Forms:
An early step in calling a rostered leader is completing a Congregational Mission Profile, a document that describes your congregation's history, ministry, membership, community, and leadership needs. The form has a new look and is more explicitly focused on mission. The intent is to help a congregation to call the leader that can best serve the congregation as it lives out the Good News of God in its community. Hence, a Congregational Mission Profile is essential because of the role it plays in expressing who your congregation is now and what you want your ministry to look like in the future.

Process:
Often, those who read your congregation's profile may not know anything about your ministry or community. The Congregational Mission Profile is not only an opportunity to tell people you may wish to call about your congregation, but can also help a congregation reflect on its identity, ministry, and mission during a time of transition.

The profile is divided into five parts:

Congregation Information
Ministry Practices and Structure
Mission in the Community
Where is God Leading Us?
The Leader We Seek

Prior to completing the profile, it might be helpful to read through it first and do research by locating, for example, your congregation's annual reports. The Congregational Mission Profile will ask you to summarize information on your congregation and community. This information, found in your congregation's current Congregational Trend Report and Demographic Data for Your Zip Code Report, is immediately available on the Internet at www.elca.org/re.  You will need your congregation's ID number and synod code to access the demographic reports for ZIP Codes your congregation serves. The congregation ID number and synod code can be obtained from your pastor, an ELCA Yearbook, or your synod office.  (Click here to look up information on your synod office).   Reports can be obtained via mail by calling the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation at 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2990.

Additional Information:
You may contact the synod office to request the Congregational Mission Profile, order it from Augsburg Fortress at 1-800-328-4648 (order number: 6-0001-1983-6), or download it from the Web page of the Department for Synodical Relations here.

If you have any questions about the content of the questions, contact your synod office for information. If you have questions about downloading forms, please call the ELCA at 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2553.

Instructions for Downloading
The Congregational Mission Profile is now available on-line. Please refer to the instructions below to make downloading as easy as possible.

Many forms used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been created in a program called Formatta and it is necessary to have Formatta Filler 6.0 installed on your computer before you attempt to access the forms. Choosing the version most appropriate for you depends, in large part, on your Internet connection. People using a slower connection, such as a dial-up modem, will probably want to use the smaller file [Formatta Filler]. People with a DSL line, cable modem, or other high-speed connection will more likely choose the larger file [Full Formatta Filler] which has a spell-check feature and dictionary. Click the appropriate link and OPEN the file. An installation program will place Formatta Filler on the ‘C’ drive of your computer in the Program Files folder.

NOTE: If your browser or Internet Service Provider interferes with the installation program, you can choose SAVE THIS PROGRAM TO DISK. Put the installation program [FormattaFiller.exe] on your DESKTOP and double-click the FormattaFiller icon when the download is complete. The program will install as described earlier. Once the installation is complete you can delete the FormattaFiller.exe icon from your DESKTOP as this is only run once.

When the installation process is complete, Formatta will open with an ELCA.org splash screen. The splash screen will disappear momentarily and you will find either a Personal Information form or a blank form.

Once Formatta Filler is installed on your computer, getting the form is a simple matter. YOU MUST BE ON-LINE TO GET THE FORMS. [If Formatta Filler is not open, click the START button on your computer, then PROGRAMS or ALL PROGRAMS and scroll to FORMATTA FILLER 6.0. Click FORMATTA FILLER 6.0 to open.] Formatta Filler opens with an empty form and several icons at the top of the page. Immediately to the left of the ELCA.org button at the top of the screen is a small down-arrow. Click the arrow and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on MOBILITY FORMS FOR ELCA ROSTERED PERSONS and you will be linked to the page with form. Clicking on the form you desire should cause it to “pop” open.

NOTE: If you have difficulty opening the forms as described above, you can RIGHT-CLICK on the form name. Choose to SAVE the form and put it in the "My Forms" folder, which is in "My Documents." When you open Formatta Filler, click the OPEN icon and the forms will be there. Double-click the form to open it and begin work.

When you first open a form, it is a good practice to save the form with a unique name. To do so, click FILE in the upper-left corner and then click SAVE AS. Change the file name to something unique, such as “MartinLuther-App.pff” and click SAVE. The forms are now saved on your computer and you do not need to return to the Web site to work on them.

To open Formatta and begin work on a form, click START, then PROGRAMS or ALL PROGRAMS and then scroll to FORMATTA FILLER 6.0. Click to open and then click the OPEN icon at the top of the empty form. The “My Forms” directory will open and all of the forms you have saved will be listed. Double-click the form you want to work on and begin filling. To save your work in progress, simply click the SAVE button at the top of the page and your current work will be saved.

11 November 2004