ELCA News Service

A service for journalists and members of the news media

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Although there are still signs of devastation one year later throughout Joplin, Mo., hope remains, said the Rev. Gerald L. Mansholt, bishop of the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     The United States' deadliest tornado in six decades struck Joplin in the afternoon of May 22, 2011. Thousands of homes, businesses and church buildings were reduced to rubble, including Peace Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation there.
     "Joplin is a place of hope and healing," said Mansholt. "It's a community where people have pulled together. The Christian community has been a great source of comfort and encouragement through their own witness and service and in helping the community of Joplin to rebuild."
     Known as a church that rolls up its sleeves and gets to work, the ELCA and its members responded ...(more)

ELCA cultivates students' passion into action to help end malaria
May 18, 2012; 12-31-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kelsey Nulph is a college student passionate about joining the global fight against malaria, and she's not the only one. Students from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are coming up with creative ways to speak out against the disease, which claims the life of a child every 45 seconds.
     To help cultivate that passion into action, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is awarding grants to ELCA campus ministries, colleges and universities to equip and inspire students in their efforts.
     "The child that dies every 45 seconds is not just a number or statistic," according to Nulph, a student at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. "That child is our brother or sister in Christ. The ELCA's commitment to (help) eradicate malaria is one that is exemplary of what Jesus Christ calls us to do as his disciples."
     Students at ...(more)

James Nieman elected president of Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
May 14, 2012; 12-30-MRC/JB*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. James R. Nieman was elected May 14 to serve as the 7th president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He will begin his service Aug. 1. An installation service will be held at Rockefeller Chapel here Oct. 28. The seminary is one of eight of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     In presentations given during the presidential search process, Nieman said that he sees the seminary as distinctly situated in the ELCA to meet challenges facing denominational seminaries. He cited the seminary's core strengths in the vision he outlined for innovative, faithful forms of theological education befitting the church in this time.
     "While our seminaries must form leaders of an ever more diverse variety," said Nieman, "the real purpose of leaders is that they encourage and support bold, creative witness by every disciple in the many places those ...(more)