Lutheran Numbers Worldwide Show Growth in Africa
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are 61,421,782 Lutherans in the world, according to figures compiled by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at the end of 1997. The LWF is a communion of 57,804,693 of those Lutherans in 124 member churches in 69 countries. The total number of Lutherans in the world...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Tells Clinton to Build Peace'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Pledging to pray for the President Clinton, U.S. church leaders counseled him, "Pursue diplomacy. Urge Iraqi compliance. Resist the military option. Offer aid and healing. Build peace." The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Feb. 17 joined other Christian...
Chicago's Lutheran Bishop Invited to Vatican
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Kenneth R. Olsen, bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will be one of the invited guests when Pope John Paul II elevates the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago to the College of Cardinals. Cardinal-designate Francis E. George...
ELCA Church Leaders Learn About "Smart Living"
LISLE, ILL. (ELCA) -- "'Smart living' for Christians is both listening to and following Jesus Christ," said Betty Lee Nyhus, ELCA director for stewardship and mission giving. About 200 stewardship leaders gathered here Feb. 5-8 for the 1998 Stewardship Leadership Conference, sponsored by the ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM)....
ELCA Jazz Pastor, John Garcia Gensel Died
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- One of the most =22off-beat=22 ministries in = American Christianity ended Feb. 6 with the death of the Rev. John Garcia Gensel. = A pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Gensel was named minister to the jazz community of New York in 1965 by...
Iowa Pastor Removed From ELCA Roster
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A Discipline Hearing Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) ruled Feb. 3 to remove the Rev. Steven P. Sabin, Ames, Iowa, from the church's clergy roster, effective April 15. Sabin, pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ames, is gay and lives with...
ELCA Social Statement to Address Economic Life
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Congregations, agencies and schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have completed a study that precedes distribution of the first draft of a social statement on economic life tentatively called, "Toward Sufficient Sustainable Livelihood for All." The 15-member task force preparing the social statement for...
ELCA Church Leaders Learn About "Smart Living"
LISLE, Ill. (ELCA) -- "'Smart living' for Christians is both listening to and following Jesus Christ," said Betty Lee Nyhus, director for stewardship and mission giving for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. About 200 people gathered here Feb. 5-8 for the 1998 Stewardship Leadership Conference. The leaders met to...
JAZZ PASTOR, JOHN GARCIA GENSEL DIED
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- One of the most =22off-beat=22 ministries in = American Christianity ended Feb. 6 with the death of the Rev. John Garcia Gensel. = A pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Gensel was named minister to the jazz community of New York in 1965 by...
Arthur Leichnitz Will Serve LWF in North America
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Arthur Leichnitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, has been nominated to serve as the regional expression officer for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in North America. He is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). He will be located in the churchwide offices of the...
Church-State Essays Near Completion
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Religious freedom and church-state relations will be addressed in a new book of essays authored by Lutherans with backgrounds in theology, ethics and law. A nine-member writing team assembled by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met here Jan. 23-25 for the last time before the...
African American Lutherans in Radio
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fifteen African American congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will develop radio ministries for outreach in African American communities. More than 30 pastors and lay leaders gathered here Jan. 29-Feb. 1 for a training event to learn what radio can do for their congregation and...
Gilbert Furst Will Lead Lutheran Disaster Response
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, 57, Wescosville, Pa., was appointed to direct Lutheran Disaster Response and Domestic Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), beginning July 1. The appointment was announced at a Lutheran Disaster Response board meeting here Feb. 3. Furst succeeds the...
ELCA Lectures to Address Ethical Challenges
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will host a series of lectures on "The Ethical Challenges of the New Century: How Do Christians Respond?" in February and April. Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, a professor of historical theology and ethics at Pacific Lutheran...
ELCA February 1998 Calendar
ELCA FEBRUARY 1998=20 9-10 Division for Ministry, Theological Education Coordinating Committee, Lutheran Center, Chicago 12 Division for Ministry, Hein Fry Lecture, Lutheran Theologica= l Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. 13-14 Peace Prize Forum, Jos=E9 Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn. 17 Division for Ministry, Hein Fry Lecture,...
Leadership Teams Formed to Guide ELCA's Initiatives
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leadership teams are now in place to provide "overall guidance" for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's "Initiatives to Prepare for a New Century." The Initiatives adopted by the 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly identified seven key areas as "launching pads" for ministry into the 21st century. The...
Worship Will Inaugurate Lutheran-Reformed Full Communion
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A festival worship service at Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel on Oct. 4 will formally declare that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is entering into "full communion" with three U.S. churches of the Reformed tradition, if the relationship is ratified by presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)....
Lutheran and Episcopal Seminaries Ratify Agreement
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and a seminary of The Episcopal Church have ratified an agreement that outlines "13 avenues of cooperation." Trustees of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) approved the agreement last fall, and trustees of General Theological Seminary,...
Maryland Advocacy Office Is Ecumenical
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The state public policy advocacy efforts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Maryland are being carried out from a very ecumenical office. Four Christian denominations -- Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian -- are coordinating their work out of the state's first Ecumenical Advocacy Center...
Lutherans Support U.S. Participation in United Nations
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The people of the United States and, indeed the world, need your strong, active leadership now to restore our government's full participation and leading role in the United Nations," officials of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) wrote Jan. 16 to President Bill Clinton. "The U.S....
