TIDBITS - Plenary 7

The assembly received greetings from Rev. Dr. Ishnael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. (Bishop Hanson currently serves as president of LWF). He presented "a word of appreciation and a word of encouragement" to the ELCA for its transparency, and the way its members care for one another as it conducts its work. He expressed gratitude for the ELCA's support of an LWF initiative fighting AIDS and other diseases, as well as for opening ELCA colleges and seminaries to overseas Lutherans as part of our mission to the world. He called the mission of LWF "nothing but a miracle of God's amazing grace," to applause from the assembly.