News Releases

ELCA news releases are detailed accounts describing events and ministries of the ELCA

ELCA Conference of Bishops elects Bishop Yehiel Curry as conference chair

10/04/2023

 The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met Sept. 26-30 at the Lutheran Center in Chicago. The conference, an advisory body of the ELCA, comprises 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and the secretary.

Jeff Johnson elected bishop of the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod

09/17/2023

​The Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, Berkeley, Calif., was elected Sept. 17 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The election took place during the synod assembly, Sept. 15-17, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, Calif. 

Thiemann announces retirement as Portico’s CEO effective Sept. 30

09/12/2023

The Rev. Jeff Thiemann, President and Chief Executive Officer of Portico Benefit Services, has announced that he will retire on Sept. 30 at the end of his third term with the organization.

Lutheran Disaster Response and Lutheran World Relief partner to support farmers and families in newly liberated areas of Ukraine

08/03/2023

​Lutheran Disaster Response, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)'s ministry to provide short- and long-term recovery when disasters strike in the United States and around the world, is responding to urgent humanitarian needs and supporting agricultural livelihood recovery in Ukraine though a $1 million grant to Lutheran World Relief, a Corus International organization.

Bishop Eaton statement concerning Jenin incursions

07/05/2023

​As presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, I join my colleague, the Rev. Dr. Sani Ibrahim Azar, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, in being "deeply dismayed at the ongoing Israeli military incursions into Palestinian communities, especially in the city and refugee camp of Jenin."  

ELCA-LIRS World Refugee Day letter

06/15/2023

​In a joint letter commemorating World Refugee Day, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and LIRS President and CEO Krish O'Mara Vignarajah remind us to "live out the calling of our faith by seeking justice, peace and protection for our refugee and migrant siblings."