Who bears responsibility?Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. ago, the American Lutheran Church The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, the ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House (est. , the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was a U.S. church body that existed from 1976 through the end of 1987. The AELC formed when approximately 250 dissident congregations withdrew from the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1976, and ended as an , and the Lutheran Church in America The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was a U.S. Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press. met in Columbus, Ohio, to form a new Lutheran church. As a result, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by the merging of three churches and currently having about 4. began its life January 1, 1988. While there has been much to celebrate in the ELCA's common witness to Jesus Christ, lament has also characterized its life together. The church has lamented the decline in total membership and can no longer claim to be a communion of 5 million plus. And although congregational giving continues to increase, benevolence commitments to synods, the ELCA ELCA Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ELCA European Landscape Contractors Association ELCA Excimer Laser Coronary Angioplasty ELCA English Language Communicational Association (Japan) ELCA Eagle's Landing Christian Academy , and its various institutions and agencies have been stagnant at best. Who bears responsibility in the church for membership decline, a lack of growth in benevolence, or any number of other matters that could be cited? My experience has been that responsibility for given challenges or problems is always assigned somewhere else. The tradition of blaming takes over. Seminary professors and administrators locate responsibility in congregational, synodical, and/or churchwide leadership. Congregational pastors and other rostered leaders point to the seminaries, the synods, and the denomination. Synodical bishops and churchwide leadership follow suit. In many instances, the result is that valuable time, energy, and creativity are wasted in addressing missional challenges or problems. In my judgment, the church would be much better served in addressing contemporary issues in the church's ministry if we changed the question. Instead of asking "Who bears responsibility?" the question should be "What is the responsibility that we bear?" as public leaders in the church serving in a variety of places? Changing the question would invite the church's leaders to "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of the other's eye" (Matthew 7:5). In addition, it would contribute to an environment in which all share responsibility, all reflect self-critically, and all seek faithful and more effective collaborative approaches to theology and mission in the twenty-first century. Thanks be to God for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for our shared life in and through the church! James Kenneth Echols President Lutheran school of Theology at Chicago The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Its degree programs include Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Philosophy. |
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