The Rev. Neil Harrison, director for the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa), has accepted a Call to serve as the Director for Renewed Evangelizing Congregations at the churchwide office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Chicago effective December 1, 2008.  LAMPa is a partnership of the ELCA Church in Society Program Unit, the seven ELCA synods in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania ELCA agencies and institutions, including social ministry organizations, colleges, seminaries and outdoor ministries.

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Larson, executive director of the ELCA’s Church in Society program unit, said, “During his tenure as director for the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, Rev. Harrison has been a strong personal and public leader.  Working closely with the LAMPa policy council, he has strengthened this program.”

In a communication with Larson, Rev. Harrison stated, “It has been a blessing to serve with Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania at this time in LAMPa’s life.  I will always be grateful for LAMPa, the relationships developed here, and the ministry we have shared.”

Harrison’s new position will integrate a number of what he described as “passions of my journey as a child of God”:  evangelizing, discipleship, giftedness, and social justice.  His involvement with evangelizing dates back to his adolescence when he was a member of the evangelism committee of his home congregation.  Before he entered seminary, he received training as a lay evangelist.  In seminary, he took advanced evangelizing courses.  He sees discipleship and evangelizing as among the most significant challenges facing the ELCA today.

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Bouman, executive director of the ELCA’s Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Program Unit, said, Rev. Harrison’s “...proven gifts of administration and leadership, his heart for social justice, and his passion for discipleship and evangelism in the ELCA will contribute to the transformation and renewal of this church....  A commitment to turn the life of the church’s mission towards people living in poverty, the most vulnerable, the stranger among us is also central to a biblical vision of the church’s outreach.  Pastor Harrison will help link the faith practice of advocacy with the mission of renewed evangelizing congregations.”

Harrison began his work with LAMPa in fall 2006, moving from Loveland, Colorado, where he was in parish ministry.  Pastor Harrison has also served an an elected official – serving two terms as a member of the Davenport City Council before being elected to the Iowa Legislature in 1995.

With nearly 10,500 congregations across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and nearly five million members, the ELCA has 19 state public policy offices that advocate at state legislatures with and on behalf of those without economic or political power. State office work is directed to hunger-related causes such as food and nutrition, shelter and affordable housing, environmental stewardship and justice, employment and income, access to preventative and primary health care, in addition to other issues grounded in the social statements of the ELCA.  LAMPa was the first of these offices, begun 30 years ago.  Its office is located in Harrisburg, the state capital.  This ministry is supported by the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal, the Pennsylvania synods, church affiliated institutions and agencies of the ELCA, and other partner organizations.