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...
Lutherans Communicate With U.S. Elected Officials Via E-Mail
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have moved toward a new way of communicating with elected officials in the United States. Through the church's Web site Lutherans now have the opportunity to identify and write state legislators, members of the U.S. Congress and others...
ELCA Task Force Turns To Recommendations On Sexuality Issues
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) task force for the studies of sexuality met here Oct. 1-3 and began funneling all that it learned since May 2002 into a report and recommendations to the ELCA 2005 Churchwide Assembly. The recommendations will be on whether or not...
ELCA Bishops Told Financial Results 'Mixed'; Mission Support Stable
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Overall financial results for the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were "mixed," with income, in general, relatively stable, said Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, in an Oct. 2 report to the ELCA Conference of Bishops. Jackson-Skelton reported on the first seven months of...
Lutherans Exceed Goal Of Purchasing 90 Tons Of Coffee
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Challenge millions of Lutherans across the country to purchase 90 tons of "fairly traded" coffee in a year, and not only will they exceed that challenge but work to push it further. Through "Pour Justice to the Brim: The 90-Ton Challenge," Lutherans purchased 99 tons of fairly...
Lutheran Scientists And Pastors Gather For 'Sunday Scientists!'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- About 45 scientists and pastors, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, studied the links between their Christian faith and their vocations and avocations in science and technology. They gathered here Sept. 17-19 for a "Sunday Scientists! Symposium" sponsored by the ELCA Alliance for Faith, Science...
Lutherans Continue Damage Assessment After Hurricane Jeanne
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, continues to conduct damage assessment and coordinate relief efforts in Florida, after Hurricane Jeanne clobbered the state Sept. 25-26. It also continues to organize recovery efforts in several other U.S....
ELCA Presiding Bishop Criticizes Content Of Bush, Kerry Campaigns
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Just a few days before their first presidential debate, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has written an open letter to President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, calling on both to change the tone...
