ELCA Strengthens Variety of Leadership Commitments
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a collaborative ministry project involving many partners the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has provided funding for several initiatives focused on strengthening the church's commitment to multicultural, public life, evangelism and young adult leadership development. In April 2005 the ELCA Church Council designated a total...
Ecumenical Advocacy Days are March 10-13 in Washington, D.C.
by Annie Lynsen, ELCA Washington (D.C.) Office The 2006 Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice will be March 10-13 in Washington, D.C. Under the theme "Challenging Disparity: The Promise of God - The Power of Solidarity," participants will learn about issues important to the religious community and have...
ELCA, PCUSA form Christian publishing partnership
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Congregational Ministries Publishing program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PCUSA) have entered into a partnership in Christian publishing. Together the two publishers will develop a new lifelong faith...
Lutheran Services in America to Be 'Trading Graces' on eBay
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) will host "Trading Graces," its first annual online auction, from noon Feb. 26 to noon March 8 on eBay to benefit Lutheran social ministry organizations across the United States and Caribbean. "Congregations and all sorts of people can partner with Lutheran social...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's Statement on the Life of Coretta Scott King
It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Coretta Scott King, a human rights advocate whose life was filled with both struggle and accomplishment. She learned at an early age what it was like to live in a segregated society by walking five miles a day to...
'Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity' pledges 312 new homes in 2006
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Thrivent Financial for Lutherans committed $21.7 million to Habitat for Humanity International in an effort to build 312 homes across the United States in 2006, said a Thrivent Financial news release. Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity makes the Minneapolis-based Thrivent Financial the single...
Lutherans to Take Part in 'Souper Bowl of Caring'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- This weekend while the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks meet on the field in Detroit to determine the 2006 Super Bowl champion, Lutherans will join with other churches and organizations throughout the United States and Canada to raise funds, collect canned goods and donate service hours to...
Lutheran Men in Mission Ships Thousands of Bibles to Men's Ministries
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), shipped nearly 6,000 Bibles in January to the organization's representatives in the church's 65 synods, according to Doug Haugen, LMM director. Each synod will be able to use six Bibles in...
Wangerin's "Book of the Dun Cow" to premiere off-Broadway
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service A musical adaptation of "The Book of the Dun Cow" by the Rev. Walt Wangerin Jr., Valparaiso (Ind.) University's award-winning author and well-known speaker, will open in an off-Broadway premiere Feb. 4 in New York City. The show will be staged at the...
Kristi Bangert Named Executive Director, ELCA Communication Services
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced Jan. 31 that he has appointed Kristi S. Bangert to a four-year term as executive director, ELCA Communication Services, effective Feb. 1. Bangert, 59, who joined ELCA Communication Services in 1997,...
CLU dedicates George "Sparky" Anderson Field
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service With some 500 baseball fans in attendance Jan. 28, California Lutheran University (CLU), Thousand Oaks, Calif., formally dedicated George "Sparky" Anderson Field, the new home of the CLU Kingsmen baseball team. The field is named in honor of Anderson, a Thousand Oaks resident...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Urges Defeat of 'Budget Reconciliation' Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the leaders of four other mainline church denominations called on the U.S. House of Representatives to defeat the fiscal year 2006 Budget Reconciliation package, which, the church leaders said, cuts safety...
Lutheran agency to host town hall meeting following State of the Union
by John R. Brooks, ELCA News Service Crane's Mill Continuing Care Retirement Community, West Caldwell, N.J., will be the site of a "town hall" meeting on CBS-TV following President Bush's State of the Union message to Congress Jan. 31. The retirement community is a ministry of Lutheran Social Ministries of...
Lutheran theologian featured in TV show on 'The Rapture'
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Discovery Times cable television channel plans to air "The Rapture" several times beginning Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. For the program, producers interviewed the Rev. Barbara R. Rossing, professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and author of...
Extravaganza 2006 coming Feb. 2-6 in Phoenix
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Ministry Network will host Extravaganza 2006, Feb. 2-6 at the Hyatt Hotel in Phoenix. The network is an organization committed to strengthening and empowering adults who work with young people in congregations of the ELCA. "Turned"...
Michael Neils Resigns as Bishop of ELCA Grand Canyon Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced Jan. 26 that Michael J. Neils, bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, resigned as synod bishop and as an ordained minister of the ELCA. Neils informed the synod of his...
Documentary 'Bonhoeffer' focus of centennial celebration of his birth
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born Feb. 4, 1906, in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, took part in the plots planned to assassinate Adolph Hitler. He was arrested, imprisoned and eventually hanged at Flossenbuerg, Germany, on April 9, 1945 -- three...
ELCA Colleges Host 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, will be the featured speaker during the 18th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum held March 10-11 at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. The 2006 forum, "Striving for Peace: Sustaining the Planet," will focus on threats to peace posed by...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Preaches in Historic Ecumenical Service
NEW YORK (ELCA) -- In a culture that values consumerism, fears diversity, seeks unity, demands certainty, shuns ambiguity, accepts deception and is often defined by arrogance and dominance, how do churches today work together to live out their mission? That question was the focus of a sermon by the Rev....
ELCA Prepares First Draft of Possible Social Statement on Education
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Task Force on Education of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has written the first draft of a possible social statement on education. The task force met here Jan. 20-22 to apply what it learned while producing a study document and from responses it received...
