ELCA's Muhlenberg College Celebrates 150th Year
MUHLENBERG CELEBRATES 150TH YEAR With the 1997-1998 academic year, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., celebrates its 150th anniversary -- the sesquicentennial year. Muhlenberg is one of 28 college and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college was established in 1848, the year the Allentown Seminary was opened by...
C. Carlyle Haaland tp Retire from ELCA's Thiel College
THIEL'S 16TH PRESIDENT RETIRES C. Carlyle Haaland announced plans to retire in June 1998 as president of Thiel College, Greenville, Pa, a position he has held since 1990. Thiel is one of 28 colleges and universities the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "It has been a privilege to serve this...
ELCA YOUTH GATHERING STAFF ASSEMBLED
YOUTH GATHERING STAFF ASSEMBLED The Rev. William H. Kees has been named overall director for the triennial Youth Gathering of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He served as the gathering's program director since August 1995. Kees graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1965 and earned a master of divinity...
ACT LOOKS AT PALESTINIAN NEEDS
ACT LOOKS AT PALESTINIAN NEEDS Repeated closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas in the aftermath of violence in Israel has caused an almost complete breakdown of the local economy, according to Action by Churches Together (ACT). Thousands of Palestinians, who are dependent upon their work in outside...
ELCA ASSISTS WITH RELIEF EFFORTS ANGOLA
ACT AIDS DISPLACED IN ANGOLA As a result of the conflict in Angola there are up to 30,000 internally displaced people (primarily women & children), according to Action by Churches Together (ACT). Beginning in May, the Government of National Unity (GURN) forces and UNITA forces clashed in the northeastern areas...
Arab and Middle Eastern Lutherans Reach Out
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "You are the anointed, do not ever forget that. You are the gifted, do not ever forget that," the Rev. Richard A. Magnus, director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Outreach, told members of the Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage...
ELCA Churchwide Assembly Shares Heritage and Hope
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ecumenical issues, initiatives for a new century, elections, sacramental practices and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's tenth anniversary consumed the attention of 1,044 voting members who met Aug. 14-20 in Philadelphia. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly conducted business and worshiped God under the theme, "Making Christ Known:...
Lutheran World Agencies Celebrated
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation's birthday party came to the village square constructed at the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The assembly met here Aug. 14-20. The LWF, founded just after World War II to help bind up the...
ELCA Seeks to Increase Representation of Youth and Persons With Disabilitie
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Youth, young adults and persons with disabilities may have greater representation in the business of the church as a result of actions taken by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's fifth biennial assembly meeting here Aug. 14-20. The actions were the result of a number of proposals...
ELCA Endorses Job Protection for Gays, Lesbians; Acts on a Variety of Propo
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expressed support Wednesday, its closing day, for legislation that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against gay and lesbian persons on the basis of their sexual orientation. The assembly met here Aug. 14-20. The resolution expressing...
It Took A Village to Show the Breadth of the ELCA
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Like any tourist town, foot traffic in the "Heritage and Hope Village" ebbed and flowed. Sometimes only the residents could be found at each business, home, church or service setting. At other times, getting across the center of town became as difficult as sale day at any...
Kathy Magnus Receives Special Recognition
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Kathy J. Magnus, outgoing vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was honored with a special award at the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly held Aug. 14-20 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For her six years of service, Magnus received the ELCA Servus Dei Medal from...
Lutherans Support Ban On Land Mines
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will join forces with others around the world calling for the elimination of land mines, based on action taken at the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly being held here Aug. 14-20. More than 800 voting members of the ELCA elected to support...
ELCA Affirms Native American Strategic Plan
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Voting members at the biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here Aug. 14-20, ratified a complex set of strategies designed to enhance ministry to and with native peoples. The four-step "American Indian/Alaska Native Strategic Plan" is a program designed to develop new...
Report About ELCA Policy on Ordained Gay and Lesbian Members Due in 1999
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- A "status report" on conversations in church policy and practice on the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian individuals of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is due by its next churchwide assembly. More than 1,000 voting members of the ELCA, gathered here Aug. 14-20 for the...
ELCA Marks 90 Years of Lutheran Campus Ministry
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) Going to college for 90 percent of youth from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America means going to a non-ELCA college or university. But it need not mean losing contact with their church. Nearly all ELCA college students today have a Lutheran Campus Ministry available to them. The...
Kanyoro to Assembly: "We Always Live in Tension Between Opinions"
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Promising to overlook everyone's "funny accent," Dr. Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro discussed how people in the Church handle difference in a Bible study presentation Monday. Her presentation received a standing ovation during the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America meeting here Aug....
Lutheran Statement on Baptism and Holy Communion Passes Overwhelmingly
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Churchwide Assembly overwhelmingly approved "The Use of the Means of Grace: A Statement on the Practice of Word and Sacrament," a statement on sacramental practices. The church's fifth biennial assembly is meeting here Aug. 14-20. The Rev. Karen...
ELCA Assembly Rebuffs Attempts to Limit Abortion Coverage
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting here Aug. 14-20, has overwhelmingly rebuffed efforts to prevent its medical benefits plan from paying for induced abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal abnormalities or a threat to the life or health of...
Goal of Consensus Amid Controversy No Different Today Than in Early Church
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) "The more things change, the more they stay the same," the Rev. James Kenneth Echols told to voting members and visitors to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly meeting Aug. 14-20 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Echols delivered the third in a series of...
