Posted on 11/17/2010 6:29:58 PM PST by lightman
ELCA Presiding Bishop Highlights 'Expectations' in Report to Council
10-287-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), described his hopes for the church for the next three years -- focusing on expectations -- in a report to the ELCA Church Council Nov. 13.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 12-14. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 14-20, 2011, in Orlando, Fla.
Hanson organized his report around three questions:
+ What can God expect from the ELCA?
+ What can the ELCA expect from its leaders?
+ What should the church expect from God?
Responding to what God can expect, Hanson noted recent trends in the ELCA such as decreased membership, worship attendance and giving, plus uncertainty for some people about whether there is a place for them in the ELCA.
"Do we want to say to God that we expect past and present trends to continue? Somehow I think God has much higher expectations of us and for us than that," he told the council.
Hanson told the council that God can expect that: + members of the ELCA will share the "Good News" of Jesus Christ with family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. + members will be "everyday evangelists," and that ELCA pastors will proclaim "the Good News of salvation in Jesus' name with evangelical passion and perseverance, with the creativity of a poet, the wisdom of a sage, the courage of a prophet and the humility of a sinner." + the "living word" will be at the heart of the ELCA's life and witness.
+ the ELCA will describe and define itself on the basis of how it relates to other Christians in the body of Christ, not what sets it apart from others.
+ members will join with people of other faiths and those who claim no religious convictions "to work tirelessly to feed the hunger and serve the poor" while addressing root causes of poverty and hunger in the world. During a meeting with President Obama and other Christian leaders Nov. 1, Hanson told the president that the religious community is ready to work in partnership with the public and private sectors to reduce hunger and poverty. + the ELCA will describe itself with joy, boldness and courage in "believing, proclaiming and testifying" to the gospel. On the second question -- What can the ELCA expect from its leaders? -- Hanson said, "In the current culture of fear in which we live both in church and in society, we face the daily challenge of proving ourselves worthy of the trust of the people who have called us into these positions."
The presiding bishop said the church should expect its leaders to welcome people to the church. Hanson recently recorded a video for the "It Gets Better" project on You Tube, addressing bullying of teenagers who are gay and lesbian.
"I never imagined how those words of God's grace would go so viral in a matter of hours and days through the means of social networking. I have been moved by the responses," he told the council, adding, "do you realize how many people out there have never heard and are longing to hear God's gracious word of invitation and salvation in Jesus Christ?"
He said that there is room in the church for people who disagree about how faith is lived out in a complex and changing world. The body of Christ, "plagued by willful incivility and willful misunderstanding" needs courageous leaders who will not allow such behavior to be tolerated in the church, Hanson said.
Hanson also said the ELCA should expect its leaders to:
+ model generosity in stewardship and hold each other accountable.
+ lead as persons of faith, bearing in mind that "a church of the Reformation is always being reformed" and that the Church belongs to Jesus Christ.
+ promote dialogue as an expectation of members.
+ "tend to the whole ecology of the ELCA," and not be turned inward and preoccupied with survival.
+ reflect the conviction that unity and diversity are works and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that unity is not a demand for uniformity.
+ confront "the scandalous realities" of sexism and racism "that turn our differences into systems of power and privilege or domination and exploitation."
On the third question, "What can we expect from God?," Hanson quoted from Psalm 103, a favorite Psalm recited at family gatherings when he was growing up, he said. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding steadfast love," Hanson said, quoting the 8th verse.
"You can bet your life that God will be faithful to God's promise, because God bet the life of Jesus on God's faithfulness, and in Christ we live and lead," Hanson said in conclusion.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elcanews
Twitter: http://twitter.com/elcanews
"You can bet your life that God will be faithful to God's promise, because God bet the life of Jesus on God's faithfulness, and in Christ we live and lead,
++Mark, I am confused. You speak of "God" and you speak of "Jesus" as though they were seperate and distinct entities.
Are they related?
How are they related?
Are they related in a way with which we might identify...like a Father and Son?
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Be rooted in Christ!
Hey kids! It’s time for Rev. Mark’s Q&A time:
Q: What can God expect from the ELCA?
A: Apostasy and assorted satanic lies.
Q: What can the ELCA expect from its leaders?
A: The same as anyone else being led about by the blind.
Q: What should the (ELCA) church expect from God?
A: Judgement. The Book of Revelations discusses the Great Whore.
Well, that’s all the Most High Rev. Mark has time for. See you next time His Markness files a report with the High Poobas in the ELCA Council.
That was as good as anything "her pinkness" produces!
.....What can God expect from the ELCA?....
A continued, and accelerating EXODUS!!!!
After all, it is God who is inspiring this exodus!!!!
Huh?
A zany headlong descent into the kiddy pool of feel-good social gospel....with lots of new-age psycho-babble bubbles bouncing around for frothy fun.
Leni
I wish they would drop the Lutheran from their name; I’m sickened every time I drive by one of these left wing social activist religious sites.
If enough people leave the ELCA, do you think that Bishop Hanson will regret supporting ordaining gays? Will he admit that he wanted to disobey the teachings of the Bible? I think that he’ll regret his decision, if the church revenue decreases. He doesn’t care what the Bible says.
As I understand it, both the higher-ups in Higgins Road and many leading liberal ELCA “bishops” and pastors see the Great ELCA Exodus as leaving a “purer” “church”. ?????
And they of course work to discount the size of the exodus—”only a small number have left”. How many exiting members and how many exiting congregations will it take before they say “Ouch!”.
I believe that the exodus will accelerate, until even the Higgins Road statisticians will have to say that instead of 4 million ELCA members and 10,000 congregations, they have a dramatically lower number of both.
In my case, they counted my leaving my ELCA congregation to become Orthodox as a “statistical adjustment”. That is despite the fact that abut a dozen members of my former parish attended my Chrismation.
Admitting that would require the ELCA to use loathsome pronouns like He, Him, and His.
I think He made His answer abundantly clear the day of the ELCA convention's vote.
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