Winter 2008-2009 ELCA World Hunger Resource Packet now available
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service To equip the 4.7 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to help end hunger in the world, an ELCA World Hunger Resource Packet is now available. The packet contains a variety of resources to help Lutherans learn more about...
ELCA European American Lutheran Association Constituted
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Forty Lutherans of European descent met here Oct. 30-Nov. 1, approved a constitution and bylaws for a new European American Lutheran Association (EALA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and elected officers and a board for the new organization. "The European American Lutheran Association is...
ELCA, ELCIC Bishops Prepare for Middle East Visit January 6-13
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fifty-nine of the 66 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA secretary, and five of the six bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), Winnipeg, plus spouses and staff will visit the Middle East, Jan. 6-13, 2009. Participants will meet with...
ELCA Board of Pensions Told to 'Stay the Course'
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions trustees at their meeting here Oct. 30-Nov. 2 discussed both the current economic situation and health care issues. Regarding pension investments, John G. Kapanke, president, ELCA Board of Pensions, told the trustees, "It's very important to keep...
Lutherans examine human rights to seek a world free from violence
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service To envision a world free from violence, about 25 Lutherans and other Christians examined the origins and principles of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" at an Oct. 30-31 consultation on human rights. The declaration was adopted Dec. 10, 1948, by the General...
Augsburg Fortress Publishers Announces Changes in Business Model
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Minneapolis, announced Nov. 7 significant changes in its business operations. The publisher will focus its ministry on its "two most important callings"-- group-use materials for congregations, such as faith formation and worship materials, and...
Worldwide Lutherans Commemorate Anniversary of Luther's Baptism in Eisleben
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The congregations of Lutherstadt Eisleben are celebrating the 525th anniversary of Martin Luther's Baptism Nov. 11, 2008, with a worldwide "Baptism Festival." Martin Luther was born Nov. 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. As was the custom, Hans and Margarethe Luther brought their son the next day to...
Global Lutheran Communion Congratulates U.S. President-Elect
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, sent a letter of congratulations Nov. 5 to U.S. Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., on his election to...
ELCA Develops Plan to Help Reconstruct Sichuan, China, after Earthquake
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has developed a $1.6 million plan to help reconstruct areas of China's Sichuan Province devastated by an earthquake that struck earlier this year. The earthquake killed 69,227 people, left an estimated 18,222 people missing and some five million people homeless....
ELCA Presiding Bishop Appeals to President-Elect Obama
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), congratulated President-elect Barack Obama on his election and appealed to him to establish priorities for his administration. The presiding bishop wrote in a Nov. 5 public statement that Scripture is clear about...
ELCA Radio Ministry Features Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the eldest child of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy, is the featured guest Nov. 9 on "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Rev. Peter W. Marty, host and senior pastor of...
Lutheran Communion Issues Pastoral Message on Global Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The executive committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) issued a pastoral message on the global financial crisis denouncing the collective failure of responsibility and accountability on the part of governments, financial institutions and business leaders, and urging LWF member churches to stand in solidarity with the...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Says Church Must Be Heard in Complex Situations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Faith-based organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and its leaders must not relent on their responsibility to agitate for multilateral solutions that ensure fair and just lending and borrowing practices globally, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...
ELCA Radio Ministry Features Head of John Deere
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Robert W. Lane, chairman and chief executive officer, John Deere, Moline, Ill., is the featured guest Oct. 26 on "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Rev. Peter W. Marty, host and senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa,...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks on the U.S. Presidential Election
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed a "high expectation for our public discourse" in the closing weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign. In an Oct. 16 pastoral letter issued to the ELCA, Hanson wrote, "Instead of personal attacks, I...
Theaters, Channel to Show Historic Film about Lutherans, Civil Rights
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Special showings of "A Time for Burning" in Nebraska and New York will coincide with its broadcast on the Documentary Channel. "A Time for Burning" is a landmark civil rights film featuring the struggles of Augustana Lutheran Church, Omaha, Neb., in 1965, and its pastor, the Rev....
Stewardship Tips for Congregations in a Time of Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The fall is generally a time when many congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) invite members to make an annual financial pledge or estimate of giving to the church. But given the current economic downturn in the United States, some Lutherans may find it...
Olsen Named Interim Bishop of ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Southeast Michigan Synod Council, in consultation with the ELCA presiding bishop, named the Rev. Kenneth R. Olsen to serve as its interim bishop, following the Aug. 16 death of its bishop, the Rev. John H.K. Schreiber, and until the synod...
ELCA Fund for Leaders Honors 2008 Scholarship Recipients
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), seminary presidents, churchwide leaders and supporters of the ELCA Fund for Mission honored 33 first-year seminary students Oct. 3 who received full- or partial-tuition scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year through the Fund. Each scholarship...
ELCA Leaders Offer Assurances in Light of Global Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Board of Pensions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is holding steady and not panicking during the current global financial crisis, Board President John G. Kapanke, told the ELCA Conference of Bishops. Kapanke addressed the conference Oct. 3. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is...
