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ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- An Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) vote this summer to declare "full communion" with four Protestant church bodies would further strain relations with The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, LCMS leaders told their ELCA counterparts March 24. ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson said, "We received the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "We are once again in a time when people lack a basic understanding of the Bible and doctrine and fail to pass on what limited knowledge they have to the next generation," wrote the Rev. H. George Anderson in a letter to participants of "Learning Days," an...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is fine tuning a set of seven "Initiatives for a New Century" he plans to bring to the ELCA's Churchwide Assembly in Philadelphia this August. The ELCA Church Council looked at the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The catastrophic disaster continues to unfold in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota," said the Rev. Leon A. Phillips Jr., executive director of Lutheran Disaster Response. "In most areas, the battle goes on, and cleanup is still well down the road," Phillips said. Nestled beside the Red...

MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) was born here April 18, creating one of the largest organizations of housing, counseling, child care, adoption, refugee resettlement, disaster response, health care, nursing home, hospice and AIDS ministries in the United States and Caribbean. About 280 social ministry organizations operating in...

ELCA MAY 1997 Hope Through Justice and Service 2-4 Division for Church in Society, Human Genetic Testing and Screening Project, Writing Team, Lutheran Center, Chicago 3 Division for Congregational Ministries, Christian Education Adult Learning Day 1997, Bethany Lutheran Church, Minot, N.D. 3 Division for Congregational Ministries, Christian Education Adult Learning...

LUTHERANS MAKE SOUND DECISIONS The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has produced a book, "Sound Decisions," to help its congregations choose theologically sound songs to sing in contemporary worship. According to Scott C. Weidler, ELCA associate director for worship and music, the book is a result of ELCA staff answering...

CHURCHES SHIP FOOD TO NORTH KOREA The famine situation in North Korea continues to deteriorate, according to Action by Churches Together (ACT). Food stocks in the country have almost been completely depleted. Many people are now resorting to eating grass, tree bark, roots and a few dried vegetables. ACT reports...

CHURCHES AID ALBANIAN FAMILIES Action by Churches Together (ACT) will respond to the civil crisis in Albania with family food parcels and medical supplies over a three month period. ACT has issued an appeal for $320,000. ACT is a worldwide network of churches, including the Lutheran World Federation, meeting human...

SENATE COMMENDS DOWHOWER Kay S. Dowhower resigned March 15 as director of the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs in Washington, D.C., the federal public policy advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On March 11 the U.S. Senate entered a "Commendation Upon the Retirement of Kay Dowhower" into...

CHURCHES: MAKE LIBERIA'S PEACE `IRREVERSIBLE' Fourteen aid agencies working in Liberia urged President Bill Clinton to make the peace process in that country "irreversible." In a March letter, Lutheran World Relief and Catholic, Methodist and Episcopal agencies requested firm U.S. support for a democratic transition to peace rather than continued...

SEMINARY HOSTS ECUMENICAL DAY Dr. Darlis J. Swan spoke during "A Day of Ecumenical Dialogue" at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbus, S.C. Swan is associate director of the Department for Ecumenical Affairs for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As part of the seminary's John Lewis Yost Jr. Lecture Series,...

SEMINARY PRESIDENTS COUNSEL ON ECUMENISM Without endorsing any of the ecumenical proposals now before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the presidents of the ELCA's eight seminaries have offered the church their counsel. They recommended that Lutherans give the details of each proposal careful attention, honor the convictions of the...

ELCA WANTS SAFETY LOCKS ON GUNS "All persons are entitled to the protection of life and physical well-being," Kay A. Bengston wrote April 11 to members of the Crime Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives. That committee is looking at the Juvenile Crime Control Act of 1997. "To our...

LUTHERANS WIN RPRC AWARDS The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and related individuals won 29 DeRose-Hinkhouse awards at the annual convention of the Religious Public Relations Council (RPRC). The convention was held April 3-5 in Boston. The memorial award recognizes communication efforts of the 500 RPRC members in the United...

DIAL BISHOP ANDERSON Beginning May 1, the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will provide a regular recorded message by calling a Chicago telephone number -- 773-380-2930. "I look forward to one more way to communicate with the people of our church and...

ROREM EDITS LUTHERAN JOURNAL The Rev. Paul E. Rorem, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and an associate professor of church history at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J., has been named editor of "Lutheran Quarterly," a research journal of Lutheran history and theology. Rorem has been an...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America experienced "significant transitions" in its business and in its relationships, the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, said after the council met here April 4-7. The council shifted several governance responsibilities to this summer's Churchwide Assembly; and...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Since 1996 the Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has acknowledged the retirement of missionaries with long records of service. The Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen, executive director of the division, said, "The whole church, here at home and around the world, lifts...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Division for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has asked for a churchwide response to "recurrent tragedies of the 20th century resulting from ethnic strife." The board of the division, meeting here March 14-16, voted to send its request to the ELCA Church...