ELCA Publisher Puts 2005 Hopes In New Resources, Budget Controls
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The board of trustees for Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), adopted an operating budget which projects a net income loss that could reach $2.3 million for 2005. The trustees met here Oct. 21-23. However, the trustees are hoping the...
Phyllis Anderson Elected President Of ELCA Seminary
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Phyllis B. Anderson will become the seventh president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 1, 2005. On Nov. 5 the PLTS board of directors unanimously elected Anderson, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and director of the...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Offers Commitment, Prayer For Bush Leadership
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the wake of this week's election, the presiding bishop of the 5-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offered his "commitment to all who have been elected and in particular to President George W. Bush," and called on members of the ELCA to pray for...
ELCA Board Approves Education Study, GMO Resolution, Issue Papers
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society (DCS) authorized the printing and distribution of a study document on education, approved a draft policy resolution on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and commended three issue papers on corporate social responsibility. Board...
Women Of The ELCA Board Endorses 2005 Triennial Convention Plans
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The executive board of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) endorsed plans for the organization's 6th Triennial Convention and adopted a budget for the gathering at its meeting here Oct. 14-17. The convention -- which includes worship, community service projects, opportunities for networking through...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Visits Florida-Bahamas Synod, Offers Thanks
TAMPA, Fla. (ELCA) -- Expressing thanks on behalf of "a grateful church," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), traveled here Oct. 26 to meet with leaders of the ELCA Florida-Bahamas Synod in the wake of four hurricanes that struck this synod...
ELCA Commission For Women Calls For 'Gender Justice'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Women wants a proposed redesign of the churchwide organization to replace references to "work on behalf of women" with efforts for "gender justice," said Agnes S. McClain, committee chair. The committee drafted a rationale...
Tiede Announces Retirement As President Of Luther Seminary
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. David L. Tiede announced Oct. 25 that he plans to retire June 30, 2005, as president of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. Tiede will complete 18 years as president and 34 years as a professor of New Testament at the seminary. Luther is one of...
Board Forwards Proposal for New Worship Materials to ELCA Council
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) forwarded a report -- which includes "provisions for finishing the development of a new primary book of worship" -- to the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The council will consider the report for...
The Rev. Harold 'Hal' Rast, Former Head Of Fortress Press, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Harold W. (Hal) Rast, former head of Fortress Press and retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Oct. 13, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. A memorial service for Rast, 71, was held Oct. 18 at Grace Lutheran Church, Lancaster,...
ELCA, LCMS Leaders Discuss Church Dialogues, Key Issues
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Top leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) discussed a wide variety of topics in a meeting here Oct. 14, including the possibility that both could be part of a new round of theological dialogues with the Roman Catholic...
Christopherson To Retire As President Of ELCA's Dana College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Myrvin F. Christopherson, president of Dana College, Blair, Neb., announced Oct. 5 he will retire next year after serving 19 years as president, according to a news release from the school. Dana is of 28 ELCA colleges and universities. Christopherson, 65, will serve in his current...
ELCA Ministry Board Adds Background Checks In Candidacy Revision
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Officials of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said they hoped to learn some lessons from the conviction of a former ELCA pastor of criminal sexual misconduct in Texas. A review of the ways the church screens potential pastors and professional lay ministers has led to...
ELCA Bishops Told Of Military Chaplains, Review Documents
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are 20 chaplains of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving in combat zones in the Middle East and in Kosovo, said Chaplain Ivan G. Ives, assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop for federal chaplaincy ministries, Washington, D.C., in a report to the ELCA Conference of...
Lutherans Organize Cleanup Efforts In Minnesota, New York
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is organizing cleanup efforts in Minnesota and New York. Heavy rain produced floods in both states, which were declared federal disaster sites on Oct. 7. The result of the...
ELCA Fund For Leaders In Mission Awards 31 Scholarships
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sixteen first-year students at the eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) began the 2004-2005 academic year with full-tuition scholarships, and another 15 students had partial-tuition scholarships through the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, presented...
ELCA Bishops Hear Thanks From Florida-Bahamas Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the wake of four hurricanes that caused many deaths and injuries and billions of dollars in property damage in the Caribbean and Florida, a synod bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) thanked the church and his colleagues for their support and financial gifts....
Gift Propels Lutheran Men In Mission Toward Self-Sufficiency Goal
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- One of the goals of Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is "to strengthen LMM resources so that the organization might be financially self-sufficient by the end of 2005." An anonymous challenge grant may move the organization...
ELCA Bishops, Vatican Leader, Reflect On Joint Declaration
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification -- a significant document for Lutherans and Catholics signed in 1999 in Augsburg, Germany -- "should not remain a paper and a 'dead' letter," said Cardinal Walter Kasper. The document "must become known, lived out and become a reality...
Lutherans To Be Honored With The Wittenberg Award
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Herbert F. Brokering, Minneapolis, the Rev. J. David Simonson and Eunice Nordby Simonson, missionaries in Tanzania, and the founders of "Davey and Goliath" will receive the Wittenberg Award on Nov. 6. The Luther Institute, Washington, D.C., presents its annual Wittenberg Award for outstanding service to...
