ELCA Council Rejects Clergy Standards Proposal, Wants Discussion
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) agreed with a recommendation from the ELCA Division for Ministry and rejected a proposal that would allow for possible exceptions to its statement of standards for ordained ministers. In this case, the issue dealt with ordaining...
ELCA Council Seeks Peace in the Middle East and Africa
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a series of actions designed to commit the church to support peace efforts in the Middle East and West Africa. The council also affirmed "Stand with Africa," a campaign intended to raise awareness in the...
ELCA Synod Bishop Declines to File Charges in California Case
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Disciplinary charges will not be filed against a Berkeley, Calif., congregation for its decision to call a person to serve as its pastor who is not on the official clergy roster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The decision was announced in a Sept. 29...
Debt Relief Bill Signed; ELCA, Other Churches Play Significant Role
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- President Clinton signed into law Nov. 6 a bill that provides $435 million to cancel international debts of as many as 33 of the world's most impoverished countries. Many churches and related organizations -- including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- were part of an...
ELCA Ministry Board Recommends No Exceptions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A report to the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asks the council to reject a request for exceptions to expectations the church has of those who serve in its ministry. Meeting here Oct. 13-15, the board of the ELCA Division for Ministry...
ELCA Board Urges Concern for International Conflicts
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Resolutions calling for specific responses from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and its members to violence in the Middle East, in the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and in Colombia were adopted by a board that supports the ELCA's international ministry....
ELCA Committee Contemplates Reader Survey; New Columnist Named
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The advisory committee for The Lutheran, the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), considered results of a reader satisfaction survey conducted by Blue Dolphin Group, Wayland, Mass. Staff and committee members agreed with some findings and questioned others. The committee met Oct. 23 at...
Lutheran, UCC Social Ministry Leaders Say 'Diversity Works'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Diversity Works: Developing Cross-Cultural Competencies for Effective Ministry" was the theme for The Forum 2000 here Nov. 2-3. About 70 leaders of faith-based health and human services discussed the cultural diversity of the people they serve, as well as the diversity and cultural awareness necessary in their...
Lutherans Continue Recovery Efforts in North Carolina
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Recovery efforts continue in North Carolina more than one year after Hurricane Floyd struck there, according to the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director for Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Hurricane Floyd killed 52 people...
U.S., Others Must Help Enable Peace, Says Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop
LOS ANGELES (ELCA) -- The United States and European Union countries should act "to put pressure on Israel and take further tangible measures" to protect Palestinians and find sustainable solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine)....
Women of the ELCA Exhibits Organizational Growth
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Adding three new units to the more than 7,800 congregational units of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America may not seem like much, but these three are "special units" that represent one of the new ways the organization hopes to grow. Joy Lutheran Church,...
Lutherans Participate in Relief Efforts in Southern Florida
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 relief efforts in southern Florida, after severe storms struck there Oct. 3-4. Storms produced more than 15 inches of rain in less than 15 hours,...
Lutherans Get a Sense of Sabbath November 10-12
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Donna Schaper will be the main speaker during the "Sabbath Sense 24/7 Conference," Nov. 10-12 in Dublin, Ohio, sponsored by the Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life and the Forum for Faith in the Workplace. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is represented in...
ELCA Commission Concerned about Funds for Ethnic Ministries
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of ethnic-specific ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are concerned about funds provided them to bring new missions into self-supporting congregations. The steering committee of the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries addressed this concern and other items at its meeting here Oct. 13-14....
Lutherans Launch 'Remember the Forgotten Refugees' Campaign
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is coordinating a national effort in November to stop "the unnecessary and prolonged imprisonment of asylum seekers and former refugees suffering unjust deportation and indefinite detention" and "'expedited removal' -- a process that strips arriving refugees of the right to a...
ELCA Board Focuses on Community Organizing and Development
ROCKFORD, Ill. (ELCA) -- Community organizing and development was the focus for a meeting here Sept. 28-30 of the board of the Division for Church in Society (DCS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In addition to its business sessions, the board toured downtown development programs and heard...
Cuban Churches Growing, Seek Stronger Ties with U.S. Churches
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There has been "enormous growth" of the church in Cuba, said the president of the Cuban Council of Churches (Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba), in remarks Oct. 20 here to the Division for Global Mission board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Dr. Reinerio Arce...
Lutherans Respond to Crisis in the Middle East
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) contributed $60,000 to the church's International Disaster Response fund to support people affected by the crisis in the Middle East. "Ever since the latest outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, tensions have mounted with fingers of accusation...
Trexler Resigns as Lutheran Bishop of Florida-Bahamas Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. William B. Trexler, 57, has announced his resignation as bishop of the Florida-Bahamas Synod, one of 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), effective Jan. 1, 2001. He has accepted a call to serve as pastor of First Lutheran Church, Norfolk, Va....
Lutheran Bishop of Montana to Become Trinity Seminary President
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark R. Ramseth, bishop of the Montana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has accepted his election to become the third president of Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. His transition from bishop to president is expected in early 2001. "I am humbled...
