Augsburg Fortress Publishers Endorses New Business Plan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board of trustees for Augsburg Fortress Publishers (AFP), the publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), endorsed a series of strategic priorities aimed at positioning AFP as "the premier Christian communication organization" and refocusing AFP's business systems "to create a market-driven organization." The...
ELCA Men's Organization Plans for Ministry with Men in Nicaragua
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is looking for ways to "link in mission and ministry" with Lutheran men in Nicaragua. The board of LMM met here April 16-19 and discussed ways to converse, exchange resources and...
New Problems for ELCA Member Wounded in Littleton Shooting
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ann Marie Hochhalter, a 17-year-old junior at Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., faces the possibility of paralysis in her legs, the result of a spinal cord injury from a gunshot wound to the chest she suffered in a massacre April 20 at the school. Hochhalter is a...
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Explores Existing Studies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A second meeting in the tenth round of talks between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) spread out much of the available literature on the topic "The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries." Lutheran and...
Synod Assembly Asks ELCA to Reject 'Called to Common Mission'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Western Iowa Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted by a 2-1 margin a resolution that calls on the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to reject the current Lutheran proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church. The Western Iowa Synod Assembly met...
ELCA Responds to Littleton, Colo. School Tragedy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Pastors, disaster response experts and volunteers with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations and organizations are responding to a variety of community needs in Littleton, Colo., following the worst school-shooting incident in American history. Pastors in Littleton area ELCA congregations reported they've heard from people throughout...
Ethiopian Nurse Released on Bail
CHICAGO (ELCA) Zawditu Deressa, an Ethiopian nurse, was freed from prison on bond April 19 after spending more than a year in prison for allegedly providing medical treatment in 1996 to two patients who may have been supporters of a party opposed to the Ethiopian government. Zawditu Deressa was one...
ELCA Council Receives Report on Gay and Lesbian Acceptance
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) responded to requests from two of its 65 synods that the church's restrictions on ordaining gay and lesbian people be lifted. The ELCA Church Council received a report prepared by five units of the church, sent it as a response...
ELCA Council Hears Health Plan Report on 'Sharing' Principle
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The health plan for nearly 16,000 pastors and lay employees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is based on a principle of "sharing" that may or may not be served by the plan's current rate structure. John G. Kapanke, president of the ELCA Board of...
ELCA Bishop's Statement on Littleton, Colo. Tragedy
I join the nation in mourning the tragic shooting and murder of students and teachers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Congregations, pastors and members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are praying for the comfort of all families affected by this tragedy. Many congregations are seeking to...
Mission Builders Director Appointed
LISLE, Ill. (ELCA) The board of the Division for Outreach (DO) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) appointed Dean Hiner, North Platte, Neb., as director for Mission Builders, an ELCA organization whose members build or rehabilitate ELCA-related facilities. Hiner retired after working 16 years for a distributor for...
ELCA Council Recommends CCM Amendment, Transmits Information
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly amend a proposed full communion agreement with The Episcopal Church to include a sentence that "the ELCA and The Episcopal Church specifically acknowledge and declare" the agreement has been correctly interpreted...
ELCA Council Supports Nobel Peace Prize Laureates' Appeal
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have issued an appeal for the General Assembly of the United Nations to declare a "Decade of Nonviolence (2000-2010)" and for the year 2000 to be declared the "Year of Education for Nonviolence" with a special emphasis on children and youth. The Church...
ELCA Council Transmits Report on Poverty, Welfare Reform
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A progress report on the ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with women and children living in poverty was placed on the agenda of the ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA Church Council voted to "receive and transmit" the report. The Church Council is...
ELCA Council Approves Funds for Special Projects
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) established a designated fund of $3 million and authorized the ELCA presiding bishop to allocate the funds for global and domestic mission, including pilot programs intended to benefit poor people in urban and rural areas. The Church...
ELCA Council Gets Update on Agricultural Economics
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At its November 1998 meeting, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) expressed concern about the declining health of the U.S. agricultural economy. Dr. Annette Citzler, an economist from Texas Lutheran University (TLU), Seguin, Texas, provided the council with details about U.S. agriculture...
ELCA Council Supports ELCA 1999 World Hunger Appeal
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its World Hunger Appeal this year. In honor of the anniversary, the ELCA Church Council set a goal to make a $25,000 "personal commitment" to the 1999 World Hunger Appeal. The council is the...
ELCA Council Expresses Concern for the Well-Being of Children
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Concerned about the well-being of children, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended that the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopt a resolution that will urge congregations to work toward a "Christ-centered, positive environment" for children in families, congregations and communities. The council...
ELCA Council Transmits Proposed Statement on Economic Life
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will consider adding a document called "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All: A Social Statement on Economic Life" to its series of social statements. The ELCA Church Council received the document from the ELCA Division for Church in Society and placed...
ELCA Council Reaffirms Multicultural Mission
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has not made satisfactory progress toward its goal of having at least 10 percent of its membership be people of color or whose primary language is not English, said Carol L. Weiser, Bethlehem, Pa., a member of the ELCA Church...
