ELCA Looks at Stewardship from the Heart
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are initiating a "fresh and deeper understanding" of stewardship. ELCA Stewardship and Mission Giving staff unveiled a new multi-year plan, "Stewardship at the Heart of the Church," to the board of the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM)...
Correction: ELCA Outreach Board Meets
[Please replace "billions" with "millions" in the 11th paragraph, so it reads:] In other business, the Mission Investment Fund board reported that, as of Sept. 1, 1999, the fund balance is larger than $271 million -- $40 million more than a year earlier. Personal interest-earning investments fuel the fund, which...
ELCA Outreach Board Meets, Affirms Latino Strategy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "For the first time, we are taking a comprehensive approach for Latino ministry," the Rev. Ruben F. Duran told the board of the Division for Outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The board met here Oct. 7-10 and affirmed the church's new Latino Outreach...
ELCA Initiates Budget for Language, Culture-Specific Resources
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A proposal to establish and maintain a regular budget for the development of language- and culture-specific resources and for the translation of important ELCA documents into languages other than English was accepted by the board of the Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church...
ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries Builds Windmills
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eight "windmills" will produce "electricity" for = the ministry of the Commission for Multicultural Ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The commission's steering committee learned about the eight windmills at its meeting here Oct. 8-9. "Today, about 50 miles inland from the southern coastal...
ELCA Ethnic Ministries Are Active in Church and Society
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Commission for Multicultural Ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), at its meeting here Oct. 8-9, heard about the ministries of five ethnic communities in the life of the church and society. The ELCA's ethnic ministries are African American and...
ELCA's Wittenberg University Ranks among America's Best Colleges
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, was ranked among the Midwest's best liberal arts colleges, according to U.S. News and World Report's 2000 edition of "America's Best Colleges," issued Aug. 30. Wittenberg is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A typographic error...
Future Challenges Discussed at ELCA Mega-Consultation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Some 450 lay leaders and clergy, representing all of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), outlined strengths and challenges of the church and heard presentations from past and present church leaders in a "Mega-Consultation"= =20 here Oct. 2-3 at the Westin Hotel....
South Carolina Officials Respond to ELCA Bishops' Boycott Support
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Confederate Battle Flag issue is "a very divisive and painful issue for South Carolina," and the controversy about its placement atop the state capitol must be solved by the South Carolina legislature, wrote Democratic Gov. James H. Hodges in a Sept. 27 letter to the Rev....
ELCA Teacher in China Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Scott M. Minson, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) teacher, was found dead Oct. 12 in his apartment at Jian Teachers College, Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. The cause of death has yet to be determined. Minson, 25, was serving with the Amity Teachers Program,...
Women of the ELCA's "Katie's Fund" Exceeds $200,000
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Women from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have responded to "Katie's Fund" with gifts totaling more than $200,000. The first allocation from the fund will be used for "Young Women See Visions" and "Feasting at Katie's Table: A Theological Retreat" developed by Women of the...
Reminder
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Results of Study on Lutheran Colleges and Universities Reported
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran colleges are far more effective than leading public universities at involving students in the classroom, according to "Reclaiming Lutheran Students," a study prepared by the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America (LECNA). The board of the Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES) of the Evangelical...
ELCA Bishops Discuss Aftermath of Proposal with Episcopal Church
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed a wide variety of concerns related to the adoption of a full communion agreement with The Episcopal Church this summer at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver. While they took no formal action during their Sept. 30-Oct....
ELCA Bishops to Prepare Pastoral Letter on People Living in Poverty
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is expected to prepare a pastoral letter on ministry with people living in poverty and to consider its approval when the group meets in March 2000. The bishops met here Sept. 30-Oct. 5 and discussed...
ELCA Bishops Elect New Leadership Team
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul (Minn.) Area Synod, as their leaders for the next four years. McCoid, 55,...
Lutherans, Roman Catholics Prepare to Sign Historic Agreement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and a vice president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), will be among church representatives from around the world assembling Oct. 31 in Augsburg, Germany, to sign the "Joint Declaration on the...
ELCA Rural and Small Town Congregations Show Vitality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in small town and rural areas are learning from each other what makes ministry vital and effective. More than 120 lay leaders and clergy met here Sept. 24-26 for a consultation on "Evangelism Strategies and Leadership Practices that...
ELCA Bishop Discusses Episcopal Church Agreement with Some Minnesota Leader
ROCHESTER, MINN. (ELCA) -- The process leading to and the adoption of a Lutheran proposal for full-communion with The Episcopal Church was a "calculated risk," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Anderson, who is leader of the 5.2 million-member ELCA,...
Leader of ELCA Higher Education and Schools to Retire
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. W. Robert Sorensen, executive director of the Division for Higher Education and Schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced his retirement at the division's board meeting here Sept. 24-26. Sorensen will retire at the end of the 1999-2000 academic year. "It has...
