Lutheran Services in America

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 14, 2005

ELCA Assembly Hears LSA Leader
CWA-42-05-JS

Jill Schumann heads an organization that serves nearly 6 million people annually.

     ORLANDO, Fla. (ELCA) - The 2005 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) heard greetings from Jill M. Schumann, the president of Lutheran Services in America (LSA), an umbrella organization for nearly 300 independent Lutheran health and human service organizations in 3,000 communities across the United States and the Caribbean. The $7 billion organization provides services to nearly 6 million people annually - about one in 50 Americans.
     The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here August 8-14 at the World Center Marriott and Convention Center. About 2,300 people are participating, including 1,018 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever."
     Schumann, who was recently named for a third year in a row to the Non-Profit Times magazine list of the 50 most influential people, reported for the eight-year-old Baltimore-based organization. She said that LSA's focus is to provide a coordinated Lutheran identity for the many member organizations and to connect the social ministries with each other and congregations.
      Schumann invited voting members to visit the LSA Web site (www.lutheranservices.org) to view a national database of social ministry services, which is searchable by type of service and location. Describing a new initiative for LSA, Schumann asked voting members to support a national Lutheran affordable housing initiative. "Lutherans have an enormous presence in housing," she said, describing how congregations are also getting involved in housing issues "by developing, building or staffing places that people can call home." LSA launched a multi-phase housing initiative designed to survey LSA members and Lutheran congregations to gather information about existing housing efforts. "This is no small task," she continued, "so please let us know of Lutheran congregations involved in affordable housing."
     Finally, Schumann introduced a new project called "Trading Graces," a nationwide "signature event" to be based on the electronic auction Web site eBay.   "Lutheran social ministry organizations will be gathering items and services to auction," explained Schumann, "and we'll list them all on our Web site preview gallery." The "first annual" auction is slated to take place following a February 26-March 8 preview. "The project is called Trading Graces," she said, "because everyone has something to give."

     Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.elca.org/assembly/05 on the Web.

For more information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news