ELCA Web Site Unveils New Look
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Web site of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- http://www.elca.org -- began 2002 with a new look. The redesign was guided by the results of an online survey conducted January through May 2001, said Rex Paisley, Web manager, ELCA Department for Communication. The December...
Lundblad Lutheran Radio Speaker on the Protestant Hour
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and associate professor of preaching at Union Theological Seminary, New York, will be the Lutheran speaker for the first quarter of 2002 on The Protestant Hour radio program. The Protestant Hour is...
ELCA Lectures Address Preaching to Those Without Basics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Preachers can no longer assume their listeners know basic Bible stories or understand some of the words familiar to the Bible's English translators of the 17th century. That's the premise of "Biblical Preaching in Babel: Preaching in a Post-Christian World," a series of lectures to be delivered...
Lutherans Minister in Complex Middle East Situation
JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- Two-thousand members of a Lutheran church -- vastly outnumbered by Jews and Muslims -- are among the many people of faith who live and work in the Middle East. Thanks to significant longtime financial support from Lutherans in Europe, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan...
Lutherans Develop Unified Response to September Tragedies
NEW YORK (ELCA) -- Members and leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) continue to develop and deepen their relationship here through a single, unified response to the destruction of the World Trade Center. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York resulted...
Farm Workers Weather Storms of Immigration and Indifference
Dade City, Fla. (ELCA) -- As daylight dawns on the horizon, farm workers -- dressed in mudded blue jeans, frayed long-sleeved shirts and bandannas wrapped around their heads underneath straw hats or baseball caps -- gather at the edge of a huge strawberry field. Bent forward at the waist, women,...
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson's Christmas Message
PRESIDING BISHOP MARK HANSON'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE I greet you after just returning from New York City. I know that I will hear Luke's Gospel and sing familiar Christmas carols differently this year because of my experience. Oh, how silent are the nights for those who still mourn the deaths of...
Bishop of ELCA Upstate New York Synod to Retire in 2002
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Lee M. Miller, bishop of the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will retire as bishop effective Aug. 31, 2002, the end of his present six-year term. Miller, 62, made the announcement to congregations of the synod in a...
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Reviews Rough Drafts
BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- The 10th round of talks in the United States between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reviewed rough drafts of sections that would eventually become a statement on "The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries."...
Judge Tells Parties in LWF Hospital Case to Settle
JERUSALEM (ELCA) -- An Israeli judge overseeing a controversial tax case involving Augusta Victoria Hospital, the State of Israel and the Jerusalem tax auditor has told the parties to try to settle the case out of court. Augusta Victoria Hospital, operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), is facing the...
Lutherans Support Relief Efforts after Tornado Hits Mississippi
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, is participating in relief efforts after tornadoes killed 12 people and destroyed homes in the Delta area of Mississippi, Nov. 24-25. "There are at least 12 confirmed deaths," said...
Lutheran-Episcopal Christmas Eve Service on CBS-TV Broadcast
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo., will be the setting for a special Christmas Eve service to be broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The service will welcome guests and members of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from...
ELCA Links with USAID to Withstand AIDS
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- In an effort to withstand AIDS worldwide, particularly in Africa, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) affirmed a new relationship with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at a news conference Nov. 30, the eve of World AIDS Day. The conference was held here...
Middle East Violence Leads Nowhere, Says Lutheran Bishop
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Saying he is "very sorry" for the killing of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem said he is deeply concerned about where current hostilities in the Middle East will lead. "Where will this take us?" asked the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the...
Wylie Named Interim Director, Division for Church in Society
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), appointed the Rev. L. James Wylie as interim executive director of the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS). Wylie, presently on leave from call, began his new responsibilities with the churchwide...
Lutherans Share Innovative Ideas for Church Growth
DENVER (ELCA) -- When the Rev. Mary Ann Moller-Gunderson arrived at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lake Geneva, Wis., six years ago, there were no children in church and the average age of its 62 members was 72. Today more than 100 children attend Sunday school, she said at the 2001 Great...
ELCA Web Site Recognized by 'Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Web site -- www.elca.org -- has been cited as "perhaps the most thorough Protestant site on the Web" in the December 2001 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine. Featured in the magazine's guide to "Religion on the Net," the ELCA's...
Magnus Will Serve Lutheran World Federation in North America
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kathy J. Magnus, associate director for international personnel, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission, has been appointed regional officer for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in North America, effective Jan. 1. LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition....
ELCA Member Dies of Inhalation Anthrax
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A memorial service was held Nov. 24 for Ottilie Lundgren, 94, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Oxford, Conn., who died of inhalation anthrax on Nov. 21. The service was held at Immanuel, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). An ecumenical Service of Evening Prayer was...
ELCA's Capital University Names New President
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Theodore L. Fredrickson, 56, Minneapolis, will become the 14th president of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, on April 1, 2002. Capital is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Fredrickson succeeds Daniel A. Felicetti, who announced last spring his intention...
