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Lisandro Orlov, Bono Highlight ELCA Global Mission Event Session
AMHERST, Mass. -- The church must be the place where all people can find their home including those who are often outcast, said the Rev. Lisandro Orlov, United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Latin American regional coordinator, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) HIV/AIDS campaign. Orlov was a speaker to some 1,300 participants at the 2006 Global Mission Event (GME) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during a July 29 plenary session.
Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church and endorsed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the event brings together participants of all ages from the United States and around the world July 27-30 here at the University of Massachusetts. The GME features plenary and workshop sessions, keynote presenters, global music and worship under the theme "Sent! by God's grace for the sake of the world."
"Are we really open to all who are different than us?" Orlov asked his audience. He challenged participants to be an alternative voice in the world. "We are the church of the amazing grace of God," he said. "Our mission is to say to all people, 'You are citizens of the kingdom of God.'"
A video message from Bono, of the musical group U2, encouraged participants to commit to the work of the ONE campaign against poverty and hunger. "God is in the slums; God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war," Bono said in the video. "One of things I'm most proud of in my life now is to see the church work for justice as well as charity."
The ONE Campaign is an effort supported by the ELCA, the Episcopal Church and other organizations to rally Americans to the cause of ending poverty and achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and create a global partnership for development.
The session included a panel discussion addressing the role of the church in the fulfillment of the MDGs and issues of poverty and hunger around the world, featuring: Alex Baumgartner, the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, New York; Emily Freeburg, Lutheran Office for World Community, New York; Kim Stietz, director for international policy, ELCA Washington Office, Washington, D.C.; and Mary F. Brennan, world mission interpretation and networks officer, the Episcopal Church, who moderated.
"I really believe that we're the first generation that can end extreme poverty," Freeburg told participants, calling especially on the young people in the audience to "take this challenge to heart and live it."
"Our church is deeply committed to the MDGs," Baumgartner said, adding that listening to Orlov and the Scripture reading "really put me in mind of the fact that the church is an institution that can't have walls whatsoever. It can't have boundaries."
Stietz echoed the other panelists' support of the MDGs. "I think historically our churches as institutions have been very engaged and doing very well with charity and giving to our brothers and sisters throughout the world," she said, explaining that advocacy is different than traditional charity and giving. "It's using your voice in total engagement to make lasting, just change." Stietz challenged participants to consider advocacy as part of "our DNA as Lutherans, as well as Episcopalians."
The Rev. Randall R. Lee, executive, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, opened the session, highlighting the full communion relationship between the ELCA and Episcopal Church. "One of the fruits of our full communion relationship with the Episcopal Church is this gathering itself, and the work that we do together to further the mission of God in the world," he said.
--Worldwide Faith News
AMHERST, Mass. -- The church must be the place where all people can find their home including those who are often outcast, said the Rev. Lisandro Orlov, United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Latin American regional coordinator, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) HIV/AIDS campaign. Orlov was a speaker to some 1,300 participants at the 2006 Global Mission Event (GME) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) during a July 29 plenary session.
Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church and endorsed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the event brings together participants of all ages from the United States and around the world July 27-30 here at the University of Massachusetts. The GME features plenary and workshop sessions, keynote presenters, global music and worship under the theme "Sent! by God's grace for the sake of the world."
"Are we really open to all who are different than us?" Orlov asked his audience. He challenged participants to be an alternative voice in the world. "We are the church of the amazing grace of God," he said. "Our mission is to say to all people, 'You are citizens of the kingdom of God.'"
A video message from Bono, of the musical group U2, encouraged participants to commit to the work of the ONE campaign against poverty and hunger. "God is in the slums; God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war," Bono said in the video. "One of things I'm most proud of in my life now is to see the church work for justice as well as charity."
The ONE Campaign is an effort supported by the ELCA, the Episcopal Church and other organizations to rally Americans to the cause of ending poverty and achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and create a global partnership for development.
The session included a panel discussion addressing the role of the church in the fulfillment of the MDGs and issues of poverty and hunger around the world, featuring: Alex Baumgartner, the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, New York; Emily Freeburg, Lutheran Office for World Community, New York; Kim Stietz, director for international policy, ELCA Washington Office, Washington, D.C.; and Mary F. Brennan, world mission interpretation and networks officer, the Episcopal Church, who moderated.
"I really believe that we're the first generation that can end extreme poverty," Freeburg told participants, calling especially on the young people in the audience to "take this challenge to heart and live it."
"Our church is deeply committed to the MDGs," Baumgartner said, adding that listening to Orlov and the Scripture reading "really put me in mind of the fact that the church is an institution that can't have walls whatsoever. It can't have boundaries."
Stietz echoed the other panelists' support of the MDGs. "I think historically our churches as institutions have been very engaged and doing very well with charity and giving to our brothers and sisters throughout the world," she said, explaining that advocacy is different than traditional charity and giving. "It's using your voice in total engagement to make lasting, just change." Stietz challenged participants to consider advocacy as part of "our DNA as Lutherans, as well as Episcopalians."
The Rev. Randall R. Lee, executive, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, opened the session, highlighting the full communion relationship between the ELCA and Episcopal Church. "One of the fruits of our full communion relationship with the Episcopal Church is this gathering itself, and the work that we do together to further the mission of God in the world," he said.
--Worldwide Faith News
