ELCA Council Pushes 'Renewing Worship' Project Forward
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly commit the church to continue a plan to renew worship. A part of the plan includes the production of a new book of worship. The Church Council is the ELCA's...
ELCA Council Moves Ethnic-Ministry Strategies Forward
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly approve strategies for ministries among Arab and Middle Eastern people and among people of African Descent, and it recommitted the church to three other ethnic-specific ministry strategies. The Church Council...
ELCA Council Pairs Synods, Conducts Elections
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a plan that would complete a process to pair the 65 synods of the ELCA with one another for churchwide governance purposes. It also elected people to fill vacancies on boards, steering and advisory committees...
ELCA Council Affirms Strategy For Engagement In Middle East
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) affirmed a strategy for ELCA engagement in Israel and Palestine and acknowledged an "urgent" call from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) for action regarding the construction of an Israeli separation...
ELCA Council Drafts, Forwards Three Resolutions on Homosexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) developed and forwarded three resolutions to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this summer. The resolutions address whether or not the church will bless same-sex relationships and whether or not the ELCA will allow people in such relationships...
ELCA, LCMS Discussions Note Surge Of 'Mission Spirit'
ST. LOUIS (ELCA) – Starting new congregations and mission outreach were dominant topics in discussion among leaders of the two largest U.S. Lutheran church bodies meeting here March 30. Twice a year, representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS) meet as the...
Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Honor Seminarian For Essay
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Benjamin J. Dueholm received a $500 grant toward his tuition at the University of Chicago Divinity School for his essay, "Separated by a Common Faith: Dialogue and Proclamation in Light of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification." The Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN) of the...
Theologians Urge ELCA to Support Proposal on Homosexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A growing number of theologians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) signed a four-paragraph statement in favor of the church implementing three recommendations on homosexuality that a task force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality developed for the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in August. There were...
Richard Hanson Elected President of ELCA's Waldorf College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Richard A. Hanson was elected March 30 to become the 14th president of Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa, effective June 1. Hanson is currently dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. The Waldorf College board of regents named...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Links Worship, Leadership
VALPARAISO, Ind. (ELCA) -- The leader of the 5-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) encouraged Lutherans who plan worship services to break down "walls of sin" that divide and to create "tables of reconciliation." That "principal image has shaped my understanding of leadership," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson told...
ELCA Synod Councils Offer Spectrum Of Advice On Homosexuality
[Editors: This story replaces a story that was issued Tuesday, April 5, 2005, under the same headline.] CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As of April 6 the councils of 52 of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offered advice on how the ELCA Church Council should deal...
Declaración Por La Muerte Del Papa Juan Pablo II
"Si nos hemos unido a Cristo en una muerte como la suya, tambien nos uniremos a el en su resurreccion." (Romanos 6:5) Despues de observar una vigilia con tantas personas de todo el mundo, la noticia de la muerte del Papa Juan Pablo II me produce una profunda tristeza. A...
Lutherans Continue Response To Red Lake Community
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response has provided $25,000 to meet the needs of people in the Red Lake community, where a student killed five other students, a teacher and school security guard, and wounded several others at Red Lake High School, Red Lake, Minn., before killing himself on March...
Statement Upon The Death Of Pope John Paul II
"For if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." (Romans 6:5) After keeping vigil with so many around the globe, the news of the death of Pope John Paul II brings me profound sadness....
ELCA Board Plans For Engagement In Israel, Palestine
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission acknowledged an "urgent" request from Lutheran "companions" in the Holy Land, approved a strategy for engagement in Israel and Palestine, and attended to other business when it met here March 18-20. The board...
Lutherans Extend Prayers To The Red Lake Community
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- It "was a day of shock, confusion and sadness," the Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, a pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) serving All Nations Indian Church, Minneapolis, said about March 21, when a student killed five other students, a teacher and school security guard, and...
ELCA Boards Commend Ethnic Strategies To Church Council
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The boards of the Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES) and Division for Outreach (DO) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reviewed two proposed ethnic ministry strategies during their spring meetings this month. Both commended to the ELCA Church Council the strategies, which could...
Lutheran Men In Mission Plans Summer Events, Reaching Goals
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), met here March 17-20 to plan for an assembly and gathering this summer, and for achieving its goal of being "financially self-sufficient by the end of 2005." Much...
Arnison Named Director For ELCA World Hunger Program
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Nancy D. Arnison, Minneapolis, will become director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) World Hunger Program effective July 5. Arnison is completing work for a doctorate in theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Arnison, 49, succeeds the Rev. John Halvorson, who served as...
Lutherans Offer Counseling, Trauma Services In Red Lake
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, St. Paul, is offering professional counseling and trauma support services in Red Lake, Minn., after a student killed five others students, a teacher and school security guard, and wounded several others at Red Lake High School before killing himself March 21. Other...
