Social statement on women slated for 2015

Voting members approved a recommendation to develop a social statement on justice for women to be received by the 2015 Churchwide Assembly.

M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration, confers with Presiding Bishop Mark. S. Hanson.

The church has an opportunity to see social statements as evangelism, said Susan Candea, Rocky Mountain Synod. “The [justice for women statement] offers an opportunity to be evangelists.”

Ann M. Tiemeyer, Metropolitan New York Synod, said: “We need a clear, theologically articulated document saying why we need justice for women.” Such a social statement would be “a gift to us, to the ecumenical movement and to the world as a whole,” she added.

In other action, voting members defeated a substitute motion to consider developing a social statement on human disability for 2017, asking that the ELCA Church in Society unit produce a message instead. A message is generally developed within 12 to 18 months at a cost of $20,000, said Rebecca Larson, unit executive director, while social statements take five years and cost $30,000 per year.

The 2011 assembly will consider a social statement on genetics and the 2013 assembly one on criminal justice.