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...
ELCA Council Fills Vacancies on Boards, Committees
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) filled a vacancy on the council and several vacancies on two steering committees. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met...
Some Lutheran Educators Endorse 'Called to Common Mission'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The faculty of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the president of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., announced their support for "Called to Common Mission: A Lutheran Proposal for a Revision of the Concordat of Agreement." CCM, for short, is a Lutheran proposal for "full...
Longtime Lutheran Government Liaison in Washington Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert E. Van Deusen, a retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who served some 30 years as Lutheran church liaison with the federal government, died March 31 in Charlotte, N.C., one day before his 90th birthday. Memorial services were held in...
ELCA Council Sees Draft Agenda of First Missouri Synod Talks
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), shared with the ELCA Church Council a proposed agenda for the first discussions between the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and...
ELCA Council Discusses Nomination Process for 'The Lutheran' Editor
CHICAGO (ELCA) The advisory committee for "The Lutheran," the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will meet July 12-13 to interview finalists for the editor's position and make a nomination to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA Church Council learned at its April 9-12 meeting here. The...
ELCA Council Hears Archives Move Expected Before June
CHICAGO (ELCA) --The archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is expected to move in May to a new facility in Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago, said the Rev. Lowell Almen, ELCA secretary, in a report to the ELCA Church Council during its meeting here April...
ELCA Explores Other Faith Traditions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) plan to explore the differences and similarities within Christian and other faith traditions. In a new resource called "Honoring Our Neighbor's Faith," religious groups tell "their own stories" about who they are, what they believe and how they...
