ELCA Assembly Calls for Recommitment to Israel, Palestine Strategy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2007 Churchwide Assembly called on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to recommit to the Churchwide Strategy for Engagement in Israel and Palestine, through awareness-building, accompaniment and advocacy activities. The assembly also suggested some possible economic initiatives in its amended action on Aug. 11. The...
ELCA Assembly Adopts 21 Changes to Constitution, Bylaws
CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly Aug. 11 adopted 21 amendments to the church body's Constitution and Bylaws -- 20 by a wide margin in an "en bloc" recommendation and one separately. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting...
ELCA Assembly Receives Multicultural Ministries Report
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At the constituting convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 20 years ago, the church set a goal that 10 percent of its membership be people of color and/or whose primary language is not English. Today the church has arrived at three percent, reported the...
ELCA Assembly Elects David Swartling Secretary of the ELCA
CHICAGO (ELCA) - David D. Swartling, a trial lawyer from Seattle, was elected Aug. 11 to a six-year term as secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the church body's 2007 Churchwide Assembly here. Swartling, 60, was elected to the position after a series of five ballots....
ELCA Assembly Hears Bible Study on Lutheran Ethics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Marit Trelstad, associate professor, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., provided wisdom for "turbulent times" in the Aug. 11 Bible study at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here...
ELCA Assembly Honors Lowell Almen With Servus Dei Medal
CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, secretary, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was honored with the Servus Dei Medal during the 2007 Churchwide Assembly. The Servus Dei (Servant of God) Medal is given to honor retiring officers of the ELCA. Tributes were showered upon Almen, who inaugurated...
2009 ELCA Assembly Scheduled for Minneapolis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is set for Aug. 17- 23, 2009, at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minn. A formal announcement of the 2009 site was made as the 2007 assembly ended Aug. 11. The 2007 Churchwide Assembly,...
ELCA Assembly Receives Report from Lutheran Disaster Response
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In response to the 2005 hurricane season, particularly to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) contributed more than $27 million to support disaster response efforts, reported Heather L. Feltman, executive director, Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), at the 2007 ELCA Churchwide...
ELCA Assembly Listens to Youth Voice at Assembly
CHICAGO (ELCA) - Youth leaders were selected by their regions to participate in the 2007 Churchwide Assembly, absorbing the process and nurturing their gifts through the Youth Convocation. The 36 students from 25 states and Puerto Rico, entering 10th through 12th grade, shared their experiences with the assembly in a...
ELCA Assembly Encourages Restraint in Discipline of Congregations, Leaders
CHICAGO (ELCA) - While the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) made no changes to its standards for its professional leaders during the 2007 Churchwide Assembly, it encouraged restraint in disciplining people and congregations that call ministers in mutual, chaste and faithful, committed, same-gender relationships, and called for restraint in...
ELCA Assembly Approves Budgets for 2008 and 2009
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved budget proposals Aug. 10 for 2008 and 2009 The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6- 11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people are participating,...
ELCA Assembly Requests Clarification of Bishops' Accountability
CHICAGO (ELCA) - In action on Aug. 11 at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the assembly asked synod bishops to discuss their accountability "to the adopted policies, practices and procedures of the ELCA." The assembly requested that a statement of such accountability be...
ELCA Assembly Requests HIV and AIDS Strategy Development
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution Aug. 8 calling for a churchwide strategy for responding to HIV and AIDS to build on and deepen current denominational engagement with the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world. The...
ELCA Assembly Acts to Strengthen the Church's Financial Future
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Striving to strengthen the future financial resources of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly accepted a report with recommendations Aug. 10 from the ELCA Blue Ribbon Committee on Mission Funding -- a committee appointed to study the funding policies and practices...
ELCA Assembly Receives Greetings from Ecumenical Guests
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- During the 7th plenary session of the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Aug. 9, representatives from church bodies in full communion with the ELCA extended their greetings to assembly voting members. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA,...
ELCA Assembly Continues Bible Study on Sexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. David L. Tiede told the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that the greatest promise, richest gift received is the presence of Christ. Tiede, professor of vocation and religion, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, led Bible study Aug. 8-9 at the assembly....
ELCA Assembly Hears Greeting from ELCIC National Bishop
CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Raymond L. Schultz, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), asked Lutherans in the United States to work with Canadian Lutherans to "exercise a mutual prophetic stewardship" on domestic and international issues. Addressing the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in...
ELCA Assembly Narrows Field for Secretary to Three
CHICAGO (ELCA) - A seminary president, an attorney and an ELCA staff member remain on the ballot for the post of secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) after three rounds of voting. In the third round of balloting, the Rev. Michael L. Cooper- White, president of the...
ELCA Assembly Greeted by Lutheran Youth Organization
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The high-school-age members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly together can transform the ELCA into something relevant and meaningful to all of God's people. That was the message from the president and vice president of the Lutheran Youth Organization...
ELCA Assembly Adopts Education Social Statement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted, by a vote of 949 to 35, a social statement on education addressing issues of children's faith formation, quality of U.S. public schools, and support for Lutheran schools and campus ministries Aug. 10. The...
