News

LONDON, England (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed hope that the ELCA may one day enter into full communion with Anglican churches with whom other Lutheran churches are in full communion. Hanson made the comment to the Most...

VATICAN CITY (ELCA) -- Lutheran and Roman Catholic congregations must engage in a "reception" process for the agreement reached in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), and the document should be presented in terms that members can understand, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With the U.S.-led military campaign against Iraq now well underway, Lutherans prepare for a humanitarian crisis in Iraq. As the bombing campaign and ground fighting intensifies, especially in and around Baghdad, Iraq's capital, a humanitarian crisis is emerging there, said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for...

ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP'S 2003 EASTER MESSAGE "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" (Mark 16:3) The question which troubled the tiny band of brave mourners that first Easter morning weighs heavily today. The power of death is terribly real in acts of terror...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. P. Randolph Helm will become the 11th president of Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., on July 1. Helm is currently a professor of classics and vice president for college relations at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. Muhlenberg is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Women took its own advice and studied the church's peace statement when it met here March 14-15. It also challenged the ELCA to honor its commitments to women and to its employees while the...

VATICAN CITY (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called for the possibility of "limited interim Eucharistic sharing" between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in a brief meeting here March 24 with Pope John Paul II. Currently, it is not possible...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission (DGM) elected officers and received presentations from companions working in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The board also studied an ELCA strategic planning process and received a report about the Young Adults...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- About 300 U.S. church members, including 80 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), took part in "Advocacy Days," an ecumenical gathering here Feb. 23-26, sponsored by Christian advocates working for just U.S. policies in Africa and the Middle East. Participants sought to encourage...

GENEVA, Switzerland (ELCA) -- In the 50-year history of the World Council of Churches (WCC), there has never been such unanimity across all church traditions on a matter of public concern for Christians, said the Rev. Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary. Raiser made the comment about WCC member churches' opposition...

GENEVA, Switzerland (ELCA) -- The "real presence" of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is an important concept that unites the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said His Beatitude Mesrob II, Armenian patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey. He made the comment in a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES) saw a working draft of "policies and procedures for campus ministry" during its meeting here March 7-8. The board's campus ministry committee supported the draft "in principle" and noted the...

In the midst of the anguish of today's events, and aware of the continuing unfolding and unknown consequences of war, we in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America share with all Christians the call to be peacemakers. This call is grounded in the belief that God in Christ reconciles the...

GENEVA, Switzerland (ELCA) -- The U.S. government's decision to attack Iraq in a pre-emptive military strike without U.N. support "marks a sobering moment for this nation and world," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in a public statement released here...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a room decorated with kites and pictures of children from around the world, 80 people -- children, pastors and staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) churchwide office - - gathered at the Lutheran Center here March 4 for the first ELCA Children's Ministry...

GENEVA, Switzerland (ELCA) -- Though President George W. Bush has declared a deadline for going to war with Iraq, "peace knows no deadlines," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), told a group of international journalists at a news briefing here March...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. James L. Peterson will become the 14th president of Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., on July 7. The college's board of trustees announced the appointment March 13. Gustavus Adolphus is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Peterson, a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Steven C. Bahls will become the eighth president of Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., on July 1. The college's board of trustees elected him March 10 to succeed Dr. Thomas Tredway, who announced last year his intention to retire at the close of this academic year. Augustana...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Times are rough for New Jersey residents, according to Jack DiMatteo, coordinator for Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) in New Jersey. Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, New Jersey residents continue to experience job layoffs and unemployment, post-traumatic stress and loss of...

JAMKHED, India (ELCA) -- Leelabai is a widow in her mid 50s. In 1972, an overloaded truck tipped over and hit her while she was working alongside a road. At the hospital, her leg was amputated. Someone made a heavy wooden prosthesis with shoes for Leelabai. She was able to...