Good News from the ELCA Treasurer
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two-thirds of its way through its 1998 budget year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is experiencing positive cash flow, thanks in large part to a $2 million increase in giving from = the church's 11,000 congregations over the same period the previous year. "The church...
Lutherans Write Letters For Prisoner In Ethiopia
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are writing letters and postcards to officials of Ethiopia, asking them to release Zawditu Deressa. On April 3 the Ethiopian government arrested Deressa, a nurse, for providing medical treatment in 1996 for two patients who may have been...
ELCA's Magazine Will Expand Coverage Of Multicultural Events
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The Lutheran," a magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will work to increase its coverage of ethnic-specific ministries and events with help from the ELCA's Commission for Multicultural Ministries (CMM). Regular dialogue between staff of The Lutheran and CMM will be more intentional under...
Sales Are Up At Augsburg Fortress
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The board of trustees of Augsburg Fortress, Publishing House of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), heard good news and bad news at its Oct. 22-24 meeting here. "Augsburg Fortress has areas of concern and future challenges," said board chair Todd P. Engdahl of Denver, "but...
Lutherans Establish 'Millions for Mitch' Campaign
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans in the United States and Caribbean are working together to assist immediate response and long-term recovery efforts in Central America following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch. "Millions for Mitch" is a campaign involving millions of Lutherans in contributing millions of dollars. Hurricane Mitch killed more than...
Swan to Head North American Academy of Ecumenists
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Darlis J. Swan, associate director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Department for Ecumenical Affairs, will be president of the North American Academy of Ecumenists (NAAE) in 1999 and 2000. The organization held its 1998 conference Sept. 25-27 in Covington, Ky. "I hope...
Alice Marshall Dies at 80
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Alice Hepner Marshall, 80, died here Oct. 30. School teacher and office secretary, Marshall was "both a delightful and fascinating person with her own interests and a fierce supporter of her husband," said the Rev. Robert N. Bacher, executive for administration in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in...
Lutherans in North America Celebrate the Global Communion
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Over its 50-year history, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has evolved from a white, male, "Euro-American" organization "into a 'rainbow' communion where people of different regions -- women, men, young and old -- all have space in its life and work," LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko told...
Southern Texas Flood Waters Devastate Lutherans
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Three major rivers in southern Texas crested earlier than expected this fall, leaving residents along the Colorado, Guadalupe and San Antonio River communities unprepared for the raging waters. Hundreds of houses and a dozen churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were affected. "Our church...
ELCA Commissions 'The Promise of Lutheran Ethics'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ten Lutheran theologians worked together and on their own for two years to produce "The Promise of Lutheran Ethics." Augsburg Fortress, publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), released the nine-chapter volume in August. The ELCA's Church Council and Division for Church in Society...
ELCA Global Mission Board Urges Nonviolence
TECHNY, Ill. (ELCA) -- Violence has a serious impact on the lives of children around the world. So, the board of the Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voiced its support for a "Decade of Nonviolence" when it met here Oct. 15-17. Twenty Nobel...
Women of the ELCA Names Convention Keynoters
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Three national leaders acclaimed for their work on justice issues will address thousands of women from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) July 8-11, 1999, at the Women of the ELCA Fourth Triennial Convention in St. Louis. The presenters are Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil...
Masters Named President of Thiel College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lance A. Masters, 51, El Cerrito, Calif., was appointed the 17th president of Thiel College, Greenville, Pa., effective Jan. 1, 1999. Thiel is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "In today's competitive college market I will strive to distinguish Thiel...
Lutheran Bishops in Michigan Oppose Physician-Assisted Death
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We Lutheran Christians believe that life is a gift from God, temporarily entrusted to us as faithful guardians of a sacred trust," wrote the three bishops of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) synods in Michigan. They issued their public statement in response to Proposal B on...
Lutheran Bishops Discuss Who Can Ordain Pastors
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "People object to the church saying that you can't have a pastor without having a bishop," the Rev. Peter Rogness, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told the ELCA Conference of Bishops when it met here Oct. 1-7. The bishops...
Lutherans Need Volunteers to Help Clean up after Hurricane Georges
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We need your help to respond to the devastation Hurricane Georges left behind in the Florida Keys and in Puerto Rico," said the Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, director for Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. After...
Hansen Retires as President of Midland Lutheran College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Carl L. Hansen, president of Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, Neb., will retire at the end of the 1998-1999 academic year. Midland is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Serving the longest tenure of any president in Midland's 115-year...
Lutheran Bishops Briefed in Washington
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fifteen bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were on Capitol Hill for briefings hosted by the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) and the ELCA's Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod Sept. 9-11. Topics ranged from international debt to faith and government vocations. The guest list...
Roanoke College Receives a $3-Million Gift
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Roanoke College, Salem, Va., received a $3-million gift for its endowment fund last month from Francis T. West of Martinsville, Va. Roanoke is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In recognition of the gift Roanoke's Courthouse Academic Building will now...
ELCA Helps Millions Affected by Floods in Chiapas
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Torrential rains caused heavy flooding in four of nine regions of Chiapas, Mexico, last month. "As many as 1.5 million people have lost homes, crops, land, livestock, clothes and whatever possessions they might have had," said the Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, international communication director for the Division...
