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LUTHERANS LEARN TO SHARE FAITH The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has produced two resources, "Connections: Faith and Life" and "Sharing Your Faith with Friends, Relatives and Neighbors," designed to help adults be "faith-sharing Christians" every day of the week. The resources focus on the relationship between faith and life...

COOPER-WHITE REAPPOINTED TO LEAD SYNODICAL RELATIONS The Rev. Michael Cooper-White, 47, was re-appointed to a second four-year term as director of the Department for Synodical Relations for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at a meeting of its Church Council in Chicago Nov. 14-16. The Department for Synodical Relations provides...

ELCA COMMUNICATORS GATHER IN PITTSBURGH About 140 people who tell the stories of mission and ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gathered in Pittsburgh Nov. 20-21 for the 1997 ELCA Communicators' Consultation. The 140 communicators work in the ELCA's 65 synods and other organizations of the church. The...

ELCA TO PROVIDE RESOURCE ADDRESSING CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's strategy for responding to sexual abuse in the church has resulted in the preparation of a new resource notebook. "The major project for our work over the past several months has been completing a phase of...

PITTSBURGH (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America willexplore how it will transform its congregations into vital faith communities through 21st century media and with a warm welcome. About 850 clergy and lay leaders gathered here for "Making Christ Known: Congregations for the 21st Century," Nov. 21-23. "Our world...

"God doesn't want us to live our faith just for ourselves. God wants us to share with the world how different we are because of our Christian faith," constitutional scholar and best-selling author Dr. Stephen L. Carter told leaders gathered for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's "Making Christ Known"...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- Catherine I.H. Braasch, executive director of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, discussed President Bill Clinton's racial initiatives at a White House breakfast Nov. 20, together with other religious leaders. "In the coming year the president wants to discover the best ways to address...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Martin E. Marty, Chicago, will head up the writing team that will undertake a revision of the "Concordat of Agreement," on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Also on the team authorized by the ELCA Church Council are the Rev. Todd W. Nichol,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will participate in the "Jubilee/USA Campaign" based on action taken the ELCA Church Council at its meeting here Nov. 14-16. "Jubilee 2000 is a worldwide grassroots movement aimed at creating a fresh start for impoverished nations as our world enters a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The mission of the worship team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to "lead, encourage and support the worship of God" in the church, the Rev. Paul R. Nelson, director for worship, told members of the ELCA's Church Council. The council heard the worship plan...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here Nov. 14-16, approved the church's 1998 fiscal-year spending authorization of $77.5 million. The council also approved an initial Mission Operating Fund allocation of $1 million; an Expanded Ministry Fund of $200,000; and a 1998 World...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here Nov. 14-16, endorsed a new emblem and a theme line, "Living Faith," that will be featured in a coordinated identity program. Over the next 12 months the church will design a marketing and identity campaign,...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here Nov. 14-16, asked the presiding bishops of the ELCA and The Episcopal Church to rework the "Concordat of Agreement." The council's goal is to have a draft document ready to show the ELCA's spring synod...

SEACAUCUS, N.J. (ELCA) -- Lutherans have the theological and pastoral resources to attack the problems presented by the HIV virus, said two noted theologians addressing the fifth North American Conference on Aids Nov.6-8. But an African Lutheran theologian told conference participants that the disease is spreading wildly on that continent...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America must "hear one more time what God has in store for us as we become a more multicultural church," according to the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director of the ELCA's Commission for Multicultural Ministries. Speaking to more than 300...

SEACAUCUS, N.J. (ELCA) -- An inter-Lutheran network of individuals and agencies involved in ministries supporting people affected by the HIV virus and AIDS was officially organized here Nov. 6, eight years after an informal group of Lutherans began meeting around the subject of spiritual and medical care for AIDS patients....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Board of the Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America discussed future planning at its meeting here Oct. 23-25. The jumping-off point for conversation was a paper entitled, "Accompaniment of God's Mission: A New Paradigm for Global Mission in the 21st Century."...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two missionaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America work providing food to the hungry in Russia through the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy. The Revs. Twila K. Schock and William P. Swanson arrived in Moscow in October to work in the ecumenical and intercultural congregation of Protestant Christians....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Youth Organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will pray with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community "in our home, church and world." The LYO board, meeting here Oct. 31-Nov. 2, acted to establish "A Year of Prayer," a year-long prayer emphasis for...

ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- Has Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church made an effective start at becoming an anti-racist organization? "It's too early to tell," said Inez Torres Davis, program director for anti-racism and cross-cultural programming. "Anti-racism is not like littering; it is not a behavior to be changed. We...