Waldorf College's For-Profit Venture Would Change ELCA Relationship
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Waldorf Lutheran College Association unanimously approved a series of resolutions April 23 that move Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa, closer to a possible sale to Columbia Southern University (CSU). CSU is a for-profit institution and one of the nation's first online universities. The move was prompted...
Teaching Theologians Affirm ELCA Task Force Documents
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A statement supporting a recommendation put forth by the Task Force for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Studies on Sexuality is gaining support from more than 100 teaching theologians of the church and other Christian theologians teaching at ELCA institutions. Professors from ELCA seminaries, colleges and...
Former ELCA Presiding Bishop Endorses Task Force Documents
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, the first presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), endorsed two documents from the Task Force on ELCA Studies on Sexuality. Chilstrom served two terms starting from the church's inception in 1987 to 1995. On Feb. 19 the Task...
Lutheran College Commencement Speaker to Honor Alumna Imprisoned in Iran
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The announcement was one a Minnesota Lutheran college hoped never to make. Its May 3 commencement speaker is being replaced due to her spying conviction and eight-year prison sentence by an Iranian revolutionary court. In a show of support for alumna Roxana Saberi, an American-born journalist, leaders...
Hundreds of Lutherans to help plant 12,000 trees honoring Earth Day
by Greg Peterson, freelance reporter and media advisor for Earth Keeper In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, hundreds of Lutherans will help plant 12,000 trees in honor of Earth Day, April 22. As part of the Earth Keeper Tree Project, Lutherans and other people of faith will bless and plant trees across...
From Foster Home to Adoptive Home -- a Lutheran Family's Story
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- One of Melony Skytta's most rewarding moments as a foster parent involved a seven-year-old autistic boy. She took him to a nursing home to give out stuffed animals. One resident said she couldn't accept a gift for nothing. "My boy told her that his gift was free...
ELCA Presiding Bishop, Other U.S. Religious Leaders Meet King of Jordan
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- Four U.S. religious leaders -- two Christian and two Muslim -- met with King Abdullah II of Jordan here April 20 to discuss specific topics about the Middle East. The topics included the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians with a focus on concerns for Jerusalem, deepening...
President of Global Refuge to Step Down
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- After 18 years serving as president of Global Refuge, Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr. will resign from his post effective Sept. 1. Global Refuge, based in Baltimore, is a cooperative agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and...
Iran Courts Sentence Lutheran College Alumna
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An Iranian court sentenced a Lutheran college alumna to eight years in prison at an April 18 hearing in Tehran. Roxana Saberi, 31, a journalist who filed reports for National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC and others, was convicted of espionage. Iran revoked her journalist credentials in...
Memorial concert on May 3 to benefit ELCA's St. Olaf scholarship
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Katherine Ann Olson, a graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., was murdered in October 2007 at the age of 24. On April 1, 2009, a judge sentenced a 20-year-old Minnesota man to life in prison without the possibility of parole for luring Olson...
ELCA Washington Office releases case study on the future of Iraq
by Jodi Deike, ELCA News Service The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Washington Office released a resource guide on the war in Iraq, "Peace, Conflict and Public Church: A Case Study on the Future of Iraq." Kimberly C. Steitz, director for international public policy, ELCA Washington Office, said, "The...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks Iranians to Release Concordia College Graduate
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation, wrote to the Iranian government April 9 and asked for the release of Roxana Saberi. Saberi is a journalist and graduate of Concordia College, Moorhead,...
Budget Reductions Impact ELCA's Engagement Overseas
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A significant decline in financial resources for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) led to budget reductions for the churhwide organization, particularly for ELCA Global Mission. The reduction will affect the church's ministry overseas. ELCA Global Mission reduced its budget by $3.6 million or 11.4 percent....
ELCA publishing ministry issues Lutheran Study Bible
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service More than 60 Lutheran pastors and teaching theologians contributed to a new Lutheran Study Bible that Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, published in coordination with the Book of Faith initiative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the...
ELCA, LCMS Leaders Discuss Task Force Documents, Other Topics
ST. LOUIS -- Top leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), met as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation March 24 to review proposals from the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality. The Lutheran leaders also discussed a report on LCMS synod...
Lutherans 'Make It Simple' during the economic downturn
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service With the economic crisis it's a good time for people to reassess their lifestyles and assets, according to Keith Mundy, assistant director for stewardship, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Mundy said economic downturns create anxiety and many people feel like they are...
Iranians Charge ELCA College Alumna With Spying
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- When a Lutheran college in northwest Minnesota chose a commencement speaker for May graduation, it tapped alumna Roxana Saberi. The former Miss Dakota soared as a journalist, filing reports from Iran for the BBC, National Public Radio and others. Even after Iranian officials arrested Saberi and put...
ELCA teenagers hold dodge ball event to raise money for world hunger
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service Some teenage Lutherans from the Chicago area learned that every 3.6 seconds someone in the world dies of hunger. "That's every time you take a breath," according to Luke Terrell, a member of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago. In an effort to...
ELCA Member Dies from Effects of Arsenic Poisoning in Maine
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Nearly six years have passed, but grief continues for a Maine congregation where 16 people were poisoned in 2003 after drinking coffee laced with arsenic by a disgruntled church member. Frances "Fran" Ruggles, 67, who drank the coffee, died April 4, ending her battle against the effects...
Ten Years Later, Lutherans Remember Columbine
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Anne Marie Hochhalter stepped outside of her Colorado high school in 1999 just as two seniors armed with guns began shooting. They killed 12 students and a teacher at Littleton's Columbine High School before killing themselves. Many others were injured, including Hochhalter, who was left paralyzed. In...
