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...
ELCA Council Hears of 'Positive' ELCA-LCMS Conversation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A Nov. 12 meeting in St. Louis of the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC), in which leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) met to discuss matters of mutual interest, had a "different tone" and was "positive" compared to other...
ELCA Council Hears Progress Report on Studies on Sexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Studies on sexuality have begun in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA Church Council received a progress report from the studies' director, the Rev. James M. Childs Jr., and its advisor to the studies' task force, Judy G. Biffle, Houston. The Church Council is...
ELCA Church Council Elects Board, Committee Members
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected clergy and lay individuals to fill vacancies on boards, steering and advisory committees of the church. It also acted to forward a resolution to the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to elect the Rev. David L. Miller...
Lutheran Services in America Tops List of Nonprofits Again
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With more than $7.6 billion of income in 2001, Lutheran Services in America (LSA) topped The NonProfit Times' list of the United States' 100 largest nonprofit organizations for the third year in a row. The publication released the "NPT 100" Nov.1, with the National Council of YMCAs...
Lutherans Focus on Connection Between Poverty, Wealth
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held a special forum to examine the connection between poverty and wealth here Nov. 7-9 at the Institute of Cultural Affairs Conference Center. Through a series of presentations the forum was meant to set direction for the ELCA's future work...
