ELCA Assembly Elects Council, Committee, Board Members
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected lay leaders and clergy to serve on the ELCA Church Council, churchwide committees and boards. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, met here Aug. 17-23 at the...
Lutheran World Leader Says Body of Christ 'Not Ours to Dismember'
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Geneva, recalled on Aug. 22 that The Third LWF Assembly met in Minneapolis 52 years earlier to the day under the theme "Christ Frees and Unites." Noko applied that theme to the 2009 Church Assembly...
ELCA Assembly Leader Asks Members to Respect Each Other, Allow Time
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- In final comments to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, pledged to the voting members "to speak well of you and of this church, and I ask you to do the same." The...
ELCA Assembly Approves Resolution on Israel and Palestine
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly resolved during their session on Aug. 22 to advocate on behalf of a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. They called the church to lift up the voices within both communities, especially...
ELCA Assembly Discusses Evangelical Mission
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 2009 Churchwide Assembly engaged one another in serious discussion about the church’s mission and direction during its session on Aug. 22. The conversation, an effort to prepare voting members for effective ministry following the assembly, was led...
ELCA Assembly Reviews Hunger, Disaster Response
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – Nancy Arnison, director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) World Hunger Program, highlighted the church body’s hunger and disaster response ministries Aug. 22 at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. She also introduced the assembly to the Rev. Daniel Rift, the new director of the ELCA World...
ELCA Assembly Hears LCMS President on Same-Gender Decisions
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – The president of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, told the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly Aug. 22 that its decisions earlier this week to allow and support rostering those in lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships would “undoubtably cause additional stress...
ELCA Assembly Urges Church Involvement in Health Care Reform
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – A social statement on health care adopted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) six years ago should commit the church to working on plans to provide more adequate health care today, said a resolution passed by the 2009 ELCA Churchwide assembly Aug. 20. That resolution,...
ELCA Assembly Re-Elects Carlos Peña Vice President
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly returned to office its incumbent vice present, Carlos Peña of Galveston, Texas. He was elected to a second six-year term on the fourth ballot with 580 votes, 60.8 percent of the votes cast. Sixty percent...
ELCA Assembly Told of Video Contest Winners
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The winners of the 2009 "God's work. Our Hands." Video contest winners were announced Aug. 22 at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 17-23 at the Minneapolis...
ELCA Assembly Agrees to a Social Statement on Justice for Women
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- For the next five years Lutherans will study justice for women in church and society. By a vote of 754-176, the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) moved to develop a social statement on the topic, slated to be considered by the...
ELCA Assembly Hears Presiding Bishop Hanson Call for Continued Unity
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) urged all in the church to continue discussing their differences, and meet “not in our agreements or our disagreements, but at the foot of the cross — where God is faithful, where Christ is present with...
ELCA Assembly Hears Greetings from Lutheran Organizational Representatives
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Attendees of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church America (ELCA) heard messages about the service and mission of organizations that work in collaboration with the ELCA and other Lutheran denominations. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug....
ELCA Assembly Adopts 2010-2011 Reduced Budget
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA)-- Voting members of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a 2010 current fund income proposal of $76.69 million for the churchwide organization, and an ELCA World Hunger Appeal income proposal of $18.7 million. They also approved a current income proposal...
ELCA Assembly Adopts Amendments to Constitution, Bylaws
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 2009 Churchwide Assembly approved all recommended amendments to ELCA Constitutions, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions that the ELCA Church Council recommended for endorsement. All were approved with more than the two-thirds of votes required for passage. The churchwide assembly, the chief...
ELCA Assembly Affirms Work of Lutheran Disaster Response
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly gave strong affirmation Aug. 20 to the ministry of a disaster response agency it supports jointly with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). By a vote of 529 to 20, voting members affirmed the ministry of Lutheran...
ELCA Assembly Takes First Steps on Ministry Policies Document
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are in the middle of taking steps to make it possible for the Lutherans in same-gender relationships to serve as professional leaders in the denomination. The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority...
ELCA Assembly Picks Three Finalists for Vice President
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Voting members at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly narrowed the field to three candidates in its balloting for vice president. Voting a third ballot Aug. 21, voting members chose from a remaining field of eight candidates, selecting incumbent Carlos Peña, Galveston, Texas, Ryan...
ELCA Assembly Welcomes Peter Mayer, Buffett’s Lead Guitarist
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – Peter Mayer, lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, sees his involvement at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly as evidence that he’s “not your usual rock and roll entertainer.” Mayer was at the assembly Aug. 21 to perform a concert, with proceeds...
ELCA Assembly Actions Draw Criticism, Praise from Advocacy Groups
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) – Leaders of organizations favoring and opposing further involvement of people who are gay and lesbian in the church praised and denounced actions taken at the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Both expressed a desire to have the church remain united and for...
