Lutherans Participate in Tornado Cleanup Efforts in Northwood, N.D.
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A church building of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and a Lutheran-affiliated health service center in Northwood, N.D., sustained major damage from a tornado that swept through the town Aug. 26. Preliminary damage assessments carried out by the American Red Cross indicated that more than...
Luther Institute honors Ambassador Knut Vollebaek of Norway
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Luther Insititute, Washington, D.C., will present one of its 2007 Wittenberg Awards to Knut Vollebaek, Norway's ambassador to the United States, at a ceremony Aug. 29 at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, Washington. Vollebaek served as Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs and...
ELCA Consults White Pastors Serving Multicultural Congregations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sitting upright at the first desk facing the podium, the trio resembled students -- unmarked by a collective decade of parish ministries. Mentors, each with decades of experience, leaned back from the desk near the windows, each moment learning new things from speakers and from their younger...
Faith & Values Media acquires the assets of Ecunet
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Faith & Values Media, the nation's largest coalition of Abrahamic faith groups dedicated to media production, distribution and promotion, acquired the assets of Ecunet, a nonprofit online network of Christian organizations. LutherLink, an online conferencing network of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),...
Lutheran Disaster Response Responding to Upper Midwest Flooding
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) staff, in partnership with Lutheran leaders and social ministry organizations in southeastern Minnesota and in the area near La Crosse, Wis., has begun its work to assist people affected by severe flooding there. A series of severe storms that dumped more than a...
ELCA Video News: Spirit of Wholeness in Christ
Spirit of Wholeness in Christ: A Racial Ethnic Multicultural Event More than 700 Christians, wanting to see the racial, ethnic and multicultural diversity of their churches, gathered July 12-15 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. Frank Imhoff reports. See the video report at http://www.ELCA.org/news/video.html For information contact: John Brooks,...
Charlie Schwartz, former president of Lutheran Men in Mission, dies
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Charles R. Schwartz, former president of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Aug. 10 of liver cancer. He was 72. Zion Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Texas, held a memorial service Aug. 13. Schwartz is...
NCC names ELCA pastor director for women's ministry
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service The National Council of Churches USA (NCC) named the Rev. Ann M. Tiemeyer, community organizer and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), to the post of program director for women's ministry. She is currently director of Koinonia NYC, an urban...
James Peterson to retire as Gustavus Adolphus College president
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service* Dr. James L. Peterson, president, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., told the college board of trustees Aug. 16 he will retire at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year, capping a five- year term as president. Peterson, 64, will serve through June...
Real Travel with Real People: Lutheran Rick Steves on Meaningful Travel
CHICAGO (ELCA)--Veteran guide Rick Steves believes good travel is meaningful travel. In his 30 years as an author, television host and tour leader, Steves has learned that it's all about meeting people with other views and values. "It's the people that carbonate the experience. If I can't get my travelers...
ELCA Gathers for 2007 Worship Jubilee
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held its second Worship Jubilee Aug. 3-6 here at Navy Pier. The event preceded the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly here Aug. 6-11. The event celebrated the publication of "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" and the future of renewing worship under the theme,...
2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly Addresses Variety of Topics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Tenth Biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) acted on a variety of topics, including a churchwide initiative focused on Bible study, a social statement on education, the ELCA's financial future, an extension of the ELCA's full communion relationship with the Moravian...
ELCA Helps Fund Flood-Relief Efforts in South Asia
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- About 23 million people are believed to be affected in Bangladesh, India and Nepal from what is being described as the worst flooding in "living memory." In response to the floods in South Asia, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has provided an initial $120,000 in...
Lutherans Support Cyclone-Relief Efforts in Madagascar
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Six cyclones have struck Madagascar since December 2006, leaving homes damaged and food supplies sparse. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has provided $25,000 in August to support recovery efforts there. "This is the first time that Madagascar has been struck by so many cyclones in...
ELCA Assembly Elects Council, Committee, Board Members
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 2007 Churchwide Assembly elected leaders Aug. 10 to serve on the ELCA Church Council, and churchwide committees and boards. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, met here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival...
ELCA Assembly Hears From Lutheran Bishop of the Holy Land
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- According to the Rev. Munib A. Younan, the road to peace in the Middle East is not through Baghdad but through Jerusalem. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, spoke Aug. 9 to the 2007 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran...
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....
