Addie J. Butler is New ELCA Vice President
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Dr. Addie J. Butler of Philadelphia was elected vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America today. Butler was elected on the fifth ballot with 670 votes, or 67.4 percent of the 994 cast. Myrna Sheie, the other finalist for the office, received 324 votes. "Go,...
ELCA Initiatives for a New Century -- Passes Overwhelmingly
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Almost unanimously, more than 900 voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America overwhelmingly approved "Seven Initiatives for a New Century" during the Monday afternoon plenary session of the fifth biennial Churchwide Assembly being held here Aug. 14-20. With not a single word of discussion, voting...
Lutherans Reject "Full Communion" with Episcopalians
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- By a narrow margin the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America has rejected a proposal to enter into "full communion" with The Episcopal Church here Aug. 18. The proposal needed the support of two-thirds of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly for approval. It failed by a vote of 684...
Episcopal-Lutheran Proposal Fails; Full Communion Declared with Reformed Ch
Comments: To: elcasco.elca.org.elcanews@CO.ELCA.ORG BULLETIN - August 19, 1997 - 10:30 a.m. EPISCOPAL-LUTHERAN PROPOSAL FAILS; FULL COMMUNION IS DECALRED WITH PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED DENOMINATIONS Philadelphia -- The proposal to declare full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal church failed here by six votes. In action taken...
Bring the Gospel to Daily Life, Charles Maahs Tells ELCA
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Congregational conflict -- down the street today, on the Midwest's Great Plains a hundred years ago or in Corinth two millennium ago -- continues as a constant in the Christian church. The troubled and troublesome Corinthian congregation offers a way to look at what the Apostle Paul...
Lutherans Debate "Full Communion" with Episcopal Church
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- "Unity in Christ has never been uniformity. Divisions in the church have injured us, but diversity has been enriching," the Rev. Michael Rogness, professor of homiletics at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., told voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as they met in assembly...
Lutheran Theologians "Square Off" on Reformed Proposals
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Two prominent Lutheran theologians squared off Aug. 16 on the subject of relations between Lutheran and Reformed churches. The exchange between the Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the Metro New York Synod and the Rev. Timothy Lull, president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley,...
Butler, Jurisson and Sheie are ELCA Vice President Candidates
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) Dr. Addie J. Butler, Dr. Cynthia A. Jurisson and Myrna J. Sheie are the three nominees for vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who will be listed on tomorrow's fourth ballot in voting for the office. The three received the most votes among seven nominees...
Fred Meuser Tells ELCA, God Will Build the Church
FRED MEUSER TELLS ELCA, GOD WILL BUILD THE CHURCH 97-CA-14-RF PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- "There are only two sure things in life. Death is one. Taxes are not the other," the Rev. Fred W. Meuser told members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's fifth biennial assembly, gathered for worship Aug....
ELCA Debates What Form Fellowship Should Take
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Should Lutherans be in close fellowship with Episcopalians and Christians from Reformed and Presbyterian Churches? If so, what form should that fellowship take? And should it be with one, both or -- if not both -- neither? Those questions will be answered tomorrow, but arose during a...
Lutherans Respond to Local and Worldwide Disasters
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- "The Lutherans are coming!" has been the joyous exclamation of many who have received assistance this year from the Lutheran Domestic Disaster Response. LDDR is a cooperative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Red River Valley flood struck home...
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod President Addresses Assembly
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- The ecumenical proposals being considered by this year's Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "are yet another unfortunate example" of an increasing theological division between the ELCA and The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, the Missouri Synod's president told assembly members today. But the Rev. A.L....
Lutheran Vespers Celebrates 50 Years of Radio Ministry
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) --"We are 50 years old this year," said the Rev. Walter Wangerin, Jr., host of "Lutheran Vespers," a radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "But all anniversaries find their joy in Jesus and their life in the Spirit of God," he said. Members of the...
Anderson Addresses "Initiatives for a New Century"
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- "When society is in a molten state, when everything is being 'reinvented,' the church has a matchless opportunity to be engaged in shaping whatever new society will emerge. Communities that have a clear purpose and definite goals that will become the crystallization points for the world of...
Lutherans Discuss Commitment to be "In the City for Good"
LUTHERANS DISCUSS COMMITMENT TO BE "IN THE CITY FOR GOOD" 97-CA-10-RF PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Setting a strategy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's ministry in urban areas might be, in the view of at least one voting member, "the most important thing we do" at the ELCA's fifth biennial...
Magnus Says 'Goodbye' As ELCA Vice President
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) Kathy J. Magnus, vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1991, gave her final report to an ELCA Churchwide Assembly Friday. She outlined the work of the ELCA's Church Council for the past two years and said her goodbyes to the assembly. "I expect this...
A moment would be lost, say Reformed theologians
PHILADELPHIA [ELCA] -- Should the ecumenical proposal establishing a new relationship between Lutheran and Reformed churches fail, a unique moment in church history will be missed, resulting in "profound disappointment and some anger," said representatives of Reformed churches. Ecumenical officers of the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, and...
Dr. Addie Butler Retains Lead After Second Ballot for Vice President
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) Dr. Addie J. Butler of Philadelphia retained her first-place standing after the second ballot in voting Saturday for vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Butler received 208 of 1,013 votes cast. To be elected, however, 760 votes were required. She had garnered at least 105...
Lutheran, Roman Catholic Differences Fading Say Ecumenical Leaders
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Martin Luther broke with Rome 480 years ago in a conflict focused on a Christian doctrine of Justification (how human beings become acceptable to God). Voting members at the biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will decide this week whether to declare...
Lutheran-Episcopal Proposal Introduced to Lutheran Assembly
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- "Today we stand at a unique place in American religious history," the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told the ELCA Churchwide Assembly during its first business session Aug. 15. He issued the first analysis of a proposal for Lutherans...
