08/31/2011

ELCA presiding Bishop to Visit Flood-affected Congregations in Minot, N.D.

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will visit with ELCA members August 27-28 in Minot, N.D., to learn more about how they are coping following floods that damaged homes and church buildings earlier this year.
Hanson's visit will include surveying church buildings and worshiping with congregations in and surrounding Minot.

"We're thankful for the partnership of the churchwide organization and for Bishop Hanson's visit to see and worship with us," said the Rev. Mark E. Narum, bishop of the ELCA Western North Dakota Synod, Bismarck.

Narum said the flood devastation in and surrounding Minot "is unfathomable." Preliminary estimates for four ELCA congregations impacted by floods "is now over $3 million, and there's no insurance coverage," he said. "And depending on the congregation, anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of parishioners have severely damaged homes. The internal capacity to rebuild is really limited."

In the midst of their own personal situations, Narum said ELCA members have committed time to taking care of their church building. Members of Augustana Lutheran Church in Minot "have completely gutted the upstairs of their facility including the sanctuary, offices and fellowship areas. The entire upstairs has been stripped down to concrete, brick and cinder block," said Narum. "Members did this at night, and it took about seven nights."

On August 24, pastors from Burlington, Minot and Surrey, N.D., gathered for Holy Communion.

"Worship was powerful," said Narum. "Part of this service was to light the eternal flame candle in a completely barren sanctuary except for the stone altar, which is the only thing there. The flame symbolizes Christ's light in this dark time," he said.

Pastors from these areas have been gathering weekly "to check in, pray and just to be together," said Narum, adding that pastors have been meeting "since before the water went over the dikes."

In addition to lighting the eternal flame, Narum said worship included using communion ware that was presented to them August 17 by Hanson on behalf of the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

As a sign of this church's commitment to congregations and members impacted by storms this year, Hanson presented a set of communion vessels to ELCA synods that had church buildings either destroyed or severely damaged by flooding and tornadoes.

In the presentation, Hanson asked bishops of three synods to come forward to accept the communion vessels on behalf of the assembly. The bishops were Narum, the Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, and the Rev. Gerald L. Mansholt, bishop of the ELCA Central States Synod, Kansas City, Kansas.

"Every time (the communion vessels) are used, may they remind you of the unity we share in Christ Jesus, of the centrality of worship in the life of this church, and of the ongoing support of your brothers and sisters in Christ," Hanson told the synod bishops at the assembly.

Tornadoes destroyed the property of Christ Lutheran Church in Cullman, Ala., and Peace Lutheran Church in Joplin, Missouri.

Four church properties in and surrounding Minot were heavily damaged by flooding: Peace Lutheran Church in Burlington and Augustana Lutheran Church, Christ Lutheran Church and First Lutheran Church in Minot.

"One of the foundation principles of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is interdependence, the acknowledgment that it is only in partnership together that congregations, synods and the churchwide organization are this whole church," said Hanson.