News

WASHINGTON, D.C., (ELCA) -- With another Middle East peace summit still in question, 20 Christian leaders sent an open letter to President Bill Clinton calling upon him to redouble efforts "to achieve a negotiated peace in the Middle East." Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox and other church leaders asked Clinton to...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (ELCA) -- The Rev. David W. Tiede, president of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., affirmed Lutheran commitment to ecumenism and explained the cultural and theological factors that make proposals for full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church "complicated." Tiede addressed a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Good morning! In fact, extraordinary morning!" the Rev. H. Frederick Reisz, Jr., president of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, greeted reporters April 21 in Columbia, S.C. He announced that an anonymous gift of $7,622,737.45 -- the largest single contribution ever to a Lutheran seminary in North America --...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Six of the eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are planning commencement ceremonies in May for 1998 degree recipients: 15 Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. Speaker: The Rev. Darold H. Beekmann, LTSG President Place: Church of the Abiding Presence (LTSG Chapel) 15 Lutheran...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran young people from across the country used the Internet April 29 to connect with each other for a live interactive chat. High school, college and seminary students of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America talked about how the church can minister with gay, lesbian and bisexual...

LOUISVILLE, KY (ELCA) -- Communication efforts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America were recognized by the Religious Public Relations Council and the Associated Church Press. Ten DeRose-Hinkhouse awards were given to ELCA communicators at the annual convention of the Religious Public Relations Council (RPRC), held here April 23-25. The...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert A. Rimbo, 47, was elected bishop of the Southeast Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on May 2. He received 199 votes to 188 for the Rev. John H.K. Schreiber, 36, on the fifth ballot during the synod's assembly in Novi,...

ST. PAUL (ELCA) - Nearly 1,000 women and men gathered here for the Re-Imagining Revival, a four-day event marking the end of the World Council of Churches' "Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women." Close to 100 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America joined the celebration April...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (ELCA) -- The Board of Trustees of Augsburg Fortress Publishers directed its president to standardize business practices, engage consultants' help as needed and consider bringing on a chief operating officer. The board acted in executive session at its meeting here April 23-25. Augsburg Fortress, based in Minneapolis, is...

CHANDLER, Ariz. (ELCA) -- They manage one of the largest organizations of housing, counseling, child care, foster care and adoption, refugee resettlement, employment services, disaster response, health care, nursing home and AIDS ministries in the United States and Caribbean. More than 300 of them heard that "why" they do what...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expresses its profound shock and sorrow at the assassination of Monsignor Juan Jose Gerardi Conedera, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Guatemala," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA's presiding bishop, in a statement April 28. "To our brothers and sisters...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Called to Common Mission," a draft proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church, came under the scrutiny of the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the council's meeting here April 18-20. The proposal is being distributed to congregations and leaders of the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Called to Common Mission," a draft proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church, came under the scrutiny of the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the council's meeting here April 18-20. The proposal is being distributed to congregations and leaders of the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America authorized 1998 spending to total $79.6 million when it met here April 17-20. The council also approved a 1998 World Hunger spending authorization of $11.9 million, and the use of $1.5 million for new ELCA ministries. "We...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Recent ecumenical decisions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have underlined differences between the 5.2-million member church and the 2.5-million member Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). There are about 8.6 million Lutherans in North America. The ELCA's 1997 Churchwide Assembly approved a relationship of "full communion"...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Action by Churches Together (ACT) moved quickly to aid victims of violent storms in on India's northeast coastal areas of Orissa and West Bengal. ACT-related agencies initiated immediate relief operations in the areas affected by the cyclone, providing food other relief assistance from nearby contingency stores. Cyclones...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will respond to tornadoes that left fatalities across Alabama and Georgia last week, said the Rev. Leon A. Phillips, director for the ELCA's Domestic Disaster Response. "Many areas devastated by the tornadoes are closed to relief efforts because of dangerous debris...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Adrienne Lumpkin, Portsmouth, Va., received the first Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church/State Award given by the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C. It was presented March 30 in Washington during the Lutheran Dinner -- an annual tradition of the Interfaith Public Policy Briefing....

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Churchwide, synod and congregational leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and other religious leaders in the United States are being asked to sign a statement urging the U.S. Senate to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) before August. The Lutheran Office for Governmental...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Action by Churches Together (ACT) is providing relief assistance to an estimated 30,000 people that have fled areas of Kosovo in Yugoslavia that have experienced civil unrest and violence. An ACT-related agency operating out of Pristina distributed emergency food, hygiene and medical assistance in the Srbica and...