Board Asks ELCA Members to Pray for Farmers
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The board of the Division for Church in Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed the continuing rural crisis when it met here Sept. 24-26. The Rev. Timothy J. Swenson, Halliday, N.D., explained to the board that in his state 75 percent of farmers...
Board Recommends ELCA Adopt Report on People with Disabilities
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Board members of the Division for Church in Society of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asked the ELCA Church Council to approve "The Final Report of the Comprehensive Study of Ministry with and among Persons who are Deaf and Persons with Disabilities of the ELCA."...
ELCA Immigration Message Goes to Church Council
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will consider a "Message on Immigration" with a recommendation to adopt. If adopted in November, the message will serve as a resource for ELCA congregations to discuss attitudes regarding immigration and will guide the church's advocacy...
Retired Lutheran Bishop Joins Pension Board Staff
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The Rev. Ralph A. Kempski, 64, joined the staff of the Board of Pensions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Sept. 1. Kempski retired Aug. 31 as bishop of the ELCA's Indiana-Kentucky Synod. Kempski is the Board of Pensions' regional representative in Arkansas, Indiana,...
U.S. Lutheran and Reformed Churches Make History
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- History was made when four major U.S. Protestant churches celebrated their new relationship of "full communion" with a gala worship service Oct. 4 here at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. More than 1,500 members from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America...
Lutheran Congregations Aspire for Excellence in Ministry
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eager to energize and enrich parish ministry, more than 1,600 pastors, lay and synod leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will meet Nov. 20-22 in Orlando, Fla., for "Alive in Christ: Equipping Congregations for the 21st century." Organized by the ELCA's Division for Congregational...
Lutherans in Puerto Rico Celebrate 100th Anniversary
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans in Puerto Rico will communicate a message of hope to the world as they celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lutheran presence there. The anniversary will be celebrated at a Global Mission Event to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in San Juan. "Communicate Hope" will be...
ELCA Committee Okays Seven Draft Shareholder Resolutions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An advisory committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is recommending that seven resolutions start a long journey toward 1999 shareholder meetings in corporate America. The ELCA Division for Church in Society, through its Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, counsels various institutions of the...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Calls for Prayer
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), issued the following statment on Thursday, Sept. 24: "In the midst of the current crisis in the presidency, I join with other leaders of faith communities in calling for a time of...
ELCA Aids Flood Relief in Bangladesh
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Rains have flooded nearly 60 percent of Bangladesh, killing more than 520 people, rendering thousands homeless and damaging millions of acres of standing crops. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has responded to the disaster with $55,000 in assistance. ELCA International Disaster Response sent an initial...
Arnold Mickelson Dies
MINNEAPOLIS(ELCA) -- Dr. Arnold R. Mickelson, the former general secretary of The American Lutheran Church (ALC), died Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Minneapolis. He was 76. Mickelson was coordinator of the Commission for a New Lutheran Church, the 70-member group selected by the three merging church bodies to plan for the...
Worship Celebrates New Lutheran-reformed Relationship
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Four U.S. churches will celebrate their new relationship of "full communion" with a gala worship service Oct. 4 at Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ agreed to enter into full communion...
Lutheran Bishop Attends White House Prayer Breakfast
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The country faces two issues -- one political, the other spiritual," said the Rev. E. Roy Riley Jr., bishop of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), after attending an annual White House prayer breakfast Sept. 11. He was one of about...
U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue Began Round Ten
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) began the tenth round of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States here Sept. 3-5. The title of this round is "The Church as Koinonia of Salvation: Its Structures and Ministries."...
Lutheran 'Candlelighting for Mental Illness' on Oct. 4
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Network for Mental Illness/Brain Disorders (LNMI) will observe the beginning of Mental Illness Awareness Week with candles and prayers on Oct. 4. "Candlelighting for Mental Illness" is the third annual campaign inviting congregations of all Lutheran church bodies "to light a candle and say a...
ELCA Promotes its Domestic Hunger Grants
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the past 25 years churches have learned that feeding people was not enough to solve the problem of hunger in the United States, said Gaylord M. Thomas. The root causes of hunger would have to be addressed through relief, development and community organizing projects, and the...
Paul J. Dovre Retires as President of Concordia College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- After 24 years as president of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., Paul J. Dovre, 63, will retire at the end of the current 1998-1999 academic year. Concordia is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Dovre is the eighth president in the 107-year history of...
Lutheran Theologians Ask 'Does Faith Work?'
TECHNY, Ill. (ELCA) -- Theologians discussing doctrine is not a news event, said Dr. Dorothy Bass, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind. When they start connecting doctrines and practices, she said, that's surprising. About 60 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who teach theology in U.S. colleges and seminaries...
Former Lutheran Bishop Asks Clinton to Resign
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, former presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), sent an open letter Sept. 1 to President Bill Clinton asking him to resign. Chilstrom, who served as the first bishop of the ELCA beginning in 1988, stressed that he is...
Churches Support Tolerance Toward Muslims
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Churches for Middle East Peace has encouraged its members to support a resolution in the U.S. House and Senate supporting religious tolerance toward Muslims. The Rev. Mark B. Brown of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said, "The use of violence in the name of religion...
