Bishop Backs Campaign Finance Reform
BISHOP BACKS CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, added his name to a list of 36 religious leaders asking Congress to "support campaign finance reform as one of the first acts of the new Congress." The National Council of...
ELCA Rural Ministry Conference
RURAL MINISTRY TAKES TEAMWORK The importance of clergy and laity working together in rural congregations was the theme of the 1997 Rural Ministry Conference held March 2-4 in Dubuque, Iowa. Wartburg Theological Seminary and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary sponsored "Ministry Together: New Models for Laity and Clergy" through...
Pacific Lutheran Seminary to Install President
LULL INSTALLATION Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS), Berkeley, Calif., will install its sixth president April 26-27 with a reflective weekend. The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, 53, succeeds the Rev. Jerry L. Schmalenberger, 62, who assumed the duties of a professor of pastoral ministry at the seminary on Sept. 1, 1996....
ELCA College Receives A $26 Million Gift
ST. OLAF RECEIVES A $26 MILLION GIFT St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., received a $26 million gift from Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock and their family. The gift, announced Feb. 7, is the largest single gift ever made to a Lutheran college in the United States. St. Olaf is one of...
ELCA Asian Ministries Director Named
ASIAN MINISTRIES DIRECTOR NAMED The Rev. Pongsak Limthongviratn has been named director for Asian ministries and multicultural mission strategy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Commission for Multicultural Ministries. He began his new responsibilities March 1. "I hope to create, develop and serve more than 30 new Asian congregational...
ELCA College President to Retire
AUGSBURG PRESIDENT TO RETIRE The Rev. Charles S. Anderson, 67, will retire this summer as president of Augsburg College, Minneapolis. Anderson cited personal and professional reasons for his early retirement. He has undergone surgery and chemotherapy for intestinal cancer. "My progress with the treatment has been good," said Anderson. "But...
Lutherans Oppose Budget Amendment
LUTHERANS OPPOSE BUDGET AMENDMENT The Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington, D.C., and the Association of Lutheran Social Ministry Organizations (ALSMO), St. Paul, Minn., joined their voices in opposition to a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring a balanced budget. The measure failed March 4 to receive the...
Lutherans Respond to Disasters
LUTHERANS RESPOND TO DISASTERS The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is responding to tornados, heavy rains and floods in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio through Lutheran Social Services (LSS) of Kansas-Oklahoma. Tornados in Arkansas have destroyed hundreds of homes and claimed more than 30 lives, reported the Rev. Leon...
ELCA Congregations Recover From Fire
ELCA CONGREGATIONS RECOVER FROM FIRE Two Nebraska congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America suffered heavy damage from fires in the middle of the night. An arson fire caused an estimated $850,000 in damage to the administrative section of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Omaha, Neb., Feb. 6. Police and...
ELCA Responds to Winter Storms and Flooding
ELCA RESPONDS TO WINTER STORMS AND FLOODING The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has responded to the tragic winter storms in the upper Midwestern and Pacific Western states. ELCA Domestic Disaster Response provided about $20,000 in emergency assistance through social ministry organizations in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, northern California,...
ELCA Asked to Recommit to Multicultural Plan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The new Multicultural Mission Strategy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America calls for all members of the church "to make a renewed affirmation of and commitment to" a 10-percent membership goal of persons of color and/or primary language other than English. The ELCA still falls short...
Lutherans, Roman Catholics Find "Fundamental Consensus"
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Vatican have agreed on wording that could end four centuries of bickering between the two churches. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification brings global attention to a "fundamental consensus" the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Roman Catholic...
Lutherans Seek Ethnically Diverse Leadership
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "If we're serious about making the church an inclusive place, we will have to begin to think differently about how we invite people of color into this church, how we prepare them for ministry and whether or not we, as a larger church, are willing to recognize...
Mission Builders Draw Up Plans for Their Future
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ten congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are getting some help constructing their first church buildings through the ELCA Division for Outreach. Mission Builders are coming from across the United States to help plan the projects and see them through. Twenty-one of the church's 22...
ELCA Human Resources Director Resigns
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. A.C.(Chris) Stein resigned Feb. 26 from the position of Director of the Department for Human Resources and Management Services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The resignation follows Stein's acknowlegement that he purchased a massage on two occasions while he was in Minneapolis on...
Lutheran Stewardship Leaders Express Gratitude
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "The two most powerful words in the world are "Thank you,'" according to the Rev. Walter P. Kallestad, Community (Lutheran) Church of Joy, Glendale, Ariz. Kallestad spoke to about 200 stewardship leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who gathered in Lisle, Ill., Feb. 6-9. The...
Lutheran, Reformed Prepare for Votes
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fourteen "theological agreements" will be presented to members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and three Reformed churches before they vote on entering into "full communion." A Lutheran-Reformed Coordinating Committee decided the points of "fundamental doctrinal consensus" reached in 1983 will be in the introduction to...
ELCA Board Excludes Late-Term Abortion Coverage
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Late-term abortions will not be covered under the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's medical plan, according to a proposed plan amendment the ELCA Board of Pensions trustees sent to the ELCA Church Council for adoption. The trustees took the action at meeting their Feb. 8-9 in Minneapolis...
ELCA Advance Theological Educaton Network
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A committee overseeing the coordination and planning for a system of theological education in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is preparing for the next step forward -- downsizing itself. When the ELCA's Theological Education Coordinating Committee met here Feb. 7-8 it had 15 members, including the...
Lutherans Address Domestic Violence
(CHICAGO) ELCA -- "We need to find ways to overcome denial" of domestic violence, a woman from Portland, Ore., told 52 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who gathered in Las Vegas Jan. 31-Feb. 2. "Stop the Violence: Heal Hurting Families" is a national training program organized by...
