ELCA Is "Called To Be A Safe Place"
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has given its Commission for Women the assignment to "assist this church to create a safe environment for women in this church and society." The commission is coordinating series of programs around the theme "Called to be a Safe Place." "We...
New Plans for ELCA Worship, Outdoor Ministry
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The worship team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will "lead, encourage and support the worship of God" in the church based on a new plan. The board of the ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) accepted the team's plan when it met here Feb. 28-Mar....
Learning is "Life-Long" for Lutherans
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Continuing education means ongoing spiritual formation, theological growth and leadership development, according to a report outlining specific expectations of "life-long learning" for pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA Division for Ministry board approved those expectations when...
Suad Younan: Palestinian Lutheran
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Suad Younan, a leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan (Palestine), asked the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Global Mission board to support Palestinian Christians. Younan is the director of the Helen Keller School for the Blind in Jerusalem. The board, meeting here March...
Terry Waite Speaks at Lutheran College
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (ELCA) -- When he met with the hostage takers, Terry Waite was blindfolded, his body was searched, his scars were probed and his teeth were examined. After he was inspected for locating and recording devices, he was given a change of clothing. Waite endured all this, then...
ELCA Bishops Discuss Ecumenical Proposals
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (ELCA) -- Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here March 6-11, talked about response in ELCA synods to ecumenical proposals to be considered at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August. The church is scheduled to vote on entering into "full communion" with the Episcopal...
ELCA College Enrollment Rise is Steady
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Full-time student enrollment at the 28 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America colleges and universities rose from 44,036 to 44,310 between 1995 and 1996, a gain of 274 students, "making enrollment the highest it has ever been," reported James Unglaube, ELCA director for colleges and universities. The board...
ELCA Policy to Stress Study Over Statements
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In its first 10 years the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has issued social statements on abortion, the death penalty, the environment, peace, and racism. The ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) that developed the statements has drawn up policies saying the study leading up to...
Vocations of Gay and Lesbian Lutherans
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (ELCA) -- The role of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Lutherans in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was the topic of discussion when Lutheran Campus Ministry hosted "The Gifts We Offer, The Burdens We Bear: The Vocation and Ministry of Gay and Lesbian Persons in Church...
Rites Proposed for ELCA Lay Ministers
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The board for the Division for Congregational Ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has sent to the ELCA Church Council the proposed rites for the installation and commissioning of associates in ministry and for the consecration and installation of diaconal ministers. The action was taken at its...
ELCA and Bolivian Lutherans Walk Together
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (ELCA) -- The Bolivian Lutheran Church has an ambitious plan to work with migrant people in Santa Cruz, one of Latin America's fastest growing areas. Surrounded by farmland and wide open spaces, this small city southeast of La Paz has experienced an influx of 60,000 peasant farmers...
Lutherans Assist With Africa Drought Relief
KENYA, TANZANIA DROUGHT RELIEF Action by Church Together (ACT) is responding to the slow onslaught of drought in Tanzania and Kenya. Harvests from 1992 to 1995 were poor due to prolonged drought. In 1996 long rain improved harvests, but the short rains which were normally due later that year failed...
ELCA Seminary Honors Pastor Tony Machado
SEMINARY HONORS MACHADO The Rev. J. Antonio Machado will be honored April 3 for "his efforts to transcend racial and cultural barriers in his ministry." He will receive the 1997 Luther Seminary Race, Church and Change Award during a chapel service at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. Machado is pastor...
Lutheran Seminary Technology Gets Boost
SEMINARY TECHNOLOGY GETS BOOST Three of the eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will benefit from grants awarded by the Lilly Endowment, Indianapolis, to help theological schools develop technologies for teaching and learning. The foundation named 30 U.S. seminaries to take part in the $6.8-million Library Technology...
Bishop Backs Campaign Finance Reform
BISHOP BACKS CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, added his name to a list of 36 religious leaders asking Congress to "support campaign finance reform as one of the first acts of the new Congress." The National Council of...
ELCA Rural Ministry Conference
RURAL MINISTRY TAKES TEAMWORK The importance of clergy and laity working together in rural congregations was the theme of the 1997 Rural Ministry Conference held March 2-4 in Dubuque, Iowa. Wartburg Theological Seminary and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary sponsored "Ministry Together: New Models for Laity and Clergy" through...
Pacific Lutheran Seminary to Install President
LULL INSTALLATION Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., will install its sixth president April 26-27 with a reflective weekend. The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, 53, succeeds the Rev. Jerry L. Schmalenberger, 62, who assumed the duties of a professor of pastoral ministry at the seminary on Sept. 1, 1996....
ELCA College Receives A $26 Million Gift
ST. OLAF RECEIVES A $26 MILLION GIFT St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., received a $26 million gift from Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock and their family. The gift, announced Feb. 7, is the largest single gift ever made to a Lutheran college in the United States. St. Olaf is one of...
ELCA Asian Ministries Director Named
ASIAN MINISTRIES DIRECTOR NAMED The Rev. Pongsak Limthongviratn has been named director for Asian ministries and multicultural mission strategy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Commission for Multicultural Ministries. He began his new responsibilities March 1. "I hope to create, develop and serve more than 30 new Asian congregational...
ELCA College President to Retire
AUGSBURG PRESIDENT TO RETIRE The Rev. Charles S. Anderson, 67, will retire this summer as president of Augsburg College, Minneapolis. Anderson cited personal and professional reasons for his early retirement. He has undergone surgery and chemotherapy for intestinal cancer. "My progress with the treatment has been good," said Anderson. "But...
