News

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert F. Sims, senior pastor of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta, is the featured speaker Jan. 18 and Feb. 22 on "Day 1," the award-winning radio program. Day 1 is broadcast on more than 150 stations nationwide, on the American Forces Network to U.S....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offered advice to Lutherans, civic organizations, Mel Gibson and "people of good will everywhere" in anticipation of "The Passion of the Christ" -- a film to be released Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday, the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Top Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) news stories of 2003 included the church's response to the war in Iraq, the election of the ELCA presiding bishop as president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and a series of extraordinary meetings between ELCA leaders and international church...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) began sending donations immediately to the ELCA International Disaster Response fund upon hearing of a Dec. 26 earthquake in southeast Iran. The Iranian government reported that searchers have retrieved more than 25,000 bodies since the magnitude 6.6 earthquake...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Raymond W. Wargelin, former president of the Finnish Lutheran Church of America (Suomi Synod), died Dec. 12 in Minneapolis. He was 92. Wargelin was the last of four surviving presidents who led their Lutheran church bodies into a merger creating the Lutheran Church in America...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Michael C. D. McDaniel, former Lutheran bishop of North Carolina, died Dec. 18 at Lutheran Home West, Hickory, N.C. McDaniel, 74, served as bishop of the North Carolina Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA) from 1982 to 1987. When the Evangelical Lutheran...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Sidney A. Rand, former president of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., U.S. ambassador to Norway, and retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Dec. 16 at a Northfield hospital. Rand, 87, served at president of St. Olaf College from 1963 to...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is offering services to help busy people evaluate their use of money, share their faith, and teach children about living and giving. Through "Salt: Seasoning Faith and Generosity," members of the church are working to lay a foundation for long-term...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Katherine Haley Will, president of Whittier College, Los Angeles, was named the 13th president of Gettysburg (Pa.) College in a special meeting of the college's board of trustees Dec. 5. Gettysburg College is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Mission Investment Fund of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced Dec. 9 a reduction in interest rates for loans made to more than 50 ELCA congregations for initial church-building programs or purchases of vacant sites for future churches. The rate reduction is effective Jan....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than 450 college-age students will meet in Washington D.C., Dec. 31-Jan. 4, for the annual gathering of the Lutheran Student Movement (LSM-USA). They will focus their activities on the Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which marked its 40th anniversary this year. The...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, continues to assist survivors of wildfires that struck five counties in Southern California this fall. Lutheran Disaster Response has issued about $100,000 in grants to provide people "with things they...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "This Holy Night," a Christmas television special produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will be rebroadcast this year on selected national and satellite networks, as well as local television stations and cable systems. Networks and cable systems that will carry the worship service are...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Paul M. Simon, former Democratic member of Congress from Illinois, died Dec. 9 after undergoing heart surgery in Springfield, Ill. He was 75. The son of a Lutheran missionary to China and a member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), Simon had several ties to the Evangelical...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined 31 prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders Dec. 2 to announce a new collaborative effort to mobilize broad public support for active U.S. leadership in pursuing peace for Israelis,...

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also . . . went to be registered with...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Winter 2003 issue of Mosaic Television, a quarterly video production of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), focuses on the work of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church in Chile, as seen through the eyes of 14-year-old boy. "Chile is one of the most fascinating...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Minneapolis, announced that two of its authors were honored with 2003 "Theologos Awards" from the Association of Theological Booksellers. They are the Very Rev. N. T. Wright, whose book, "The Resurrection of the Son...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Luther Institute awarded its annual Wittenberg Awards for outstanding service to church and society on Nov. 8. This year's awardees were the Rev. Dr. Jose Ramon Alcantara Mejia of Mexico City, Dr. Mark Jacobson of Arusha, Tanzania, and the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb of Bethlehem. Alcantara,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Calling a series of recent bombing in Istanbul, Turkey, "vicious attacks," the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has joined with other religious leaders to condemn the recent bombings of two synagogues and British interests. In a Nov. 24 statement, the Rev. Mark...