update from Conference of Bishops

Tue Oct 7 12:42:45 EDT 2008

Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,

This past few days (Thursday 10/1 to Tuesday 10/6) I've been at the Fall
Conference of Bishops' meeting. Below is a summary of some of the things
covered for your interest. Feel free to scan and browse to what interests
you. This week has been an insane blast of information and flurry of
conversation; what lies beneath is only a small fraction of it. I've been
careful to only include information that I think might be of use to you.

New Logo

Churchwide has rolled out a fresh approach to the ELCA's graphic identity.
It includes the new tag line: God's work. Our hands. It also includes TV ads
and print ads that are available for your use. The old globe with the ELCA
text circling it is now out. Here are some places to get your started.

*         General page: www.elca.org/godsworkourhands 

*         How to use the new brand and tag line in your congregational
letterhead, business cards, etc:
http://archive.elca.org/emblem/guidelines-expressions.pdf. 

*         Download the graphics for printing or web site:
http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization
/Communication-Services/Our-Brand/Brand-Mark/Downloadables.aspx

*         Ads:
http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization
/Communication-Services/Our-Brand/Ads.aspx 

While not pushing absolute uniformity, they are hoping that synods and
congregations ready to update and keep fresh their letterhead and
publications will use this stuff. Here are some options.

4colorELCA.gifCentral Lutheran Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

God's work. Our hands.

     1988 Main Street w Houston, TX  77060-1239 w 281/875-4716 w
www.coastsynod.org 

Or your address could go at the bottom of the page. Don't copy this above.
The resolution is low. Go the pages I've linked above and create. If you
don't have a graphic designer in your congregation and need some help, give
me a call and I'll get this done for you.

For those who have a branded logo for your congregation already with a
set-in-place letterhead, consider putting this at the bottom of your page:

ELCA Emblem - 4 Color - GIF

Health Care Plan Changes for 2009

1.       Please do this! Members and spouses will again this year be able to
earn money for their Personal Wellness Account. If 75% of us do this in the
first three months in 2009, every congregation in this synod will get a 2%
discount. You and your spouse will be able to earn $400 each: $100 for
taking the Health Risk Assessment and $300 for health improvement
activities. All this is based on research that shows it's cheaper to keep
you from getting sick than it is to deal with you once you are sick.

2.       Deductibles are increasing from $600 to $800 for Member Only, from
$900 to $1,200 for Member Plus Children, and from $1,200 to $1,600 for
Member Plus Spouse and Children. 

3.       Out of pocket limits are increasing from $3,000 to $3,300 for
Member Only and $6,000 to $6,600 for all other categories.

4.       Out of network Plan Share goes from 75% to 65%.

5.       Your pharmacy and dental out of pocket costs will now be
automatically reimbursed from your flexible spending account (if elected)
and Personal Wellness Account (just as are your hospital and medical costs).

Revamping the rules for New Mission Starts

The Conference of Bishops approved three recommendations that are being sent
to the Churchwide Council that we hope will improve our work in starting new
congregations:

1.       To lift the 3-years of parish ministry requirement prior to
becoming a mission developer. 

2.       When a Synodically Authorized Minister is in situations that is
likely to be long-term that person will normally enter candidacy and remain
active in theological preparation.

3.       To align candidacy with the mission developer selection process, so
that strong candidates for mission development will be identified and given
training while in seminary.

Sexuality Study

I missed the conversation on the sexuality study because I was in Galveston
for the work day, but here's what I've been gleaning since I returned: Many
people wish there was a simpler, less academic version of this. There is
positive response to the emphasis on trust. People who don't like it
generally don't like it because it's too general. They're looking for
something more prescriptive (Do this. Don't do that.) There was some
conversation about whether the task force would be recommending changing our
policy with regards to homosexuality or not in February. They're not even
hinting as to what their recommendation will be. Bp Hanson recommended that
synods have budgetary contingency plans in the event that the 2009 assembly
changes the policy and congregations leave. I have already asked our staff
to start working on this, since our income is likely to be down anyway, as
congregations are struggling post-Ike.

ELCA Stats

I'm at the Fall Conference of Bishops meeting. Secretary David Swartling's
report, based on your parochial reports shows some bothersome stats I want
to share with you. Once again our synod is at the bottom of the list of
synod response rates. Please help me lead by giving me good information.
Prioritize this report higher! In 2007 the ELCA lost 22 congregations,
bringing us to 10,448. Membership is down 64,247 or 1.3%. Worship attendance
is down 46,562 or 3.3%. This number more accurately reflects losses I
believe. Congregations just haven't removed them from their rolls yet. In
six years, ELCA worship attendance has declined 13.4%. Adding to all this,
in 2007 the ELCA had 5,854 adult baptisms. Ouch. That's the whole country.
In 2007 the ELCA had 45,239 confirmations. Down 23% from 2000. I know some
think of this as a numbers game. I don't. These aren't numbers; they are
people. Souls. Lives. Disciples. Missionaries. I can't begin to imagine not
being bothered by this trend. 

In contrast to worship attendance and membership, giving is up, marginally.
Total receipts of the congregations that filled out parochial reports for
2007 are up 2.5%. Operating expenses were up 2.3%. Average giving per
confirmed member is $651, up 3.9%. Mission support increased 1%. Of course
these rosy increases are tempered by the fact that the consumer price index
rose 4.1%. The full statistical summary is available at
http://tinyurl.com/ELCAstatistics2007. 

We are witnessing in our time the unraveling of American Mainline
Protestantism. As people of the resurrection we can see in death the gate to
new life. But make no mistake. This is a death. If I am to preside over the
death of American Mainline Protestantism in my middle years, my burning
questions are these: what will be the next expression of the body of Christ?
Non-denominational mega-churches like Lakewood? The ultra-conservative
Pentecostalism of the Global South? (Bishop Akinola advocates the
incarceration of homosexuals. 200 bishops boycotted the Lambeth Conference.)
Will these become the dominant forms of Christianity as Western Roman
Catholicism became the dominant form in the first two millennia (over and
against Gnosticism)? How will we make disciples? I can live without Mainline
Protestantism, but how are we going to grow followers of Christ?

Perhaps this Sunday's gospel is an appropriate corrective. The invited
guests aren't coming. So perhaps it's time to throw open the doors to
everyone and see what happens. 

Disaster Response

There was a lot of conversation about the number of disasters we've had
recently. Fires, hurricanes, Midwest flooding and so forth. Donor response
to disasters is down. We're not sure if it's donor fatigue or the struggling
economy. 

Presidential Election

With the presidential election coming up I encourage you to consider to
promote conversations in small groups, adult ed classes and so forth around
the issues (never promoting a particular candidate). The Washington office
has a resource for this: www.archive.elca.org/advocacy/publicchurch. 

Israel

As you may have heard, ELCA bishops and bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada (ELCIC) are going to Israel in January to be in solidarity
with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land
(www.elcjhl.org). Every January ELCA and ELCIC bishops do a continuing ed
event together. It's usually held at a retreat center in the Chicago area
with a teaching theologian or Bible scholar, so this trip is a unique event.
Costs are covered by my continuing ed budget from this year and last year.
Some of you have asked "Why?" My question as well. There are three stated
purposes:

1.       Accompaniment: To build relationships with the ELCJHL in a part of
the world on which much global conflict hinges.

2.       Awareness: To bring visibility to the ELCJHL's situation, the
global Lutheran communion and LWF's humanitarian work to the ELCA and ELCIC
and the global media.

3.       Advocacy: To uphold the vision of a shared Jerusalem. To seek ways
to promote this vision in the public policy of the ELCA. To equip ELCA and
ELCIC bishops to

a.       Better accompany the ELCJHL

b.      More effectively interpret the dire circumstances of the Christian
community in Israel and Palestinian territories to church members, North
American media and public leaders

c.       Become more effective advocates for a just peace for all persons in
the region

Malaria Initiative

The ELCA, LCMS and LWF have received funding to develop a campaign to raise
$75M. If this is approved at the 2009 churchwide assembly, the ELCA's part
of this is to raise $30M: $20M for malaria and $10M for HIV/AIDS. I'm
particularly excited about this. Malaria is solvable.  

Sorry to go so long. But I've been told if you're not sick of communicating,
you're probably not communicating enough.

Peace,

Mike Rinehart, bishop

P.S. Below is a report from Pastor Debra Halter. We have borrowed Pastor
Halter from the Southeast Synod to help us out.

Please don't send any of the items they've identified without contacting us
first. We don't want them to receive 8 vestments...

Hi, Sandra, Nancy, and Bishop --

Tom Minor assigned me to help lay pastor Paul Zoch at St. Mark in Bridge
City, about 10 miles northeast of Port Arthur. Rather than write a
narrative, I'm bullet listing what I learned today in terms of tangible
need. Please let me know what additional information I can add to what
follows. Thanks.

St. Mark is a small, working class congregation whose church and parsonage
will require partial to full gutting. This process is well underway.
Virtually all congregants have damage of some level, and many have not yet
returned to their homes. Some are living in borrowed travel trailers, some
are living with family. Lay pastor Paul Zoch has had a rough time of it, and
is struggling ... Following is what I gleaned from conversations with him
regarding the church building. My work here is focused on
pastor/church/parsonage. Other volunteers are working more with congregants.

    *Floodbuckets aren't needed. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee's
Disaster Response has been working with the church building, and other
groups are coming this weekend to continue working on the church and
parsonage.
    *Paul has identified some immediate needs. These may be outside the
realm of what LESM/SES can help with, but his wish list includes: clerical
garb, robe and vestments, stoles, paraments, and most immediately some
folding tables and chairs for worship and fellowship. (No pews survived.)
Soon needed will be Sunday School supplies. He hopes to restore normalcy in
Sunday School as soon as he can.
    *I'd like to identify some resources that can help with worship and
fellowship for this struggling congregation. With so many churches in
Houston, Galveston, and other places needing so much attention from the
Texas Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, I think it could be enormously helpful if
we could help out the Bridge City congregation with what they need for
worship and fellowship. It wouldn't require vast sums of money but would be
incredibly healing for the people of St. Mark (which will celebrate its 50th
anniversary come All Saints).
    *Later, I'd like to explore having some sort of angel tree for children
of St. Mark families who lost all their belongings.  

I know everyone's plates stay full, and I don't want to suggest anything
unreasonable. I invite your feedback. Is any part of this kind of help
feasible for us? Bishop and Nancy, would Mississippi and Alabama "Katrina"
and "Gustav" congregations look kindly on helping an "Ike" congregation in
this way?

Thanks.

Deb

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