News

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social policy resolution on school vouchers as an interim policy of the church, for possible ratification or amendment by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The policy is meant to guide the public policy advocacy ministry...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is related to eight seminaries, 28 colleges and universities and 280 social ministry organizations. About 100 representatives of those institutions, bishops and staff of the churchwide organization discussed their relationships with each other and the church -- and...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Through a series of actions, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) declared its continued desire to move into full communion with The Episcopal Church. It determined an implementation date for the proposed full communion agreement, "Called to Common Mission" (CCM), and said...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) learned that United States military "live-fire" training continues on Vieques, Puerto Rico, causing harm to the island's environment and welfare of its people, according to the Rev. Mario C. Miranda, a council member from Bayamon, Puerto...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) decided "to decline to initiate a study on the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian persons." The suggestion for such a study came to the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly as "information." The Church Council is the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gave a $514,607 gift to the ELCA for its ministries around the world in 1999. Among other actions, the amount of the gift was announced at the Women of the ELCA executive board meeting here March 16-19. "Women...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa., has named the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White to become its 12th president while the school begins its 175th anniversary this summer. Gettysburg is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The seminary's board of directors...

DUBUQUE, Iowa (ELCA) -- Full communion with the Episcopal Church is "natural, easy, like breathing," said the Rev. Donald S. Armentrout, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pastor and professor of church history at the Episcopal School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. Armentrout addressed...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Twelve faculty members of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, said in a March 31 position paper and open letter to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) they continue to support an ELCA proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church, known as "Called to Common Mission"...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An assembly in Fargo, N.D., of the Eastern North Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), resolved March 24 to "fully support the right of its constituent members, congregations, pastors and bishops to freely accept or reject local implementation of an historic episcopate." Acceptance...

CHICAGO (ELCA)-- Earning minimum wage in the United States puts millions of workers and their children in limbo -- making too much to receive assistance and making too little to survive, said Kay A. Bengston, assistant director for public policy advocacy, Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C. LOGA...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - "Proclaim Jubilee: Cancel the Debts, Now!" is the theme of the National Mobilization for Debt Cancellation rally to be held in Washington, D.C., April 9 to bring public attention to an international effort to cancel the debts held by the world's most impoverished countries. The rally, which...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Commission for Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asked the church to support the efforts of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., seeking an exception to ELCA rules against ordaining gay or lesbian Lutherans in homosexual relationships. The...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In light of the settlement of lawsuits charging the Adam's Mark Hotel chain with racial discrimination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) announced it has reconsidered and will assign participants and staff in this summer's Youth Gathering to the Adam's Mark Hotel in St. Louis. The...

MUNDELEIN, Ill. (ELCA) -- Since 1993, when the Division for Outreach of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) began developing ethnic-specific strategies, a team of African American Lutherans has been crafting an African American Outreach Strategy. The division's board reviewed the strategy when it met here March 3-5. Lutheran...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Six keynote speakers and hundreds of people from around the world got together on the World Wide Web in February to discuss "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All," a social statement on economic life which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted in 1999. "For the Love...

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ELCA) -- Income to the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) exceeded expenses in 1999 by $2.1 million in current operating funds, said Richard L. McAuliffe, ELCA treasurer. McAuliffe reported results of the fiscal year ending Jan. 31 to the ELCA Conference of...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), formally transmitted to the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church the text of a pastoral letter from the ELCA Conference of Bishops. The bishops' letter, adopted March 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With an additional 1.6 million members registered in the past year, the number of Lutherans worldwide rose from 61.5 million in 1998 to 63.1 million in 1999, according to statistics compiled by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) based in Geneva, Switzerland. Membership in the LWF also increased,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The bold message of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a shining example of the important and life-saving role for the faith community in suicide prevention," David A. Litts wrote to the Rev. John R. Stumme, associate director for studies, ELCA Division for Church in...