ELCA Presiding Bishop Expresses Gratitude For Rural Ministry
DUBUQUE, Iowa (ELCA) -- Saying he wanted to express "a profound word of gratitude for your ministries," the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) addressed nearly 250 people here March 13 at the opening session of the 24th annual Rural Ministry Conference. The Rev. Mark S....
ELCA Bishops Advise Approving Agreement With United Methodists
DALLAS (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) advised its church to commit to "interim Eucharistic sharing" with the United Methodist Church, a step that may lead to a full-communion agreement between the two churches sometime in the future. The ELCA Conference of...
ELCA Boards 'Mixed' About Recommendations On Homosexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The two boards of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society (DCS) and Division for Ministry (DM) met here March 10-12 in small groups and in plenary sessions, together and separately, and drafted a joint response to a report and three recommendations...
ELCA Bishops Hear Concerns, Surplus News From Presiding Bishop
DALLAS (ELCA) -- While expressing gratitude for leaders in the church who prepared the report and recommendations on homosexuality released Jan. 13, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) raised some concerns about the recommendations in his report to the ELCA Conference of Bishops. The Rev....
Elliott Named Editor For 'Lutheran Woman Today' Magazine
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Katherine Sprutta Elliott will become the third editor of "Lutheran Woman Today" effective April 1. Lutheran Woman Today is the magazine of Women of the ELCA, the women's organization of the church. Elliott succeeds Nancy J. Goldberger, who became editor of Lutheran Woman Today in 2001. Nancy...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Questions Morality Of Federal Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), challenged the values reflected in the federal budget that U.S. President George W. Bush proposed for 2006. Hanson and four other church leaders...
ELCA Bishops Told 2004 Financial Results 'Mixed'
DALLAS (ELCA) -- Overall financial results for 2004 were "mixed" for the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, in a report here March 5 to the ELCA Conference of Bishops. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the...
ELCA Bishops Send Message To Church On Sexuality Recommendations
DALLAS (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), acknowledging its members are "not of one mind" on issues related to homosexuality, sent a message to the church at the conclusion of its spring meeting here. The conference urged the church to affirm two...
Mensaje De Pascua Del 2005 Del Obispo Presidente Mark S. Hanson
"Jesus entro y, poniendose en medio de los discipulos, los saludo diciendo: !Paz con ustedes"! (Juan 20:19). Jesucristo resucitado se aparece a sus discipulos la noche de Pascua. Escondidos tras puertas cerradas con llave, ellos se sienten aterrados. ?Se puede dar una descripcion mas adecuada que esta de nuestro contexto...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's 2005 Easter Message
"Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.'" (John 20:19) The risen Christ appears to his disciples on Easter evening. Behind locked doors, they are terrified. Is there a more apt description of our contemporary context than this? We are fearful people: frightened by the possibility...
17 Theologians Urge ELCA To Reject Proposal On Homosexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Seventeen theologians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) issued "A Statement of Pastoral and Theological Concern" March 1, warning their church against accepting three recommendations on homosexuality that a task force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality developed for the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in August....
ELCA, Starlight Home Entertainment Initiate Agreement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Starlight Home Entertainment, Inc., Los Angeles, entered into a new agreement in February to make select original episodes of "Davey and Goliath" available on DVD for the public. Davey and Goliath is a classic stop-motion animated television series starring...
ELCA's Spring 2005 Mosaic Television On New Testament
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Introducing the New Testament" is Mosaic Television's March 1, 2005, release, a 30-minute program that focuses on the origins of the New Testament and on its authors. The program examines the New Testament in three parts: the Gospels, letters and the book of Revelation. Mosaic Television is...
Mark Erickson Named President Of ELCA's Wittenberg University
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of directors of Wittenberg University unanimously elected Dr. Mark H. Erickson as the university's 13th president, according to a Feb. 28 news release from the university. Erickson, vice president for administrative and government affairs, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., will assume the role of Wittenberg president...
ELCA Committee Pushes Ethnic-Specific Ministry Plans Forward
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Multicultural Ministries (CMM) recommended that the ELCA Church Council endorse two ethnic-ministry strategies and asked the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop to commend the concept of a "European American anti-racism association" when it...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Completes West African Church Visit
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Saying he is "grateful, hopeful and amazed at the resiliency" of the people of West Africa, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson returned to the United States following a Feb. 10-17 visit to Lutheran ministry sites in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical...
ELCA's Davey And Goliath Easter Special To Air On Hallmark
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Hallmark Channel will broadcast "Davey and Goliath Happy Easter" -- a 30-minute, stop-motion animation television special from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- on March 27 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Times and at 11:30 a.m. Central Time. Viewers in the Mountain Time zone...
ELCA Board Affirms National Strategies, Organizations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) affirmed two national strategies for ethnic-specific ministries, responded to strategic directions and outcomes for the ELCA churchwide organization, and supported ministries seeking to become independent organizations of the church when it met...
ELCA Task Force Turns Its Attention To Statement On Sexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A 14-member task force that provided a report and recommendations on homosexuality to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in January met here Feb. 18-20 to consider the rest of its assignment -- to help develop a social statement on human sexuality for the church to...
Lutheran Immigration And Refugee Service Opposes REAL ID Act
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) opposed H.R. 418, the REAL ID Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives approved Feb. 10 with a 261-161 vote and the U.S. Senate referred Feb. 17 to its Committee on the Judiciary for consideration. According to the bill's sponsor, U.S....
