Lutheran World Agencies Celebrated

     PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation's birthday party came to the village square constructed at the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  The assembly met here Aug. 14-20.  The LWF, founded just after World War II to help bind up the wounds of that conflict, now comprises 124 member churches all over the world.
     The LWF was one of four international service ministries celebrated at the ELCA assembly. The ELCA's own World Hunger Program, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) -- the international relief and development agency -- and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) also made presentations to the more than 1,000 voting members of the assembly.
     ELCA World Hunger Fund received nearly $12 million in 1996, said the Rev. John Halvorson, director of the program.  Congregational giving is down, he said, noting that 80 percent of the ELCA's world hunger funds come from congregations. Halvorson said the organization was able to "keep Chicago-based overhead to six percent" of the group's total budget.
     The LWF and LWR each receive about $4 million annual from the fund, Halvorson said, as he thanked assembly participants for "being a channel for God's compassion and God's justice."
     Lutheran World Relief, a cooperative program that also involves the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has helped bring "much good" out of the "great evil" of World War II, said Kathryn Wolford, LWR executive director, addressing the assembly.
     Ralston Deffenbaugh, LIRS executive director, said his organization had resettled 7,640 persons last year, many of them refugees from the conflict in Bosnia.  "You cannot change the past," Deffenbaugh said, "but through the ministry of LIRS Lutherans help shape the future."
     ELCA Vice President Kathy Magnus presented a certificate to Musimbi Kanyoro, LWF executive director for women and church in society, honoring the LWF's half-century of service.  "Our pride is exploding to know that we are so well-represented" in international mission and service, Magnus said.
     Since its founding by fewer than 40 Lutheran churches, nearly all of them northern European and American denominations, the LWF has expanded to include churches in all parts of the world.  It's most recent assembly in July was held in Hong Kong, the first time such an assembly had been held in Asia.
     Previous LWF assemblies have met in Europe, North America, South America, Scandinavia and Africa.

For information contact:

Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html