Fall 2001

Lutheran Peace Fellowship has been awarded a two year grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries to expand training opportunities in peace-making for young people.

"In April 2001, the LPF board took the bold step to apply for a full-time Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) staff person to greatly expand our work with youth," explains Wendy Alcantara, co-chair of LPF's national board.

"We were fortunate to be able to hire an exceptionally capable and experienced person in Kate Reuer, an LVCer from Minnesota. She began work the last few days of August and is already making a significant impact." (See interview with Kate on page 3 and photo at right.)

The new LPF focus builds on our two-year Leadership Training in Peacemaking program supported by a grant from Aid Association for Lutherans.

The AAL-supported program from Nov. 1999 to Aug. 2001 offered 50 one to three-hour workshops and 18 weekend trainings across the nation to strengthen Lutheran leadership for the Decade for Peace, 2001-2010.

"We felt called to continue this work and to extend it to future leaders, so we began to experiment with adapting our workshops for use in Lutheran seminaries and colleges, and with youth groups, teachers and early childhood educators," states Rev. Jerry Pedersen who played a key role in shaping the new focus. "Our goal is to learn how best to support youth as they seek to be faithful to the gospel call to be peacemakers in a world of conflict and violence."

Rev. Pedersen who was then LPF board chair, initiated the organizing of a weekend training held in February 2001 at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. He previously had led a series of workshops for high school students in Sacramento, California in mid-2000. John Scibilia, ELCA Director for Schools and LPF board member, shared LPF resources with the 2200 Lutheran schools in the US.

LPF's training workshops have used "From Violence to Wholeness" developed by the Pace e Bene Franciscan Nonviolence Center as a core text, along with audiovisuals and a 50-page LPF supplement with additional readings, materials on the Decade for Peace, bibliographies, etc.

"Future Lutheran leaders deserve the best we can offer to bring the gospel of reconciliation to bear on the con-flits and violence they face," asserts Wendy Alcantara. "Yet the training and resources now available are far from adequate. The combination of a full-time LVC volunteer, the Decade for Peace, and the Wheat Ridge grant will help us pursue this new direction in a more serious way."

Kate has already led or co-led nearly a dozen work-shops in Seattle area churches, colleges, and youth groups. She and LPF coordinator Glen Gersmehl will teach a two week course in the inter-session "Discovery Module" at Trinity Lutheran College in early December. She is then scheduled to lead a workshop and meet youth leaders from around the US at the Lutheran Student Movement conference in Phoenix at the end of December.

"The new year will see a sequence of workshops leading up to an intensive training over spring break in March," according to Kate. "For me, one of the most exciting parts about LPF's new youth program is the emphasis on building a network of young people. I am committed to providing support to trainees as they continue their work in their schools and churches."

Wheat Ridge is an independent Lutheran charitable organization that provides support for new church-related health and hope ministries. It is a recognized service organization of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod and an affiliated social ministry organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Wheat Ridge Ministries believes that health and healing involves concern for the whole person--body, mind and spirit. It helps creative and innovative new ministry ideas become realities so that individuals may be served in the name of the healing Christ

LPF's grant runs from Nov. 2001 to Nov. 2003 , with $2,000 covering start-up costs in 2001, $10,000 in 2002, and $8,000 in 2003. Our immediate goal is to raise half of the $17,000 in matching funds that LPF will contribute to the project. "The Wheat Ridge grant and the matching funds from our members and congregations will bring our budget to $67,000 for 2002," according to Alan Forsberg, who became co-chair of LPF in September after three years as treasurer. "That's an increase of over 50% from our budgets of the late 1990s. It's a stretch but sometimes you need to take such a step to be true to your mission."

Church in Society grant to aid LPF…

A Lutheran Brotherhood/Aid Association for Lutherans grant to the ELCA Division for Church in Society will explore perceptions of the special ministry of such organizations as Lutheran Human Relations Association, Lutheran Peace Fellowship, and Lutherans Concerned. The grant will fund focus groups and other means to help each group improve the effectiveness of their outreach through such means as brochures, web sites, displays, etc.