Presiding Bishop Offers Overview of ELCA Assembly
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- At an Aug. 11 news conference, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA Presiding Bishop, and ELCA Vice President Addie J. Butler highlighted the ELCA strategic plan, the studies on sexuality and the importance of lay leadership. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is...
ELCA Council Delays Establishment of Two Commissions
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) authorized a delay in requests for the establishment of an ELCA commission for "sexual minorities" and a commission for "children and families" until the churchwide organization's strategic plan is implemented. The Church Council is the ELCA's...
ELCA Treasurer Expresses Concern For Mission Support Decline
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Mission support income to the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was $26 million through June 30, a decrease of $1 million from one year ago and $1.5 million lower than budgeted. The decrease of funds from congregations through synods "continues to be...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Says Keep Partner Church Decisions in Context
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Decisions of the recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church -- a full communion partner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- must be kept in their proper context, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. Legislative actions of full communion partners "ultimately...
Svennungsen Elected Fund for Theological Education President
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Ann M. Svennungsen, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was elected president of the Fund for Theological Education July 22 in Atlanta. Svennungsen, most recently of Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, Minn., succeeds James L. Waits, who retires at the end of...
ELCA Board of Pensions to Sponsor Assembly Fitness Events
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Run, walk 'n' roll for your health," an early morning outdoor event sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions will take place Aug. 12-16 during the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA Board of Pensions, which has sponsored exercise events during the...
Income for ELCA Congregations Grows to $2.5 Billion in 2002
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Income for the 10,721 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 2002 was nearly $2.5 billion, according to statistics compiled by the ELCA Office of the Secretary. Total receipts amounted to $2,493,316,925 -- up nearly $41 million or 1.7 percent from 2001, the Rev....
Lutherans Provide Funds for Relief Efforts in Liberia
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) contributed $50,000 of the church's International Disaster Response Fund to support relief efforts in Liberia. "Even as peacekeepers are being deployed, days and weeks of battle between rebel forces and government over control of Monrovia, the capital of...
LWF Post-Assembly Visits Affected By Visa Denials
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Post-assembly visits were hindered after the Canadian and United States governments declined to issue visas to some 50 participants of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Manitoba, July 21-31. The post-assembly visits, extensions of the LWF assembly, were to take place in 22 sites...
Lutheran Retirement Fund Continues to Benefit Needy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ten years after its inception, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Special Needs Retirement Fund (SNRF) is still working to support retired clergy, professional church workers and surviving spouses with financial need. The SNRF supplements the income of retired pastors and others who are living below...
ELCA Membership Reported Just Over 5 Million in 2002
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reported a total of 5,038,006 baptized members in 10,721 congregations at the end of 2002, according to the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, secretary of the ELCA. That figure represents a decrease of 1.21 percent or a reduction of 61,871 baptized...
Youth Quarters Project Supports Hunger Relief
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Participants at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering in Atlanta July 16-20 and July 23-27 collected $667,000 for world hunger relief in a "Quarters for Hunger" project. More than 40,000 high-school age and adult Lutherans attended the Gathering in Atlanta. The Gathering is held...
Committee Recommends ELCA Assembly Discuss Eight Topics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will act on 76 memorials -- resolutions sent from the church's 65 synods. The assembly's memorials committee met here in June, organizing the resolutions into 40 categories and drafting recommendations to the assembly on how to...
ELCA Survey Shows Need For Development, Evangelism
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- First Call Theological Education is an ongoing Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) program designed to assist new ELCA pastors and non-ordained lay leaders during their first three years of a call to ministry. Program participants recently evaluated the program by answering a variety of questions. A...
ELCA Youth Impress Residents With Their Work Ethic
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Thousands of high-school-age and adult Lutherans spent several afternoons here cleaning parks and neighborhoods, impressing some residents with their enthusiasm and work ethic. The young people were in town for the 2003 Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The gathering met July 16-20...
Lutherans Address Variety Of Concerns In Later Synod Assemblies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) addressed a variety of local, national and international concerns through actions at synod assemblies. Synod assemblies began April 25 and concluded June 28 of this year. Actions that occurred at assemblies held since mid-June included: + Health...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elected LWF President
WINNIPEG, Canada (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was elected president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) July 26. He was elected on the first ballot, receiving 267 votes to 111 votes for the only other nominee, the Rev....
ELCA Youth Discuss Topics Important To Them
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Human sexuality and ethnic diversity were among a variety of topics addressed by some 255 high-school-age Lutherans at the Sixth Triennial Convention of the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) here July 20-23 at Georgia Institute of Technology. The LYO is the youth organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church...
ELCA Youth Hear About Courage, Selflessness
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- The Rev. Alise D. Barrymore spoke to 23,000 Lutheran youth and adults Saturday during the final evening program at the first week of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering here. The ELCA Youth Gathering is meeting here at the Georgia Dome and Georgia World...
Thousands of Lutheran Youth Gather for Prayer
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- The first event of the 2003 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering came to a close when 23,000 high-school-age and adult Lutherans from across the country and around the world gathered for prayer here July 20 at the Georgia Dome. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson,...
