News

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Grants from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran World Relief (LWR) will help famine-stricken people in southern Sudan. War and drought have left hundreds of thousands displaced and now starving. According to Action by Churches Together (ACT), an estimated 150,000 people in Sudan face...

The Rev. Robert E. Wandersee, a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was killed in a robbery-related attack Aug. 7 on a highway outside Jos, Nigeria. Wandersee was struck by bullets when the car in which he and two Nigerian passengers were traveling came under attack. The...

The Rev. Robert E. Wandersee, a missionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was killed in a robbery-related attack Aug. 7 on a highway outside Jos, Nigeria. Wandersee was struck by bullets when the car in which he and two Nigerian passengers were traveling came under attack. The...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the women's organization of the ELCA, has awarded $125,600 in grants to projects and $35,700 in scholarships to women preparing for ordained ministry, academic leadership in higher education institutions and lay leadership development for the 1998-1999 school year. "Gifts...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With a total of 5,185,055 baptized members in 10,889 congregations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) remained stable in membership for 1997, according to the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary. That figure represented a slight decrease of 2,308 from 5,187,363 in 1996. That's a 0.04...

CHICAGO (ELCA)-- Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced July 22 an agreement of partnership with Bexley Hall (Episcopal) Seminary, Rochester, N.Y., to provide theological education to Lutherans, Episcopalians and seminarians of other denominations on Trinity's Columbus campus. "We will educate...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Bible has a number of things to say about health, healing, illness and suffering. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) may conduct a study of those things as part of the development of a social statement on health care in the United States. The ELCA...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Income for the10,889 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 1997 was $2,006,953,384, up $133,397,469 or 7.12 percent from 1996, reported the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary. Of total congregational receipts, $1,384,266,794 was received in regular, unrestricted offerings -- up 3.88 percent. For...

"We just keep waiting and waiting, hoping that the price of grain will go up." "We live on a family farm, southwest of Wing, North Dakota. It was the farm Delbert, my husband, was born and raised on. Part of our house is about 100 years old," said Arlene Olson,...

3 Augustana Lutheran Church, Denver 3 Glade Run Lutheran Services, Zelienople, Pa. 11 Faith United Lutheran Church, Iron, Minn. 17 Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash. 17 Ken-Crest Centers, Plymouth Meeting, Pa. 17 Nora Lutheran Church, Gardner, N.D. 18 Macksburg Lutheran Church, Canby, Ore. 24 Central Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Iowa...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The nature of chemical and substance abuse have changed in this country. Current trends show that drug use among children is rising, with the average age falling below 20," said Loretta E. Horton, director of social ministry for congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans in the United States are known for their songs, theology and potlucks. They're known for their social services, refugee resettlement and disaster response. They may not be so well-known for their bold, public witness of Jesus Christ in their own neighborhoods, speaker after speaker told Global...

ELCA (CHICAGO) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has begun planning for new ways to deepen worship life, teach the faith, witness to God's action in the world, strengthen one another in mission, provide a safe place for children, connect with youth and young adults, and provide leadership development....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response is reacting to widespread damage and destruction to 23 counties in southeastern Ohio as a result of recent flash floods and tornado-force winds. Damage assessment continues and some communities are still inaccessible, reported the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director for Lutheran Disaster Response, a...

ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- The 60th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) expressed its regret and disappointment with ecumenical decisions the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) made in 1997. Convention delegates met here July 11-17 and dealt in various ways with relations between the two churches. The...

BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- About 250 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) gathered in Baltimore's Inner Harbor on July 6 to break ground for a new Lutheran Center. Situated on a prime piece of property across from a major Inner Harbor tourist...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An earthquake-triggered tsunami (tidal wave) off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea killed as many as 3,000 people July 17. Seven heavily populated villages in the West Sepik region were washed away by the 23-foot waves, leaving more than 6,000 homeless. "Most of the people who...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Men's ministry is about how men and women work and live together out of mutual reverence for Christ," said Douglas Haugen, director for Lutheran Men in Mission, the men's organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Lutheran men are defining their roles in church and...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "I heard you say that you want to undertake this awesome task because you are Christians," Sheila Radford-Hill told about 80 church, public and private professionals who came June 26-27 to the central offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) "to reaffirm, modify and prioritize...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (ELCA) -- About 140 mission specialists from around the world gathered here at Luther Seminary for an ecumenical Congress on the World Mission of the Church, June 23-27, to re-examine the Christian missionary obligation and particularly the mission responsibility of the North American Christian community. The Rev....