More Lutherans Saying 'Yes' To Global Service
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans from the United States have been serving around the world for more than 160 years. Global mission continues to be essential for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) today, as the number of new missionaries is on the rise. "We're very grateful that, in the...
ELCA Board Adopts African American/Black Outreach Strategy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Outreach reviewed, adopted and forwarded an African American/Black Outreach Strategy that has been more than a decade in the making. The board met here Sept. 17-18 to discuss a number of issues and make decisions....
LWF President Hanson To Raise Concerns About Free Trade, Global Peace
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At the end of a visit to El Salvador, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), affirmed his commitment to transmit to the LWF and the ELCA concerns of Central American...
Lutherans Assess Needs In Caribbean After Tropical Storm Jeanne
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The situation in Haiti is "extremely tough and confusing," according to Michael Kuehn, director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) program in Haiti. Tropical Strom Jeanne -- now Hurricane Jeanne -- devastated Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands before striking the Dominican Republic and Haiti...
ELCA Bishop Censures, Admonishes Minneapolis Congregation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Craig E. Johnson, bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), sent a letter "of censure and admonition" to Bethany Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, for its decision to call and ordain a person who was not eligible to serve as...
Augsburg Fortress Releases New Davey And Goliath VBS Materials
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced the release of two new children's ministry resources featuring Davey and Goliath, characters from the classic television series for children, according to a release from the Minneapolis-based publisher. The resources are "Davey and...
ELCA In Hunger Documentary To Air Beginning Oct. 24 On ABC-TV
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Hunger No More: Faces Behind the Facts," is a new television documentary that examines hunger in the 21st century from a faith perspective and offers possible solutions. The one-hour program, which includes stories about hunger ministries related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is scheduled...
ELCA Task Force On Education Readies Study Materials
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) finished its work on materials that will help the church's 10,657 congregations study issues around "a Lutheran vision of education" in advance of developing a social statement on education. The ELCA Task Force on Education completed...
Lutherans Burn Candles In October To Shed Light On Mental Illness
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The 9th Annual All-Lutheran Candlelighting for Mental Illness is sponsored in October by the Lutheran Network on Mental Illness/Brain Disorders. The network is a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The network developed a "litany" -- a series of...
ELCA Assesses Damage, Organizes Recovery After Hurricane Ivan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) continues to assess damage and participate in relief efforts after Hurricane Ivan struck the central Gulf coast of the United States Sept. 16. "Hurricane Ivan is churning up the southeast after crashing ashore," said Heather L. Feltman, director of Lutheran...
ELCA Seeks Congregations To Test New Worship Materials
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is seeking congregations to test a series of provisional worship resources this fall, including proposed liturgies for Holy Communion and a partial collection of hymns new to many Lutherans. The materials were developed through the church's Renewing Worship initiative, a...
ELCA Publisher Raises $105,000 Through Mission Well Project
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Minneapolis, announced that more than $105,000 has been raised through its "Mission Well" project to provide safe drinking water for the people of southern Bangladesh. The Mission Well project is part of "Davey and...
TV Special Chronicles Low-Power Radio, Airs Sept. 26
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "LPFM: The People's Choice," a new documentary to premiere on NBC-TV stations beginning Sept. 26, chronicles how low-power FM radio is bringing diverse audiences closer together and giving new life to declining communities, new strength to neighborhoods and new voices in the marketplace of ideas, according to...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Calls For Bridges Of Understanding, Justice
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has called on Christians and leaders from different faiths to build bridges of understanding between people, and to work together for...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's Letter Marks Sept. 11
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), sent a letter Sept. 10 to Lutherans in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas in commemoration of the third anniversary of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,...
Jamaica, Cuba, Florida Prepare For Hurricane; Lutherans Respond To Damage
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Hurricane Ivan, a powerful Category 4 storm with winds of more than 140 miles per hour, is taking aim at Jamaica and Cuba, and is on track to hit the Florida peninsula -- which would make it the third hurricane to strike the state in one month....
Lutheran Seminary Installs Director For Baptist Studies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., welcomed a large contingent of Baptists to an Aug. 26 worship service in the seminary's Christ Chapel to open the academic year and to install the Rev. Virginia C. Barfield as director for Baptist studies. Southern, one of eight seminaries of...
LWF Council Condemns Russian Massacre, Pleads For Sudan Peacekeepers
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) said it was "horrified by the news of the bloodshed" in Beslan, Russia, where more than 300 hostages were massacred last week by an international group of armed insurgents believed to be associated with rebels in the Russian province...
LWF Council Appoints Family, Marriage And Sexuality Task Force
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) appointed an eight-person task force to provide federation members with "helpful background and assistance for discussion within and among member churches on family, marriage and sexuality," according to a news release from Lutheran World Information. The LWF Council is...
Many Needs To Follow Hurricanes, Says ELCA Disaster Response Leader
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With Hurricane Frances approaching the Florida coastline three weeks after the devastation left by Hurricane Charley, human needs will "multiply considerably," said Heather L. Feltman, director for Domestic Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a partnership ministry of...
