News

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The tears of the people are adding to the height of the river," said James Barclay, president of Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota. April snow, vicious wind-driven rain and ice storms added to the misery of the 1996-1997 record winter snowfalls, according to the Rev. Leon...

ELCA STAFF STAYS IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Missionary staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) remain in the Central African Republic despite a U.S. government decision to suspend its operations there temporarily. A State Department staff member told reporters March 28 that in light of hostilities between rebel...

"SAFE HAVEN" DURING BOMBING TRIAL Families of the Oklahoma City bombing victims will be offered a "safe haven" while attending the trial of bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh in Denver. The "safe haven" will be a quiet, comfortable and confidential location families can retreat to when they need a break from...

CORDELIA COX DIED Cordelia Cox, 95, former director for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service , died March 5 in Richmond, Va. Cox became the first woman to head a major Lutheran agency in the United States. During her tenure from 1948 to 1957 Cox led the resettlement of more than...

LUTHERANS PREPARE FOR FLOODS A Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) coalition in eastern North Dakota has developed two approaches to cope with possible flooding along the Red River and Sheyenne River and in the Devil's Lake area. The first is to provide information for congregational leaders and individuals about local and...

TOO HUNGRY TO LEARN Staying healthy and getting an education are two big challenges for more than 6,000 children of Mukuru Kayaba, one of the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Sister Mary Killeen, a Lutheran World Relief (LWR) partner in Nairobi, told Na Eng, LWR intern, about the early years of...

CHURCHES MARK EARTH DAY "Earth Day was created by secular organizations in 1970," said Job S. Ebenezer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's director for environmental stewardship and hunger education. "It is time that the churches consider the biblical call for earthkeeping and the unique contributions that churches can make...

SILER TO HEAD LUTHERAN OFFICE IN WASHINGTON The Rev. Russell O. Siler, an attorney and Lutheran pastor, has been named director of the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C. LOGA is the federal public policy advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Siler, 54, will succeed Kay...

ELCA HUNGER APPEAL SLIGHTLY SHORT "We almost made it -- $11,814,023 toward a $12 million budget goal," said the Rev. Roger O. Livdahl in a memo to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's World Hunger Appeal network. Livdahl is director of the appeal. "Congregational giving to the appeal, the most...

CHURCHES OPPOSE JERUSALEM SETTLEMENT Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) told President Bill Clinton it is "gravely concerned about recent Israeli decisions that jeopardize the peace process." In a March 7 letter the organization asked the administration, "as sponsor of the peace process and friend of Israel, to convince Israel...

LUTHERANS PREACHING FOR PEACE Pastors, seminary students and lay preachers are taking part in a sermon-writing contest sponsored by Lutheran Peace Fellowship (LPF). The competition "seeks to lift up preaching as a form of peace witness, encouraging attention to peace themes in the Bible," according to Glen Gersmehl, Seattle, LPF...

LUTHERANS PREPARE FOR FLOODS A Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) coalition in eastern North Dakota has developed two approaches to cope with possible flooding along the Red River and Sheyenne River and in the Devil's Lake area. The first is to provide information for congregational leaders and individuals about local and...

M?LLER DIED IN THAILAND The Rev. Michael F. M?ller, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg, Germany, died from injuries received in a traffic accident while on sabbatical in Bangkok, Thailand. During the brief "Republic of Pastors" that succeeded the communist government in 1990, M?ller served on the...

LUTHER COLLEGE SEEKS $100 MILLION Luther College officials approved "Leadership for a New Century," a $100 million capital campaign to end in 2005. Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "Leadership for a New Century" will be a three-component...

VAALER IS INTERIM HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR Thomas P. Vaaler, Woodbury, Minn., will serve as interim director of the Department for Human Resources and Management Services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, according to the Rev. Robert N. Bacher, ELCA executive for administration. Vaaler will begin work at the ELCA...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The executive board for Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the women's organization of the ELCA, approved a $3.9 million budget for 1998 when it met here March 13-16. The 1998 budget reflects program expenses of $1.7 million, a gift of $1 million to the...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Richard A. Magnus, 53, was elected March 21 to a four-year term as executive director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Outreach. With the approval of the ELCA presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, the division's board named Magnus to succeed the Rev....

LOS ANGELES (ELCA) -- The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, suggested that the bishops of the ELCA write a pastoral letter to congregations on the relationship of the church and the millennium. Anderson spoke to the Conference of Bishops meeting in Los...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "An initiative for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to revitalize its ministry in urban areas of the United States and the Caribbean" will reach the ELCA Churchwide Assembly this summer in Philadelphia. The board of the ELCA Division for Outreach approved the report, "In the City...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has given its Commission for Women the assignment to "assist this church to create a safe environment for women in this church and society." The commission is coordinating series of programs around the theme "Called to be a Safe Place." "We...