Women Give Gift for ELCA Ministries
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gave a $816,763 gift to the ELCA for its ministries around the world. The women's organization of the ELCA has given more than $11 million to ELCA-related ministries in the last 11 years. "Whenever the executive board of...
ELCA Church Building Destroyed by Fire
ELCA CHURCH BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE 99 08-48 JB CHICAGO (ELCA) Members of Salem-Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Long Lake, S.D., are holding services in a dining hall at a local cafe following an Ash Wednesday fire that destroyed the congregation's building, including its sanctuary and educational wing. The cause of the...
Thomsen Named 9th President of Concordia College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Thomas W. Thomsen, 45, Des Moines, Iowa, will become the ninth president of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., July 1, 1999. He succeeds Paul J. Dovre, 64, who retires June 30 after serving 24 years as president. Concordia is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran...
New Website, Identity Project Ads Introduced by ELCA in March
CHICAGO (ELCA) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) initiated new efforts March 1 to welcome people outside the church who are seeking information on issues related to religion and faith. Efforts involve the introduction of a new site on the World Wide Web, www.sharingfaith.org, and a series of print...
Goals of the past Ecumenical Decade Continue in the ELCA
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The "Ecumenical Decade" is over but not forgotten in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA Commission for Women resolved the church will "continue to affirm the goals and purpose of the 'Ecumenical Decade: Churches in Solidarity with Women'" which the World Council of Churches...
ELCA Joins International Effort to Acknowledge Landmine Treaty
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An international treaty to destroy land mines in stockpiles and dismantle mines already in the ground will officially take effect March 1. Churches from around the world, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will ring bells to celebrate the outlaw of land mines and to...
Fire Destroys Lutheran Agency Offices in New York
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fire destroyed the administrative offices of Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York (LSS-MNY) the evening of Feb. 18. The social ministry organization is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and recognized by The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). "We thank God that no one...
ELCA Convenes Summit on Youth and Young Adults
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), who are committed to supporting and nurturing the Christian faith lives of children and young adults, gathered for the third annual "ELCA Summit on Youth" here Feb. 5-8. The summit brought together 770 young people, professional youth workers,...
Jody Williams Is Focus of Lutheran Peace Prize Forum
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Ordinary people working together can accomplish extraordinary things, according to Jody Williams, Putney, Vt., a 1997 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. With one effort, 1,380 countries working in a coordinated effort brought about an international treaty to ban land mines, which will take effect March 1,...
Jody Williams Is Focus of Lutheran Peace Prize Forum
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Ordinary people working together can accomplish extraordinary things, according to Jody Williams, Putney, Vt., a 1997 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. With one effort, 1,380 countries working in a coordinated effort brought about an international treaty to ban land mines, which will take effect March 1,...
ELCA Convenes Summit on Youth and Young Adults
ATLANTA (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), who are committed to supporting and nurturing the Christian faith lives of children and young adults, gathered for the third annual "ELCA Summit on Youth" here Feb. 5-8. The summit brought together 770 young people, professional youth workers,...
ELCA Joins International Effort to Acknowledge Landmine Treaty
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An international treaty to destroy land mines in stockpiles and dismantle mines already in the ground will officially take effect March 1. Churches from around the world, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will ring bells to celebrate the outlaw of land mines and to...
ELCA Bishop's Statement on Jasper, Tex. Verdict
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The Texas jury that rendered a guilty verdict against the white supremacist who so horribly murdered James Byrd Jr. has fulfilled its obligation to stand for justice. My prayers and those of many others in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are with the families involved...
Lutherans Support "Statistical Sampling" in 2000 Census
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) in Washington, D.C., is asking President Clinton, U.S. Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley, and members of Congress to "include statistical sampling in the decennial census." The U.S. Constitution requires that citizens be counted every 10 years to determine the...
Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue Issues 'Common Statement'
CHICAGO (ELCA) Talks between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas have arrived at "A Lutheran-Orthodox Common Statement on Faith in the Holy Trinity." The 13-paragraph communique explains the emphasis of both traditions on the Nicene Creed and draws...
ELCA Pension Board Increases Medical Benefit Limit to $2 Million
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Board of Pensions voted to increase the maximum lifetime medical benefit limit to $2 million at their quarterly meeting here Feb. 6-7. The proposed $2 million lifetime limit, an increase of $1 million from the current limit, would be...
ELCA's 'Initiatives for a New Century' Are Well Underway
CHICAGO(ELCA)-- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are expanding plans for the ELCA's "Initiatives to Prepare for a New Century." In 1997 the ELCA Churchwide Assembly selected seven significant areas of ministry for the 21st century. Leadership teams were formed early last year to provide overall guidance...
ELCA Communicator to Chair NCC Communication Commission
NASHVILLE, TENN. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Eric. C. Shafer, director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Department for Communication,= was re-elected Feb. 10 to a four-year term as chair of the Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. = (NCC). Commission communicators...
ELCA Will "Develop Leaders for the Next Century"
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Team leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) initiative to "develop leaders for the next century" have awarded $57,900 in grants to 34 congregations, synods, projects and = agencies of the ELCA. =20 A goal of the initiative is to develop leaders that will "minister...
CORRECTIONS: Opposition to Lutheran-Episcopal Proposal Organizing
In a story issued Feb. 12 by the ELCA News Service, dateline Mahtomedi, Minn., please delete paragraph #24 (#7 from the bottom). The paragraph reads: Granquist called the historic episcopate "a failed = paradigm."=20 "It has not worked for the Episcopal Church, and it won't work for us," he said....
