ELCA Church Council Adopts Ethics Policies, Health Plan and Reduced Budget
Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church Council adopted a ethics policy for churchwide boards and employees, addressed possible health-plan and benefit changes, and authorized churchwide spending for 2005, during their biannual annual meeting at the ELCA headquarters in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 11-15, 2004.
The ELCA Church Council acts as the highest governing body within the denomination, on the years between biennial churchwide assemblies. During their November meeting, the Council adopted a separate ethics policy for their committees and their employees. According to the ELCA news service, “Both policies address standards such as duty of loyalty, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, care for the interests of the churchwide organization, transactions and reporting, duty to disclose and how violations of the policies may be addressed.”
The council members also approved a preliminary redesign of the ELCA health plan for 2006. The health plan members will be able to participate in a “web-based personal health risk assessment program” in 2005. Some 10,000 ELCA members are already registered on the site: www.elcaforwellness.org.
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For finances, the ELCA members authorized spending for the 2005 fiscal year at $80,578,250: about $4.6 million less than was approved by the 2003 Churchwide Assembly. The reductions were a result of an “estimate decline in funds from congregational mission support” to the church. The Council also authorized a world hunger spending of $16.5 million – equal to that of the 2003 assembly.
Meanwhile, in other business, the Church Council designated the Minneapolis Convention Center as the site for the next 11th ELCA Churchwide Assembly, slated for Aug. 17-23, 2009.
