Lutheran Disaster Response gives thanks for an inspired response
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Lutheran Disaster Response is celebrating Thanksgiving with ads in newspapers across the United States. "We give thanks for your inspired response to the devastating hurricanes of 2005. We give thanks for your continued support of those still in need, in the months and years...
ELCA Provides Funds to Address Four Emergency Situations Overseas
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided a total of $250,000 Nov. 21 in response to an emergency appeal for funds issued by Action by Churches Together (ACT). The ELCA is a member of ACT -- a global alliance of Protestant and...
'Winter 2006-2007 ELCA World Hunger Resource Packet' available
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service The World Hunger Resource Packet of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) for winter 2006-2007 is now available. The packet contains resources to help individuals, congregations and synods of the church learn more about and participate in ending world hunger. "Each of...
ELCA Conference Explores Christian Responses to Walls, Barriers
WITTENBERG, Germany (ELCA) -- Fifty church and civic leaders from Germany, Mexico, Palestinian territory in Israel and the United States gathered Nov. 8-14 here and in Berlin for a conference exploring Christian responses to walls. More than a dozen presenters shared their perspectives on walls or barriers in their contexts...
St. Olaf College tops list of institutions with students abroad
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., retained its position as the top baccalaureate institution in the United States by number of students who studied abroad in the 2004-2005 academic year. The Institute of International Education, with funding from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of...
Steven Titus, president of Midland Lutheran College, resigns
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service Dr. Steven E. Titus will resign as president of Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, Neb., at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year. Titus, 42, became president of the college in 2002. Midland is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran...
Valparaiso University breaks ground for $74 million Union building
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind., has begun construction of a new Union building on the site of the former Moellering Library. The university's Web site includes a Union project Web page with a webcam of the construction site, video of the news conference announcing the...
Lutheran Pastor, Advisor, Historian, Educator, Richard Solberg, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Richard W. Solberg, an advisor, educator and retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Nov. 15 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Grass Valley, Calif. He was 89. "He was the most remarkable man I have ever known -- incredibly accomplished, well-known...
ELCA Council Prepares for 60th Anniversary of Lutheran World Federation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) called on the church's 65 synods, 10,549 congregations and 4.85 million members to support the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and join in preparations to celebrate the LWF's 60th anniversary in 2007. The Church Council is the ELCA's...
'Windows For Understanding' Lutheran-Muslim-Jewish Relations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and ELCA Global Mission developed an online resource to "create healthier and deeper perspectives for the present and future of Jewish, Muslim and Lutheran relations." "Windows for Understanding: Jewish-Muslim-Lutheran Relations" is at http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/interreligious/windows.html on the...
ELCA Council Adopts Social Policy Revision, Asks for Gaming Policy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted revisions to a longstanding ELCA social policy document to enable greater council participation in the development of ELCA social statements. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority...
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ELCA Council Adopts Lutheran-Orthodox Statement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted "A Lutheran-Orthodox Common Statement on Faith in the Holy Trinity" and suggested the statement be used for guidance and conversations throughout the church and in ecumenical settings. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of...
Lutheran Church Leader, Franklin Drewes Fry, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Franklin Drewes Fry, a Lutheran church leader, ecumenist and retired minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Nov. 5 of leukemia in Summit, N.J. He served 54 of his 78 years as a Lutheran pastor. "Dr. Fry had a profound sense of...
ELCA Council Expresses Regret, Repudiates Anabaptist Condemnations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took an action rejecting past statements attributed to early Lutheran church reformers and expressed "its deep and abiding sorrow and regret for the persecution and suffering visited upon the Anabaptists during the religious disputes of the...
ELCA Council Receives Update on Insurance Alternatives for Congregations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received an update from a task force exploring the possibility of creating a "captive insurance" or risk-sharing program to offer property and casualty insurance coverage to congregations and synods of the ELCA. The Church Council is...
ELCA Council Elects Rebecca Larson, Learns About Other Leadership Roles
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected the Rev. Rebecca S. Larson to serve another four-year term as executive director of ELCA Church in Society, and it received information about two other significant leadership positions at the ELCA churchwide offfice. The Church...
ELCA Council Approves Mission Development Fund, Spending Authorizations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved the establishment of the "Mission Development Fund," a new temporarily restricted fund in the ELCA Foundation, and it approved initial 2007 fiscal spending authorizations for the churchwide organization and ELCA World Hunger. The Church Council...
ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop's Call To 'Moral Deliberation'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the wake of the mid-term congressional elections, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said he hopes ELCA congregations can become places of "moral deliberation" before the country turns its attention to what may be a contentious political environment leading up to...
ELCA Council Affirms New Association, Antiracism, Multicultural Goals
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) affirmed the creation of a European American Association in the ELCA to join the church's five ethnic associations. The council also received a report from the ELCA coordinator for antiracism education and training, and it set...
