Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990 TAG: 9005190153
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They are attending the third annual Assembly of the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Bishop Richard Bansemer, giving his annual address Friday night at Roanoke College's Bast Gymnasium, said the Virginia Synod appears to be in good health in its third year since a national merger of Lutherans went into effect.
Financial problems have plagued the church nationally with reduction of staff and trimming of many programs. To help offset this, Virginia delegates have been asked to tithe a day's salary on two worship occasions at the convention.
Much of this meeting is concerned with Mission90 , a national effort using a six-video series. It is intended to bring to every congregation principles of seeing, growing and serving as God's people.
Bansemer commended four synod staff members for their ability to handle finances, help parishes fill pastoral vacancies quickly and educate in contemporary issues.
"I continue," Bansemer said, "to receive extraordinary letters both from pastors and lay persons concerned about spiritual matters and relationships. . . . We must fall in love with the God who will not let us go and we must learn what freedom there is in having our wills bound by his will. Until that happens, we will all be facing a perpetual mid-life crisis."
Delegates also heard from the Rev. Morris A. Sorenson Jr. from national headquarters in Chicago.
Sorenson said several signs of vitality in the church make him confident it will bring many people to Christ. He cited these as the Mission90 effort at the grass roots level and lay and professional leaders, a generous sharing of money, including aid for the starving in Ethiopia and victims of Hugo and the California earthquake.
At the opening session, delegates also heard a West German visitor, Hans May, say the successful overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe was largely due to the influence of church-supported movements and agencies working in union.
by CNB