ELCA Supports Relief Work in Liberia and Eritrea
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has pledged $50,000 to support the work of Lutheran World Federation's Department for World Service in war-torn Liberia. Members of the ELCA have also contributed $100,000 toward relief work in Eritrea. Between 1989 and 1996, Liberia was ravaged by civil...
ELCA Helps Mid-Atlantic Farmers Endure Drought
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A severe drought has singed farmland in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and states in the New England area this summer. These areas may be declared disaster sites, said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director of Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry...
Lutheran Pastor to Head Jewish-Christian Institute
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Peter A. Pettit, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), became director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., on Aug. 1. Muhlenberg is a college of the ELCA. "The institute is unique in the world of North...
ELCA Colleges and Universities Rank among America's Best (Corrected Text)
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) rank among the best in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report's 2000 edition of "America's Best Colleges," issued Aug. 30. When compared with other public and private institutions, 17 of the ELCA's...
Luther Institute Honors Lutheran Music and Musicians
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Luther Institute has named five men and a choir to receive its 1999 Wittenberg Awards on Oct. 23. The focus of the 1999 Wittenberg Awards is "to recognize a few individuals and organizations who have made and are making major contributions to Lutheran Church music." This...
ELCA Issues Materials to Facilitate Deliberation on Homosexuality
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Talking Together as Christians about Homosexuality" is a guide for congregations to gather information and to conduct organized discussions about what has been a difficult topic for the church. The Division for Church in Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) developed the materials and...
Lutheran Disaster Response Ends Relief Efforts in Puerto Rico
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response concluded its recovery work in Puerto Rico this month after Hurricane Georges struck the island in September 1998. Lutheran Disaster Response is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. More than 650 individuals went to Puerto...
J. Robert Busche, Former LWR Official, Dies
J. ROBERT BUSCHE, FORMER LWR OFFICIAL, DIES 99-221 JB/REAL** CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A former top official of Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Rev. John Robert Busche, 75 died Sept. 1 at his home in Freeport, N.Y., of cancer. At...
ELCA Web Site Receives Record Number of Hits During 1999 Assembly
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Web site of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) logged more than 94,000 "hits" Aug. 19 during the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, a record number for one day, said Dr. Paul D. Edison-Swift, director for resource information and networks, ELCA Department for Communication. The assembly...
ELCA Committee Addresses Corporate Ethics, Economic Life
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Possible shareholder resolutions on sweatshops and on banks reinvesting in their own communities engaged an advisory committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) meeting here Aug. 28. The ELCA Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility also discussed a new report on global corporate ethics and...
ELCA Starts Advisory Committee on Rural Ministry
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eighteen people from across the United States and from churchwide offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered here Aug. 27-29 for the first meeting of the ELCA's Rural Desk Advisory Committee. The group arrived at "an incredible amount of consensus about what the director...
ELCA's Aid for Kosovo Totals $2 Million
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has distributed $2,005,000 to support the work of various relief agencies working in and around Kosovo on behalf of refugees and for reconstruction efforts. As hopes for peace begin to materialize in Kosovo, the ELCA continues...
Lilly Grants Help ELCA Seminaries Create New Programs
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- New programs for youth leadership development, contextual education and congregational ministry are some of the projects under way at six seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), funded by grants from the Lilly Foundation, the endowment arm of the Lilly Pharmaceutical Corporation, Indianapolis. At the...
ELCA Assembly Supports South Carolina Boycott (Corrected Text)
DENVER (ELCA) -- The 1999 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted Aug. 21 to support a decision of the church's bishops not to meet next spring in Charleston, S.C., because the battle flag of the Confederacy continues to fly over the state's capitol in Columbia,...
ELCA Assembly Hears from Lutheran Services in America (Corrected Text)
DENVER (ELCA) -- Joanne Negstad, president and CEO of Lutheran Services in America, brought greetings to the 1999 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly on behalf of the organization that is the "umbrella" of social ministries of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). The churchwide assembly,...
Arthur Lewis Heads Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. W. Arthur Lewis, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), became director of the Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta (LTCA) on July 1. The center is part of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), a consortium of African American seminaries. Lewis succeeds the...
Denver Church Hosts Gay/Lesbian Ceremony (Corrected Margin)
DENVER (ELCA) -- After a procession through downtown Denver, 13 self-proclaimed gay and lesbian pastors and pastoral candidates were honored and unofficially rostered to Lutheran ministry at a ceremony at St. Paul Lutheran Church. More than 150 people, including voting members and volunteers from the ELCA 1999 Churchwide Assembly, attended...
ELCA Assembly Adopts Budgets for 2000 and 2001 (Corrected Text)
DENVER (ELCA) -- The 1999 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved, by a vote of 689 to 14, proposed operating budgets for 2000 and 2001. The proposals were $83,490,000 for 2000 and $84,845,000 for 2001. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA,...
ELCA Assembly Praised for Ecumenical Work
DENVER (ELCA) -- The 1999 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly received greetings from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and three Reformed churches that are in full communion with the ELCA the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America, and United Church of Christ. The churchwide...
ELCA Assembly Hearing Discusses Health Care Proposal
DENVER (ELCA) -- Dozens of issues and ideas were raised by more than 40 speakers during two hearings Aug. 17 on a proposal that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) prepare a social statement on health care. While participants voiced differences of opinion, no one suggested the ELCA Churchwide...
