Lutherans Provide A Solution To Avoid Holiday Shopping Rush
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- To give to "the person who has everything" and people who have very little this holiday season, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offers some "alternative" gift-giving ideas. Through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, members of the church have the opportunity for one-stop shopping that honors...
ELCA Council Selects 2009 Assembly Site, Adopts Ethics Policies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) designated the Minneapolis Convention Center as the site of the 11th ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Aug. 17-23, 2009. It also adopted ethics policies for churchwide boards and employees, addressed possible future health plan changes and determined a...
ELCA Council Sets Stage For Decisions On Sexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In 2005 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is to consider whether or not the church should bless same-gender relationships and whether or not it should allow people in such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and ordained ministers. At its last scheduled meeting...
ELCA Council Approves, Transmits Churchwide Redesign Proposal
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a final report and recommendations on restructuring the ELCA churchwide organization. It transmitted to the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly the report and recommendations for final consideration. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors...
ELCA Council Adopts Revised Process To Authorize New Ministers
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted the 2004 edition of the "Candidacy Manual of the ELCA," which guides the church's candidacy process, including ways it screens potential pastors and professional lay ministers. The board of the ELCA Division for Ministry revised...
ELCA Council Lifts Lutheran World Federation Action On Sudan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "raised up" a September 2004 resolution of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that calls for solidarity with survivors of violence in Darfur, Sudan. It also encouraged the 5 million members of the ELCA to pray for...
ELCA Council Recommends Assembly Rules, Acts on Amendments
Friends: Please replace the story, "ELCA Church Council Commends Rules, Amends Governing Documents," issued Nov. 16, with the revised story that appears below. The revision is intended to clarify actions of the Church Council. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes. Thank you for your consideration. John R. Brooks...
ELCA Council Adopts Report On Churchwide Governance
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a final report and recommendations regarding changes in governance of the churchwide organization as part of the church's planning initiative. It asked that the church's leadership recommend to the council's April 2005 meeting "any additional...
ELCA Council Adopts Policy On Genetically Modified Organisms
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social policy resolution on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food supply. The policy directs the church's advocacy on "legislative action, trade policies, patent laws, hunger relief and development measures, shareholder actions and policy...
ELCA Vice President Recounts Visit With West Bank Lutherans
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Carlos Pena, vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and chair of the ELCA Church Council, told the council about a one-week tour of Israel and the West Bank that he took in September. The ELCA Division for Global Mission organized the visit to...
ELCA Council Elects Board And Committee Members
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected Kaanaeli Mukundi of Chicago to fill a vacancy on the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS). The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority...
ELCA Council Hears Presiding Bishop Ask 'What Does It Mean?'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The death of Yasser Arafat, the recent U.S. presidential campaign and election, and multicultural challenges facing the church prompted the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to ask, "what does all this mean?" in his report Nov. 11 to the ELCA Church Council....
LWF Leaders Praise Arafat For Support Of Palestinian Christians
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), based in Geneva, Switzerland, paid tribute to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat as a strong supporter of the religious rights and freedoms of Palestinian Christians and "always attentive to their place and importance in the Holy Land," according to a statement issued...
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...
