ELCA Bishops Honor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Headd
BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) honored Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president of Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), at a Jan. 9 reception at the Lutheran Center here. The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the ELCA's...
Full Communion, Middle East Issues Named Top ELCA Stories of 2000
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A full communion agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was the most significant story involving the ELCA in 2000, said the staff of ELCA News & Information, part of the church's Department for Communication. Another series of stories in 2000...
Peace Prize Forum on March 9-10 Focuses on Humanitarian Aid
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kerry Kennedy Cuomo and Dr. Morten Rostrup will address the 13th annual Peace Prize Forum, "Striving for Peace: Crossing Borders, Challenging Boundaries," March 9-10 at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Luther is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Students attending...
Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee Begins Work
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- In its first meeting, the 14-member Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee discussed how to communicate its work, listed a variety of mission-related areas in which the churches may work together and adopted a charter for its work that emphasizes trust, cooperation and mission. The committee is to "assist...
ELCA Mission Investment Fund Issues Current Interest Rates
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Mission Investment Fund (MIF) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced new interest rates effective Jan. 1 for its adjustable-rate and fixed-rate investment options. "The MIF offers opportunities for ELCA members, congregations and ELCA-related institutions to earn interest on their financial blessings while helping...
Lutherans Team up for "Souper Bowl of Caring"
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As two teams compete to become champion of the National Football League on "Super Bowl Sunday," Jan. 28, thousands of Lutherans will engage in a challenge of a different kind. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will participate in "Souper Bowl of Caring," a...
ELCA Mission Builders Completed 10 Projects in 2000
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Mission Builders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) completed 10 projects in 2000 and has applications for another 12 in 2001, according to the program director, Dean Hiner, North Platte, Neb. Mission Builders builds or rehabilitates church-related facilities. Since 1986 about 175 Mission Builders have...
Lutherans and Episcopalians Celebrate New Relationship
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- In a "house of prayer for all people," the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) celebrated its new relationship of "full communion" with The Episcopal Church in a gala worship service here at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 6 -- the day Christian churches around...
ELCA Lectures Explore Christian Mission Among 18-30 Year Olds
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Spiritual But Not Religious: Reaching 'Lost' Generations" is the theme of a series of lectures to be presented February through May on the eight seminary campuses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Tom Beaudoin and the Rev. Roland D. Martinson will present the 2001 Hein-Fry...
Lutheran Leaves Legacy of Faithful Stewardship Education
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (ELCA) -- Arthur L. Larson, a man who routinely gave away 70 percent of his income and more, died Dec. 21 at age 93 in Orlando, Fla., and left a legacy of support for seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was an employee of...
Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Alabama
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), is participating in recovery efforts in Alabama after tornadoes struck four counties there last month. Tornadoes killed 11 residents of Tuscaloosa County and one person in Geneva County....
Lutheran Young People Engage in Virtual Forum on Vocation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Using Web-based and interactive video technology, high- school and college-age Lutherans from across the United States will engage in a month-long "faith journey" on the Internet beginning Jan. 10 and two real-time video conferences on Feb. 24 and Mar. 3. The virtual forum is called "Paths Unknown:...
Wenzel to Retire as Director of ELCA Seminary Program in Austin
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. August E. Wenzel, a former Lutheran bishop, will retire Jan. 31 as third director of the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest (LSPS), Austin, Texas. Wenzel headed the program for half of its 26-year history. Wenzel, 64, was born near Rockdale, Texas. He is a...
Lutherans Commit to Living Faithfully in a Violent World
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ELCA) -- Lutherans can live faithfully in a violent world but not without effort, participants learned at "Living Faithfully in a Violent World: Congregations and Communities Working Together to End Violence," a conference hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) here Dec. 8-9. Spousal, sexual,...
Lutheran Students Gather for a "Faith Odyssey" in New Orleans
CHICAGO (ELCA) Under the theme "2001: A Faith Odyssey," 450 Lutheran college and university students and campus ministry staff from across the country will meet in New Orleans, Dec. 28-Jan. 1, 2001, at the Fairmont Hotel for the 31st national gathering of the Lutheran Student Movement-USA (LSM-USA). Students and campus...
Emerging Lutheran Leaders Plan, Train, Work for Social Justice
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Back-to-back events here provided worship, workshops and conversation among people identified as "emerging leaders" of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) addressing social justice issues. About 30 attended "Strategic Planning for Transformation" Nov. 30, and a total of 60 attended "Emerging Leaders: Working for Social Justice"...
ELCA-Roman Catholic Dialogue Continues to Compare, Contrast
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Work continued in exploring the Lutheran and Roman Catholic traditions and their resources in history, scripture and theology for resolving continuing issues that stand in the way of full communion. Representatives conducting the 10th round of talks between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the...
Lutherans Organizing Congregations Attend Intensive Trainin
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eighteen Lutherans came here from eight states for an intensive course designed for congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) that have organized in the past six months or are involved in a significant transition. The ELCA Division for Outreach sponsored the conference Nov. 16-18....
Twenty Lutherans in the 107th Congress
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are 20 Lutherans in the 107th Congress of the United States, according to the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C., the federal public policy advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Eight of the 16 Lutherans in the U.S. House are...
North American Lutherans Discuss Mission at Historic Meeting
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (ELCA) -- Participants in a historic Lutheran World Federation (LWF) North America consultation identified trust and relationships as the fundamental issues facing churches and congregations in their mission efforts. For the first time, representatives of the North American member churches of the LWF met here Nov. 29-Dec. 3...
