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Please note: The Safe Haven website was created in 1998 and contains valuable information for ELCA congregations. However, it has not been updated and some of the information, resources and references are out of date. For more updated resources and links we would direct you to www.elca.org/safeplace and www.elca.org/legal/congregations/safeguarding.html. |
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| Safe Haven Story: Pennsylvania Lutherans meet, talk about ways to help children.  HARRISBURG, PA (May 4, 2000)…As the soon-to-be-grandmother and other family members stood around the ultrasound machine witnessing the fetal heartbeat of her first grandchild, Terry Bowes said she was swept with the conviction “that anyone who ever broke that tiny heart would have to answer to me.”  “There are children being born this very day into environments of neglect and abuse and violence,” Bowes told Pennsylvania Lutherans gathered for an April 26 Children’s Convocation. “And no one cares if their little hearts get broken or their little lives are ended way too soon. My grandson is no more important, no more loved by God, than these children are. He is simply lucky.” Bowes, first coordinator of the “Help the Children” Initiative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was the keynote speaker for the first-ever convocation of Pennsylvania Lutherans who work with children. Eighty Lutheran representatives of congregations, social ministry organizations, camps, synods, seminaries, and colleges attended the day-long convocation held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Bowes reminded the Lutherans that the “Help the Children” Initiative was one of seven initiatives adopted by the ELCA as a focus for the 21st Century. In selecting children as a churchwide focus, Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson declared that the church needs to “assure the youngest and most vulnerable members of our world that they have a future.” Bowes challenged those gathered to remember that one in five children is living in poverty and that through collaboration “that fifth child” can have a better life. A goal of the convocation was to gather experts and decision-makers from every Lutheran organization in the state to learn more about the needs and the resources available to meet the needs of the Commonwealth’s children. Some shared stories of their work on behalf of children:  Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania has
explored the impact of welfare reform and has worked to reverse the Ridge
Administration’s child care subsidy changes, which have doubled and sometimes tripled
the weekly co-payment from low income working families. Nearly 75% of Muhlenberg College
students, or 1500 students a year, participate in community outreach programs that benefit
children, said Chaplain Peter Bredlau. These programs include tutoring, after-school
clubs, community bike works, and use of many campus facilities by nearby Jefferson
Elementary School. Janet Greenleaf, principal of the Lehigh Valley
Lutheran School, shared that over a quarter of her student population comes from homes
with a single parent. “All of our students are taught to be tolerant of each
other,” she said, “For many of our students, school is the safest, most
accepting place in their lives.” The Trinity Center in Erie, a program of
Bethesda Children’s Home, pulls together programs committed to helping the
“violent and aggressive and angry young people” that neglected and abused
children become, said Gene Wisinski, Bethesda chief executive officer. They also become
parents, and “without our help along the way have no idea how to parent
effectively,” he said. Pastor James Rill reported that Saint
John’s Lutheran Church and Childhood Center in Millheim offers preschool classes, day
care, and after school programs for children attending public school in kindergarten
through sixth grade. For those families in the community who cannot afford day care fees
or tuition, the congregations recently established a Community Scholarship Endowment Fund. The Rev. Conrad Youse, executive director of
the Lutheran Camping Corporation, said he spoke on behalf of all the Lutheran camps in
Pennsylvania when he said, “We are the ones preparing to receive the children who are
mentally retarded, the children who come with their own counselors, the children who are
refugees, the children who show up on our doorsteps with no other place to go, the
children on full camperships.” Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia
plans a summer academy for “deep theological exploration and faith formation”
with high school students. The Rev. William Bixby of the seminary said teenagers often are
passionate about their faith and impatient with the status quo of poverty.During the afternoon of the convocation, Lutherans gathered by geographical areas to talk about ways for the affiliated entities to work and minister collaboratively on behalf of Pennsylvania’s children.  Reporting back, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod representatives
suggested the formation of a statewide children’s initiative council; the Allegheny
Synod representatives asked for congregations and agencies and institutions to strengthen
the advocacy network; the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod suggested continued
collaboration with community organizations and other faith traditions; and the
Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod called for resource pooling.A next step for Lutherans in Pennsylvania will be the formation of a statewide group to look at collaboration efforts and to seek ways to reach out to the Commonwealth’s children in a unified way. Seven of the 65 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synods are located in Pennsylvania. Those synods (Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Allegheny Synod, Lower Susquehanna Synod, and Upper Susquehanna Synod) are made up of 1342 congregations and over 629,000 baptized members. Submitted by: |
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