ELCA Youth Prepare to "Dance at the Cross Roads"
ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- The Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will bring together thousands of high-school-age and adult Lutherans in two back-to-back events this year: June 28 -July 2, and July 5-9. The gathering, "Dancing at the Cross Roads," will take place here at the America's...
U.S. Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue Backs Common Date for Easter
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As Christians begin observances of Lent -- the period of penitence and fasting leading up to Easter or Pascha -- there is a renewed effort for all Christians to use the same calculations to determine the date of Easter each year. The U.S. Lutheran-Orthodox dialogue endorsed an...
Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Sudan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided $75,000 to help rehabilitate southern Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan. The funds sent by the church will help deliver food and other materials needed there. The Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international communication,...
Women of Color Clergy Gather to 'Retreat, Refresh and Renew'
SAN ANTONIO (ELCA) -- "Women of God: Caring for Mind, Body and Spirit," was the theme that brought 53 of the 94 women of color clergy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) here Feb. 24-27. "This gathering was an opportunity for ordained women of color to come together...
Lutheran, Episcopal Seminary Communities Discuss Shared Ministry
NEW YORK (ELCA) -- More than 100 Episcopalians and Lutherans gathered Feb. 29-March 1 at The General Theological Seminary (GTS) of the Episcopal Church here for a conference on the future of shared ministry in an urban setting. Sponsored by GTS and The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), one...
Income for ELCA World Hunger Appeal Exceeds Goal by Millions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Income for the 1999 World Hunger Appeal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) surpassed the previous year's total by more than $3.4 million. The appeal collected more than $16 million in 1999 -- a record amount for the appeal -- and $12.5 million in 1998....
ELCA Bishops Adopt Pastoral Letter on 'Called to Common Mission'
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ELCA) -- In an effort to maintain unity in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA Conference of Bishops adopted a pastoral letter March 6 on the implementation of a full communion proposal with The Episcopal Church. The bishops' letter, seen as risky by some...
Bruce Halverson Elected President of ELCA Augustana College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Bruce R. Halverson, Tallahassee, Fla., will become the 22nd president of Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., Aug. 1. Augustana is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Halverson succeeds Dr. Ralph H. Wagoner, who is retiring this summer as president...
Yale Ecumenical Conference Lauds Lutheran-Catholic Declaration
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was the focus of an international ecumenical symposium Feb. 4-6 at the Yale University Divinity School and the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, New Haven, Conn. Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Roman Catholic leaders attended "The Yale Conference on...
Lutherans Work Together to Provide Disaster Response
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran congregations and volunteers from four rural counties in southwest Georgia are working together to provide emergency assistance after three tornadoes struck the area in mid-February. Lutheran Disaster Response -- a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) --...
Lutherans Help Deliver Hay to Mid-atlantic Farmers
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than two dozen train cars of hay from the Midwest will be delivered in early March to help hundreds of farmers in Ohio and mid-Atlantic states feed their livestock. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Domestic Disaster Response, along with other disaster response groups, is...
Lutherans Begin 'Year of Education for Nonviolence'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is preparing to participate in the "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence" (2001-2010) with a "Year of Education for Nonviolence." The Lutheran Peace Fellowship is conducting 11 training events, and a special task force is coordinating other projects across the...
ELCA Responds to Floods in Mozambique and South Africa
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) sent emergency assistance to people in Mozambique Feb. 24, after Cyclone Eline stranded hundreds of thousands of people there. The cyclone deteriorated living conditions in Mozambique, after two months of heavy rain produced extensive flooding there and in South Africa....
Professor Calls for Rejection of "Milwaukee Proposals"
CHICAGO (ELCA)-- A member of the Lutheran drafting team that wrote the current proposal for full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Church called for immediate rejection of proposals that could modify its implementation. Dr. Michael Root, professor of systematic theology, Trinity Lutheran Seminary,...
ELCA Board Addresses School Vouchers, Other Social Issues
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A social policy resolution on school vouchers for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has been recommended by the ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS). The DCS board met here Feb. 24-26, proposed the ELCA Church Council adopt the voucher resolution, and addressed a number...
More Changes Proposed for ELCA Health Plan
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions approved health plan changes in pharmacy, dental, chiropractic and managed mental health care coverage for almost 50,000 ELCA pastors and employees, when they met here Feb. 4-6. The ELCA Church Council must approve the changes...
Lutherans Reflect on Concerns over the Y2K Computer Problem
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Internet connects most of the 11,000 congregations and 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), so concerns about computer disruptions when entering the year 2000 (Y2K) were mixed with theological reflections on God's power in times of uncertainty. It is 2000, and Lutheran...
ELCA Receives Funds to Teach the Faith and Deepen Worship Life
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- To support the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) efforts to teach the faith and deepen worship life, the Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation, Minneapolis, provided $170,000 for the work of the church's initiatives. "Deepen Our Worship Life" and "Teach the Faith" are two of seven ELCA "Initiatives to...
Lutherans Support Return of Elian Gonzalez to His Father
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) supports the return of Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba. Gonzalez, 6, was brought to the United States last year after he was found clinging to a life preserver in the waters off the coast of Florida. His mother drowned...
Possible Changes Offered in Full Communion Implementation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eighteen people with differing views on a Lutheran proposal for full communion with the Episcopal Church met in an unofficial, facilitated dialogue in Milwaukee Feb. 16-18. The group approved a "Common Ground Resolution" suggesting "a possible path" in implementing the full communion proposal that could enable those...
