Lilly Endowment Awards ELCA $1 Million to Address Seminarian Debt Concerns
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lilly Endowment, Indianapolis, has awarded nearly $1 million to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to continue and broaden its project that addresses the financial challenges of seminarians attending its eight seminaries. The ELCA and partner institutions will match the grant with an additional $1.1...
ELCA Publisher's Board Terminates Defined Benefit Retirement Plan
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), announced in a Dec. 31, 2009, letter to participants that it will terminate its defined benefit retirement plan effective March 5. The action, approved by the board of trustees of Augsburg Fortress Dec. 18,...
Lutherans Reflect on Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- While many who attended or observed the proceedings of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this month expressed disappointment in the outcome, others saw the proceedings as an important first step in addressing the effects of climate change -- which may lead to more...
Harrisburg ELCA Congregation Gives Building to Coptic Orthodox Church
HARRISBURG, Pa. (ELCA) -- An Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation here is breathing new life into its church building by moving out and turning its facilities over to a congregation of another denomination. Following its worship service of carols and a celebration luncheon Dec. 27, Memorial Evangelical Lutheran...
ELCA Synod Bishop Joins Interfaith Delegation to Middle East
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- An interfaith delegation's recent visit to the Middle East could provide "a model and encouragement" for other Christians, Muslims and Jews to work together to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. That was one of the observations of the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, bishop of the New...
ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod Reschedules Election for New Bishop
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will elect a new bishop for the synod at its regularly scheduled assembly, June 10-12, 2010. The synod had previously announced it would hold a special assembly Jan. 15-16, 2010, to elect a successor to the...
San Francisco Lutheran Congregation to Celebrate First 'Feast of Hope'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- St. Francis Lutheran Church, San Francisco, will celebrate its first "Feast of Hope" worship Dec. 27, in celebration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly decision directing changes in ministry policies. The Rev. Anita Hill, pastor of St. Paul-Reformation Church, Minneapolis, will serve as...
Lutheran Bishops Offer Ideas to White House to Stir Economy
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- In a Dec. 16 letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, a caucus of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) bishops acknowledged economic challenges and suggested opportunities for job creation. The group met with Martha Coven, special assistant to the president for mobility and opportunity policy, to present...
South Carolina ELCA Congregation's Christmas Eve Worship on TV and Web
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, West Columbia, S.C., a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will hold three Christmas Eve services Dec. 24. One will be broadcast live on local television and carried simultaneously on the Web -- intended especially for deployed military personnel in...
Montana Lutheran Awarded Rhodes Scholarship, Sets Sights for Oxford
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- There are some 4,500 auxiliary police in New York City. One of them, a volunteer on foot patrol in the 26th precinct, is Raphael Graybill, a 20-year-old student from Great Falls, Mont. -- a Lutheran and one of 32 Americans named as 2010 recipients of the prestigious...
Minneapolis ELCA Congregation Raises Spire Cross
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- A chapter in the life of Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis -- lived out largely in the public eye and one that has provided the opportunity to tell the story of Central's urban mission far and wide -- came to a successful conclusion this week. Braving arctic-cold weather,...
Wisconsin ELCA Congregation Rising from Painful Post-Assembly Conflict
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sunday, Dec. 6, was the first good Sunday in a very long time for the Rev. Gail Sowell and members of St. John Lutheran Church. On that day, the Edgar, Wis. congregation held a special meeting and elected new leadership. "We turned a corner," Sowell said in...
ELCA Member's Fatal Shooting, Assembly Decisions Among Top Religion Stories
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The fatal shooting of Dr. George Tiller, a physician who performed "late-term" abortions and the sexuality decisions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), were among the top 10 religion stories of 2009. Active members of the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA)...
ELCA Northeastern Iowa Synod Council, Bishop Respond to Assembly Actions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) declined to rule on the validity of resolutions of the synod council regarding the sexuality decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The Rev. Steven L. Ullestad wrote in a Dec. 4...
Lutheran Bishop, Palestinian Christians, Call for End to Israeli Occupation
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At least 16 Palestinian Christians, including a Lutheran bishop, prepared and released Dec. 11 a detailed document calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine by Israel. The Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, Jerusalem, is...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Addresses Variety of Subjects in Town Hall Forum
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) hosted a "Town Hall Forum" here Dec. 6, fielding a variety of questions on topics such as leadership, mission, evangelism, anti-racism and racial justice matters, funding, churchwide staff reductions and actions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly....
The Rev. Jeffrey Barrow Elected Bishop of ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod
MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The Rev. Jeffrey S. Barrow was elected Dec. 5 to a six-year term as bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at a special synod assembly here at Our Savior Lutheran Church. Barrow, 58, is currently an assistant to the...
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Habitat for Humanity Finish 2,000th Home
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A new home for Abdikalik Abdulahi and his wife, Suaada Abdiaziz of Somalia, built by a host of volunteers, was dedicated Dec. 4 in Minneapolis -- the 2,000th home built through an alliance of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Habitat for Humanity International. "Thrivent Builds with Habitat...
Some ELCA Congregations Increase Mission Support While Others Cut Funds
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- When Sally Gregory Kohlstedt spoke at Holy Trinity's stewardship breakfast last month, she didn't expect the response her announcement generated. Kohlstedt told fellow members of the Minneapolis congregation that despite the congregation's own budget challenges, the financial stewardship committee would recommend the congregation increase its 2010 giving...
Former ELCA Presiding Bishops Call on Members for Prayers, Financial Gifts
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two former presiding bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have appealed to members to pray for unity of the church and its mission, and to contribute financial gifts to support the ELCA. "Our troubled world needs the Good News of the Gospel and all...
