The Assembly starts: ways you can keep track of what is going on
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The Assembly starts: ways you can keep track of what is going on PDF Print E-mail

FROM Emily Eastwood:

We are now just three days away from the start of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly on Monday, August 17th, here in Minneapolis, and I must say the wheels are already in motion. The ELCA advance team has arrived and preparations are underway. The Goodsoil legislative team is en route. Phil Soucy, director of communications, has held the first press conference on background for the assembly. Allied voting members have been identified and are caucusing. Four hundred hand-crafted prayer shawls have arrived from volunteers across the country. Thank you! The LC/NA staff is in overdrive! We are ready, willing and the most able we've ever been for a churchwide convention.

With our strategy for graceful engagement, we are not preparing for battle, but for a Spirit-filled experience of faithful witness, family reunion, worship, strategy sessions, decision making and no matter the outcome, major celebration. We will never give up. The ultimate outcome is assured, only the time is in question.

Next week our voices will be heard time and again through the voting members on the floor of the assembly, a number of them gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, some of them rostered clergy in same-gender relationships. We will not act like victims, but rather confident people of faith working cooperatively to spread the Good News of the risen Christ: unconditional love, saving grace, and forgiveness of sins. We have a vision of the church as it should be, fully inclusive of people of all races, classes, abilities, sexual orientations and gender identities. Our job at the Assembly is to be that church, right now.

There will be important votes throughout the week including the opening night session on the rules of the Assembly. At present the major vote for the social statement on sexuality is scheduled to come on Wednesday; the vote on the rostering recommendations that would end the policy of discrimination, on Friday. Experience shows that convention schedules are somewhat fluid, so things may slow a bit. We doubt they will speed up.

Your prayers are requested for the voting members, church leaders, the legislative team, the staff and volunteers, and indeed for the whole church. This is the kairos time, the time of opportunity and possibility when our church is about to return to its roots, to reformation once more. Amen. May it be so.

Keeping track of what is going on at Churchwide Assembly is getting easier and easier as time and technology advance. Here is some helpful information about ways you can be in touch with what is going on during the upcoming Churchwide Assembly.

  1. First, the following items will be considered by the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly (CWA):
    • Full communion with the United Methodist Church
    • "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust," a proposed ELCA social statement
    • Report and Recommendation on Ministry Policies
    • Possible social statement on justice for women
    • Funding of the HIV and AIDS strategy
    • Lutheran Malaria Initiative
    • Amendments to ELCA Constitution, Bylaws, & Continuing Resolutions
    • 2010, 2011 budget proposals for ELCA churchwide organization
    • Memorials
    • Resolutions
    • Elections

    2. More information about each of these can be found by going to www.elca.org/assembly and clicking on "Actions" and then "Summary of Actions to be Considered." There you will find short summations of each subject and can view or download the actual documents.

  2. Documents made available to the 1,045 Voting Members can be found in the same location by clicking on "Pre-assembly Report." Documents can be downloaded individually and read using Adobe Acrobat, if you wish.
  3. During the churchwide assembly, you can stay in touch with the assembly in various ways:
    • Live Web Streaming — Follow CWA action in real time at http://www.elca.org/assembly, including plenary sessions, press conferences and more
    • Online Meetings on LutherLink — Sign up for Ecunet to gain access to LutherLink discussion groups from http://www.ecunet.org. Sign up for a free "Lite" membership (up to three discussion groups) or low-cost full membership. "Lurkers" are welcome — meaning folks who read the posts but do not participate in discussion.
      1. "2009 CWA in Minneapolis" is a meeting where you can ask questions or participate in discussion about the Assembly
      2. "2009 CWA Informal Reports" is a meeting which will have frequent updates of brief summaries of discussions as they happen
      3. "2009 CWA Human Sexuality Issues" is a meeting where you can participate in discussion of the proposed social statement and ministry policies recommendation
    • Facebook — Become a "Fan" of the ELCA
    • Twitter — Participants will be tweeting during CWA and are encouraged to use #CWA09 at the end of their tweets. To read recent CWA tweets? Log on to http://search.twitter.com and enter the hashtag #CWA09 to search for Twitter entries in the last 5 days.
    • Blogging
      1. Read blogs at http://www.elca.org/assembly/multimedia.
      2. Late in the evening there will be a blog from communications put out on email (All Member Email — AME) and on the website of Goodsoil
      3. Goodsoil is your source for continuing information during the assembly
    • Audio broadcast, photo galleries, an ELCA News Feed and other multimedia possibilities can be found at www.elca.org/assembly/multimedia.
    • Pictures from each day of the assembly will be posted to the websites of Lutherans Concerned (www.lcna.org) and Goodsoil (www.goodsoil.org)