ELCA Pastor Brings Words of Promise to Wichita Congregations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Attitude is everything" was a phrase that Dr. George Tiller had made into buttons. Many mourners wore those buttons to his funeral June 6 at College Hill United Methodist Church, Wichita, Kan. Tiller was shot and killed the previous Sunday morning before worship at nearby Reformation Lutheran...
ELCA saves $167,000 on 2009 health benefits costs so far
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service* The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is saving up to $167,000 this year on health benefits costs because of discounts from the ELCA Board of Pensions, Minneapolis, according to the Board's May 28 news release. The ELCA's 65 synods, eight seminaries and other...
ELCA Congregation Grieves after Member Shot in Church
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The funeral for Dr. George Tiller will be June 6 at College Hill United Methodist Church, Wichita, Kan. Tiller was shot and killed May 31 while serving as an usher for Sunday worship at nearby Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was a member. Tiller was 67. The...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Welcomes President's Remarks on U.S.-Muslim Relations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- U.S. President Barack Obama "extended an invitation to a different way of living together in the world," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in response to the president's long-awaited speech June 4 in Cairo, Egypt on U.S.-Muslim...
ELCA task force continues study on criminal justice issues
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service The Criminal Justice Task Force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met May 29-30 in Chicago to receive input from specialists and plan its work. The task force is developing a social statement on criminal justice that will address social concerns...
Lutheran Leaders Respond to Slaying in Wichita Church
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), issued a statement in response to the May 31 murder of Dr. George Tiller at Reformation Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Wichita, Kan. Tiller was serving as an usher for Sunday...
Lutheran Social Services Gets $24.3 Million to Help Hurricane Survivors
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The disaster response program of Lutheran Social Services of the South, Inc. (LSS), Austin, Texas, received a $24.3 million grant to provide case management services to more than 13,000 survivors of Hurricane Ike. The survivors live in 16 counties of the state devastated by the hurricane in...
ELCA Bishops Urge Congress to Sponsor Foreign Aid Reform Bill
WASHINGTON (ELCA) - Urging support for robust funding for foreign aid programs, 59 of the 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) signed a letter calling on members of the U.S. Congress to co-sponsor the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 2139). The bipartisan...
Relocate? Not in this Economy, Some ELCA Pastors Say
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Tim Bupp put his Pennsylvania house up for sale last November. He started a new ministry position in South Carolina two months later. The house still hasn't sold, though he's dropped the price three times. "Property is like an anchor to me right now," said...
Faculty of an ELCA Seminary Support Task Force Documents
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A majority of the 23 faculty at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is in support of two documents released by the Task Force for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Studies on Sexuality. LSTC is one of eight ELCA seminaries. The task force...
ELCA Churchwide Assembly to Meet in Minneapolis, Aug. 17-23
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Voting members of the 2009 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly will act on a proposed social statement on human sexuality, a recommendation on ministry policies, a proposal for full communion, and funding proposals. They will also conduct elections, and consider memorials and resolutions. The...
ELCA synod bishop, U.S. senator focus on reuniting immigrant families
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service, Chicago The Rev. H. Julian Gordy, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Southeastern Synod, Atlanta, is supporting the Reuniting Families Act, a bill being reintroduced to Congress by Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and...
Church Leaders, Theologians Seek Rejection of Task Force Documents
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In an open letter to voting members of the 2009 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly, church leaders and theologians expressed concern over the "fidelity and future" of the denomination. As of May 22, more than 500 people had signed the letter. The letter, made...
Lutherans, Chinese Christians Work Together in Disaster Response
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Soon after an earthquake struck the Sichuan province in southwestern China one year ago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) developed a $1.6 million plan to help reconstruct areas devastated by the earthquake. Today Lutherans remain committed to rebuilding areas that have received little attention. The...
Lutherans help rebuild homes in New Orleans' Little Woods neighborhood
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service More than 500 volunteers worked on rebuilding 12 homes in the Little Woods neighborhood of New Orleans in one month's time. Four years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast. About half of the homes in Little Woods remain untouched. In an...
ELCA's Oak Grove Lutheran School to Graduate Class of 2009
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Red River cradles the campus of Oak Grove Lutheran School in Fargo, N.D. Two months ago the waters washed over a dike meant to protect the grounds. Oak Grove students finish the semester May 29 at a nearby public school, where classes have met since the...
ELCA Bishops Join Middle East Meeting at Carter Center
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were part of a diverse group of Christian leaders who pledged to President Barack Obama that they will "build constituencies that will advocate for a just political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The Christian leaders met privately...
Luther Seminary to host ELCA Book of Faith Jubilee in August
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Registration is open for the Book of Faith Jubilee, which will be held Aug. 14-16 at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. The jubilee will include several keynote addresses. Workshops and affinity groups will address such topics as teaching the Bible in congregations, opening the...
ELCA Wartburg College gets grant to celebrate 20 years without Berlin Wall
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, is one of more than 25 U.S. colleges and universities the German embassy awarded "Freedom Without Walls" grants to help pay for campus activities that celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Wartburg is planning activities...
Two ELCA seminary professors win research grants
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Two professors at seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will receive grants from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in partnership with the Lilly Endowment. Dr. Lois M. Farag, assistant professor of early church history at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.,...
