07/19/2011

2011 Churchwide Assembly Available to All ELCA Members Online

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will be able to follow the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly Aug. 15-19 through a variety of online channels, including live video streaming and social media.

Members can access live video of plenary sessions and, for the first time, daily worship at http://www.twitter.com/ELCA with opportunities for online giving. Updates about the assembly will be posted on the ELCA's Facebook page and released through Twitter.

The theme for the ELCA's 12th churchwide assembly, "Freed in Christ to Serve," expresses "the very heart of our faith," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. Hanson will chair the assembly.

"Freedom is God's gift that has been flowing to us and through us since the day of Christ’s death and resurrection. Through word and sacrament, freedom flows to the center of our being, transforming our very life and making us into servant vessels of the Spirit’s liberating work," he said.

The assembly will be held at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, Fla., site of two previous churchwide assemblies. Voting members will act on a proposed ELCA social statement, "Genetics, Faith and Responsibility," a possible fundraising campaign to support work to contain malaria through the ELCA Malaria Campaign; and a series of proposed implementing resolutions related to a comprehensive report about the ELCA's structure, its interrelationships and its future.

Voting members will also consider proposed resolutions on various topics of significance to the ELCA. The assembly will elect members of the ELCA Church Council, plus various boards and churchwide committees. It will act on budget proposals for 2012 and 2013 and consider various amendments to the constitutions, bylaws and continuing resolutions of the ELCA.

About 1,500 people, including 1,025 voting members, plus staff and visitors will participate in the biennial assembly. Each of the ELCA's approximately 10,000 congregations may send one representative to serve as an official "congregational observer." Voting members are elected by the synods to serve on behalf of the ELCA's 4.5 million members.

Significant funding for the assembly is provided by the churchwide organization with some financial support from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society based in Minneapolis.

Follow the assembly online at http://www.ELCA.org; on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lutherans; and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ELCA. Hashtags for the assembly will be #CWA11 and #ELCA.