ELCA Pastoral Visit to India & Thailand: This blog

This ELCA pastoral visit is intended to demonstrate solidarity with companion churches in this time of crisis following the devastating tsunami. Team members will listen to local voices as they assess the needs for short-term relief and look to longer-term community building needs. Through this, the ELCA and its constituencies can gain an understanding of the scope of relief work in which we are involved together with various international agencies.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

This blog

Six ELCA staff members left Chicago today to join 4 others in a pastoral visit to India and Thailand. ELCA staff members include: Joseph Chu (Director for Mission Interpretation and Support-Asia Pacific, Division for Global Mission), Belletech Deressa (Dir. for International Development and Disaster Response, Division for Global Mission), Sue Edison-Swift (Assoc. Director for Interpretation, Department for Communication), The Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla (Executive Dir., Division for Global Mission), The Rev. David Miller (Executive Dir., The Lutheran magazine), The Rev. Frederick Rajan (Executive Dir., Commission for Multicultural Ministries).

Other members of the delegation include:
Leslie Weed-Fonner, Asia regional representative for DGM
Daniel Chelliah, Lutheran World Relief
Lowell Gretebeck, mission personnel with the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC)
Pr. Tokuhiro, representing JELC