ELCA Worship Team Plans for Future

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The mission of the worship team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to "lead, encourage and support the worship of God" in the church, the Rev. Paul R. Nelson, director for worship, told members of the ELCA's Church Council.  The council heard the worship plan at its, meeting here Nov. 14-16.
     Church Council members heard an update about a new African American hymnal to be available in 1998.  The 550-page African American hymnal, supplement to the "Lutheran Book of Worship," includes 350 African and African American hymns, prayers and three liturgies.  "The book is a joint project between the ELCA and the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod," said the Rev. Karen M. Ward, associate director for worship.  The primary publisher for the book will be Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the ELCA.
     The ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries is "thankful for the work of the African American hymnal steering committe.  The book is now in the draft stage.  We are hopeful that the draft materials will be approved by our parnters in the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod to allow joint publication of the hymnal," said the Rev. Wyvetta Bullock, executive director for the division for congregational ministries.
     The church will develop a process toward a next generation of worship resources that may follow the "Lutheran Book of Worship," Nelson reported.
     The latest product of the worship team ready for churchwide distribution is "The Use of the Means of Grace: A Statement on the Practice of Word and Sacrament."  Recent additions were made to the statement.
     We have added to the statement a very brief study guide or "study helps" to aid people responsible for planning study sessions about sacramental practices in congregations, said Nelson.  A goal of these study sessions is to "help those who study think through their own understanding, appreciation, and use of the means of grace within their congregational setting." Study sessions will help students compare local congregational practices with the principles in the statement and suggest possible changes that might enrich the sacramental life of the congregation.
     "We are in the process of designing support materials" for the statement, said Nelson.  "The one we are working hardest on is a video resource that will allow people to see what other ELCA congregations are doing.  We think this is especially important because some of the practices in the statement are unfamiliar to a lot of congregations.  When we talk about communing very young children or infants, for example, a lot congregations say, we'll consider that if we had any idea how to do it," Nelson said.  The video will feature congregations who do that regularly, he said.
     "Also a very high priority are materials that will prepare children and their families for Holy Communion," said Nelson.  "The statement now opens even lower age participation, but we do not have any resources," he said.
     The Lutheran church recognizes the Lord's Supper and Baptism as sacraments -- sacred acts instituted by Jesus Christ.  "The Use of the Means of Grace" was approved at the church's fifth biennial assembly in Philadelphia Aug. 14-20, 1997.
     Worship is "the encounter with God's saving work through Word and Sacraments where the whole of human life is centered and organized around the crucified and risen Christ, where the Church of Christ 'the assembly of the saints,' is created and where its mission for the world is rooted and nourished," according to Nelson.
     In the next four years the church will develop worship materials, train worship planners and leaders, research and evaluate ELCA worship practices and needs.
     The plan "exists to try and lay out the working principles for the worship team and then to do some long-term scheduling of the way projects fit together," said Nelson in an interview.  "The plan projects for us how to responsively develop worship resources for the ELCA in a way that is reliable and credible to our constituencies," he said.

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