News

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Leonard H. Bolick was re-elected to a six-year term as bishop of the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the synod's assembly June 5-7 at Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, N. C. Lenoir-Rhyne is one of 28 colleges and universities of...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who teach theology in seminaries and who are people of color reflected on the church's process of recruiting individuals for leadership positions in the ELCA when they met May 8-10 in Las Vegas. More than 25 ELCA teaching...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Voting members of the 2003 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly will act on several proposals -- including an evangelism vision for the church, and a social statement on health and health care -- and elect a vice president and an editor for The Lutheran,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As an extension of the Lutheran World Federation's (LWF) Tenth Assembly July 21-31 in Winnipeg, Canada, the LWF in conjunction with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will provide post-assembly visitation programs in the United States and the Carribean. There are 25 separate sites that will...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS), continues to organize relief efforts after 412 tornadoes and more than 2,000 storms struck the Midwest this spring. The tornadoes and storms "brought havoc and devastation to...

CHICAGO (ELCA) --The Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will bring together about 40,000 high-school-age and adult Lutherans in two back-to-back events this year: July 16-20 and July 23-27. The gathering, "Do Life! Ubuntu," will take place at the Georgia Dome and Georgia World Congress Center...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (ELCA) -- The Palestinian people have a chance for peace -- perhaps the last chance -- in the new "road map" proposed by the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations, said the prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in an extraordinary May...

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- Saying the leaders of Christian churches here are "a sign of hope for Christians throughout the whole world," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), paid tribute to each for working together to bring peace to the Middle East....

SAVANNAH, Ga. (ELCA) -- Members of the Lutheran Ecumenical Representatives Network (LERN) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held their annual meeting here May 12-15, during the National Workshop on Christian Unity. A leading topic of the meeting was how agreements the ELCA has reached with other church...

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), thanked members of the Lutheran church here for their faithfulness to God and for their efforts to promote a lasting and just peace for all people in the Middle East. The Lutherans'...

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- The new leaders of the Palestinian people must take responsibility and stop terror attacks against the people of Israel for the new "road map" plan for peace to succeed, said Moshe Katsav, president of the State of Israel, during a one-hour meeting May 26 with the Rev....

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- The only way to begin to develop a lasting peace for all people in the Middle East is for the State of Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, areas inhabited by Palestinians, said His Beatitude Michael Sabbah, Latin Catholic Patriarch for the...

SAVANNAH, Ga. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), addressed the closing luncheon of the National Workshop on Christian Unity, which met here May 12-15. He expressed gratitude to those who work for Christian unity and named a series of...

JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- Help is needed from members of the U.S. Congress to contact U.S. State Department and Israeli government officials urging them to advise the State of Israel to drop a court case that would enable them to collect an employer's tax from Augusta Victoria Hospital, said Craig Kippels,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, professor of historical theology and ethics, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., was named acting president of the seminary, following the May 20 death of the Rev. Timothy F. Lull, PLTS president. PLTS is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, president and professor of systematic theology, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., died May 20 of complications following surgery. He was 60. PLTS is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The seminary has announced a funeral...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, president and professor of systematic theology, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., died May 20 of complications following surgery. He was 60. PLTS is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "The church has lost a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined with other ELCA leaders here May 12 for an informal dialogue with leaders representing the Commission on Interreligious Affairs of Reform Judaism. After the day-long dialogue at the ELCA churchwide office,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Calling for "bold leadership," United States church and church organization leaders sent letters May 14 to the prime ministers of the Israeli and Palestinian governments to offer encouragement for the current Middle East peace plan. The letters were delivered two days prior to the first scheduled meeting...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Studies on Sexuality Task Force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) called together theologians and behavioral and social scientists to gather information, opinion and theological perspective on research regarding sexual orientation when it met here April 25-27. The task force also reviewed study materials...