people back to your congregation and make the bearers of these stories part of your own congregations. Introduce them. Pray for them. Share their stories with your people, and perhaps be moved to get more involved with the ELCA initiatives. To find out more or to see how else you may help, visit the ELCA website and visit the booths in the room downstairs. And on behalf of the real people bearing those stories, thank you. Thank you for what you have done, what you are doing, and what you will do in time to come. You make a very real difference.

Workshops

Missing Generations

The conversation at this workshop centered on how to better welcome our neighbors into our churches. These neighbors might include people that don’t attend any church. Ryan Marsh from Church of the Beloved, Edmonds, moderated frank, honest and vulnerable conversations among three people who are his contemporaries.

Some of the comments voiced by the three panelists about things that irritate or scare them about church were:

Church seems like a production or show
They were turned off by the arrogance of the pastor
They were not welcomed or spoken to when they visited a church
The resented people practicing religion on them

The panelists all seemed to be very spiritual - finding their strength from quiet moments where they can see God at work, spending time in nature in their garden and being human through artwork and music. After the panelists left the room, Ryan encouraged the workshop participants to talk among themselves about this experience. The workshop concluded with insights from this exercise by participants which included:

We need to be equally as vulnerable and speak from our hearts about our faith.
Our neighbors want to tell us what matters to them, and we need to listen.
We appreciated the sadness they feel about not finding a place that understands their deep longings.
They felt like a minority as panelists, but we also feel like minorities as we are Christians in the Northwest.

Marsh encouraged the workshop participants to continue this dialogue when they get back to their home congregations.

Vital Worship

“Worship is boring; same thing all the time; that’s why people are not coming,” said one person who attended the “Vital Worship”.

Presenters Pastor Gretchen Mertes, Luther’s Table in Renton, and Michael Miller, Christ the King in Snohomish and Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, shared their experiences of what they have seen work and what doesn’t, encouraging the audience to give their experiences.

Michael said there are limitless resources available and just because in one congregation a projector and a praise team is successful doesn’t mean it will work everywhere. Michael and Gretchen said that worship has to be authentic, planning is crucial, and practice is important. You can’t arrive on Sunday morning without investing the time.

Some of the comments were:

Recognize that there is endless flexibility while still holding true to the main component of worship: Gathering, Word, Meal and Sending.
Try new things and experiment with different song styles.
Look at different ways to offer worship services:
- Two services: one contemporary and one traditional.
- One service blending the music.
- One service but changing the music on different Sundays.
Realize that The Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnal is a resource, but it is not the only resource.
Visit other churches to see how music is incorporated into their worship

The Lazarus Effect

Workshops

New Starts: Luther’s Table and Chinese Ministries

This workshop featured information about Luther’s Table in Renton and the many Chinese-established congregations and mission starts. Pastor Gretchen Weller Mertes and Board President Mike Hauer gave information about the newly-opened Luther’s Table. Hauer told us that Luther’s Table is a great way to invite and reach out to friends that we wouldn’t feel comfortable inviting to attend church. The atmosphere is conducive for conversing, and the food is designed to be shared.

Luther’s Table spent an extensive time creating core values for this new non-profit which are:

Welcome / hospitality
Authenticity (own your own stuff)
Moderation (not only in alcohol consumption but in a balanced life)
Humor
Humility (God is God and I am me, and we should not confuse the two)

It has been a great learning process for everyone involved. For more information on Luther’s Table or to find out about volunteering at Luther’s Table, please visit LuthersTable.org.

Rev. Jimmy Hao, Grace Chinese Lutheran, Seattle, first thanked the greater church family from all the ministers and Chinese community for their past support and prayers. Pastor Hao presented a story and history about Daniel Nielsen, a Norwegian Lutheran who left Minnesota and traveled to northeast China. Mr. Nielsen gave his life for the ministry in China. In 1997 a group started a prayer group and after growing their group, needed a place to gather. Hope Lutheran opened their doors and their hearts for these strangers to have a meeting place. In 2005 Grace Chinese became a recognized church out of the fruit of ‘Hope’, and from the fruit of you. Last year they baptized 31 new members, they have nine members from this church that have gone to seminary and they themselves have started a new fruit with the start of a youth group.

Publicity Grant Show & Tell

At last year’s Synod Assembly congregations were invited to apply for a publicity grant. Six congregations received grants to improve the visibility of their churches.

Lakeridge Lutheran: Used the grant to create a new website (http://www.gowithgrace.org/) to increase their visibility on the web. They also used some of the grant funds to purchase a sandwich sign to point to their church.
Columbia City Church of Hope: Church of Hope is a new church start which created a new web site (http://columbiacityhope.org) and logo. They redesigned an outside sign to showcase their new logo.
Wooden Cross Lutheran: Redesigned their sign with a wooden enclosure which brought more attention to their sign. They also purchased a vinyl sign machine to create “themed and seasonal”” banner announcements to add to community outreach and visibility.”
Edmonds Lutheran: Created a new web site (http://www.edmondslutheran.org) to communicate with a younger audience. To support the goals of creating the new web site Edmonds also created a new staff position: Minister of Communications.
Trinity Lutheran, Kirkland: Updated their web site (http://www.trinitykirkland.org), purchased a new sign board to mark their driveway, and put up a new cross to identify their building as a church.

Each church thanked the Synod for their publicity grant. At this time the grant program will not be repeated unless there is increased synodical financial support of missions.

Q&A With ELCA Churchwide Representative

In a Q&A session Pastor Twila Schock, ELCA Churchwide Representative , responded to and provided clarification on issues such as:

the proposed Lutheran Campus Ministry cuts,
how more than just Campus Ministries is impacted,
how the cuts happened,
steps for the future, and
the environment at churchwide after layoffs.