The Tenth Biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was held Aug. 6-11, 2007, at Navy Pier, Chicago. 1,069 voting members participated. A brief, partial summary of actions:

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, 60, was elected to serve a second six-year term as presiding bishop. Hanson fell two votes short of being re-elected on the first or nominating ballot. His second term begins Nov. 1. David D. Swartling, 60, a Seattle attorney, was elected to a six-year term as ELCA secretary. Swartling will succeed the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, who has been secretary since the ELCA was formed in 1987. Almen announced last year he would not seek a fifth term and will leave office Oct. 31.

Assembly Encourages Restraint in Discipline of Congregations, Leaders
The Churchwide Assembly made no changes to ELCA standards for professional leaders, declining proposals that suggested specific policy changes. By a vote of 538 to 431, the assembly asked its synods and bishops to “refrain from or demonstrate restraint in disciplining” people and congregations that call otherwise-qualified candidates in mutual, chaste and faithful committed same-gender relationships, and it called for restraint in disciplining rostered leaders in committed same-gender relationships. The proposal was adopted as a substitute for a recommendation of the Memorials Committee. The Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality is currently developing a social statement on human sexuality for consideration by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. Voting members referred to the task force several memorials regarding same-sex blessings, ELCA clergy standards and other matters. The assembly added an amendment to its referral on clergy standards, directing the task force to “specifically address and make recommendations to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly on changes to any policies that preclude practicing homosexual persons from the rosters of this church.”

“Book of Faith” Initiative Affirmed
The assembly endorsed “Book of Faith: Lutherans Read the Bible,” a five-year initiative to promote study of the Bible. A companion recommendation gave specific suggestions for ways to “invite and encourage all members, expressions, institutions and partners of this church to commit themselves regularly and increasingly to hearing, reading, studying, sharing and being formed by God’s Word.”

The assembly adopted several other proposals—among them were:

+ Evangelical Lutheran Worship was “received with thanksgiving” as this church’s primary worship resource. Released in 2006, about 725,000 volumes of the book have been distributed. (see related article)

+ Called for a churchwide strategy for responding to HIV and AIDS to build on and deepen current denominational engagement with the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world. The ELCA committed $1 million to be used for the strategy’s implementation. The assembly asked the Church Council to consider committing up to $1 million more for implementation of the strategy.

+ The assembly said Lutherans should study the situation in Darfur, Sudan, and advocate to federal officials on behalf of Darfur, a place where the U.S. government has called the mass killing “genocide.” The action praised the presiding bishop for the efforts he and the LWF have made to address the situation in Darfur.

+ Voting members declared their opposition to “any escalation of the war” in Iraq and asked this church to call on the U.S. government to “take immediate and comprehensive steps to end the violence and establish a peaceful, stable, and just society in that country.” They urged the ELCA to engage in “moral deliberation about the situation in Iraq,” urged concern for military personnel and their families, and asked ELCA members to make their views known to members of Congress.

+ The assembly called on the ELCA to recommit to this church’s strategy for engagement in Israel and Palestine, including a call for economic initiatives. Awareness-building, accompaniment and advocacy activities are components of the ELCA strategy, adopted by the Church Council in 2005, and the ELCA “Peace Not Walls: Stand for Justice in the Holy Land” campaign that the 2005 Churchwide Assembly adopted.