Women of the ELCA Strengthen Families, Communities
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded $164,100 in grants to projects that strengthen families and communities domestically and internationally. The Women of the ELCA Grants Program represents "one way in which the women's organization fulfills its organizational commitment to bring healing and wholeness...
ELCA Set for New 'Davey and Goliath' Television Special
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is set for the production of a new "Davey and Goliath" television special for December 2003. Davey and Goliath is a popular stop-motion animated children series created by the Lutheran church and aired on commercial television in the 1950s through...
Commission on Lutheran Cooperation Renews Discussions
ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- Renewed theological talks and more frequent meetings of top leadership are in the offing between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). Members of the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) agreed Nov. 12 they would pursue discussions of issues that divide...
Willmar Thorkelson, Lutheran Journalist and Author, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Willmar L. Thorkelson, journalist, author and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died Nov. 29 from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 84. Thorkelson's writing career began while a student at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., and spanned more than 60 years. After graduating from...
Lutherans Continue Disaster Relief Work in U.S. Southeast
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS), continues cleanup work and damage assessments in Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee after storms and tornadoes brought death and destruction Nov. 10. "There were 72 tornadoes and more...
Lutheran Students Focus on Social Justice and Faith
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Striving to support justice and give clarity to faith, Lutheran college and university students will participate in "Celebrate IV: Weave Us Together" at the Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, N.M., Dec. 28-Jan. 1. Hosted by the Council for Ecumenical Christian Ministry (CESCM) and the National Catholic Student Coalition,...
ELCA Colleges, Congregations Benefit from Lilly Grants
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lilly Endowment Inc., Indianapolis, awarded grants of up to $2 million each to 39 four-year church-related liberal arts colleges to implement programs that help prepare a new generation of leaders for church and society. Four of the colleges are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...
ELCA Presents 'This Holy Night,' on CBS-TV, Hallmark
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Department for Communication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke, Chicago, and the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod -- will present "A CBS Christmas Special: This Holy Night," a one-hour Christmas Eve worship service to...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's Statement on Iraq, U.N., U.S. Actions
ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP'S STATEMENT ON IRAQ, U.N., U.S. ACTIONS Since the end of the Gulf War nearly 12 years ago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and a number of partners working for peace in the Middle East have expressed concern about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and have...
Lutheran Social Service of Iowa Mourns Loss of Roger Gutmann
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Roger C. Gutmann, president and chief executive officer of Lutheran Social Service of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, died Nov. 16 of heart failure. Gutmann served as a board member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Church in Society. He was 55. Gutmann was...
Use Peaceful Means to Disarm Iraq, Says ELCA Presiding Bishop
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said in a Nov. 26 public statement the ELCA will continue to urge the U.S. government to work with the international community to use peaceful means to disarm Iraq. Hanson made his...
J.S. Bach Featured in ELCA's 'MOSAIC' Winter 2002 Issue
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- MOSAIC, the video magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), features the story of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach in the Winter 2002 issue, available Dec. 1. The 30-minute documentary, "Glory to God Alone: The Life of J.S. Bach," traces Bach's life story and focuses...
ELCA Council Hears Progress Report on Evangelism Strategy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received a first draft of "Toward a Vision for Evangelism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Sharing Faith in a New Century" and a progress report from the evangelism task force chair, the Rev. Gary...
ELCA Council Maintains V.P. as Volunteer, Six-year Term
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) declined to transmit a proposed constitutional amendment to the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly that would have changed the term of the vice president from six years to four years. It also adopted a resolution affirming that...
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson's 2002 Christmas Message
PRESIDING BISHOP MARK HANSON'S 2002 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE Greetings in the name of our Triune God. Oh, how fear permeates our lives -- the possibility of war, the instability of the economy, the uncertainty of our children's future, the reality of debilitating illness, the finality of death. Amid all the fears...
ELCA Council Agrees to Retiree Health Plan Remedy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) agreed to increase the church's contribution as part of a proposal to fully fund a program that helps retirees pay their health care premiums. Trustees of the ELCA Board of Pensions offered the five-point proposal to...
ELCA Council Accepts New Special Interest Conference
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) transmitted to the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly a resolution to amend a constitutional bylaw that would allow the Batak Special Interest Conference of North America to relate to the ELCA. The Church Council is the ELCA's...
ELCA Council Espouses Moral Deliberation on War with Iraq
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a five-point resolution on current tensions between the United States and Iraq. The resolution encouraged study, affirmed the public witness of ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, called for international consultation, advanced the work of...
ELCA Church Council Hears Report on Worship, Youth
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received an update on plans for the next generation of worship resources for the church and about the 2003 ELCA Youth Gathering. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative...
ELCA Church Council Increases World Hunger Appeal Goal
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reaffirmed a churchwide assembly action to increase the annual income goal for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal to $25 million by 2005. The council received an update on "Stand With Africa: A Campaign of Hope" and...
