ELCA Ministries Among Possible Fund Recipients Through 'Thrivent Choice'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) World Hunger, Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) and the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI) are three of 10 choices listed as possible recipients of charitable funds through "Thrivent Choice" -- a new Thrivent Financial for Lutherans program. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis, is...
Lutheran Diocese Bishop Dies Returning from Poland President's Funeral
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mieczyslaw Cieslar, bishop, Warsaw diocese of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) in Poland (ECACP), died April 19 in a car accident returning home from attending state funeral services for Lech Kaczynski, Poland's president. The ECACP is a member of the Lutheran World...
ELCA Council Authorizes Rite, Receives Report on 'Bound Conscience'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) authorized a rite designed to receive pastors from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) onto the ELCA's roster of ordained ministers. It also received a report on the church's attention to the concept of "bound conscience" and addressed...
ELCA Provides $50,000 for Earthquake Response in China
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is providing $50,000 for response to the April 14 earthquake in Yushu, China. The magnitude 6.9 earthquake destroyed an estimated 15,000 homes in Yushu, left more than 1,100 people dead and hundreds more missing. More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4503 For information contact: John Brooks,...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Expresses 'Confident Hope' for Church's Future
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans are "a people of new birth, of living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3)," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Because of those gifts from God, Hanson said he "is feeling confident...
ELCA Council Revises Spending, Synod Mission Support Plans
CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) revised the 2010 current fund spending authorization for the ELCA churchwide organization, revised the 2010 ELCA World Hunger spending authorization, and it considered mission support plans for the year. More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4500 For information contact: John Brooks,...
ELCA Council Adopts Significant Revisions to Ministry Policies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a series of historic and sweeping revisions to ministry policy documents April 10, the result of months of extensive writing, comment and review by hundreds of leaders and members following the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. More:...
Religion Communicators Council Honors Lutheran Communicators
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) honored several Lutheran communicators April 8 here at its annual DeRose- Hinkhouse Memorial Awards program. The awards were presented as part of the Religion Communicators Congress 2010, a once-in-a-decade event which brings together communicators from various churches and church-related organizations. More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4498...
Valparaiso University ELCA Pastor Darlene Grega Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Darlene E. Grega, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pastor serving at Valparaiso (Ind.) University was a "beloved member" of the Valparaiso family, said the university's president, Mark A. Heckler, in an April 7 message announcing her death. More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4497 For information contact: John...
ELCA Wartburg Seminary President Duane Larson Resigns Effective July 1
DUBUQUE, Iowa (ELCA) -- The board of directors of Wartburg Theological Seminary here accepted the resignation of the Rev. Duane H. Larson, the seminary's president, effective July 1, the seminary announced in an April 6 news release. More: http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4496 For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Hopes for Open Conversation with Tanzanian Bishop
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), anticipates an "honest and open conversation" with the Rev. Alex G. Malasusa, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), when the two leaders meet here in May. Hanson said...
Tanzanian Bishop, African Churches Comment on ELCA Assembly Decisions
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) said in an Easter sermon that the ELCT does not support certain decisions of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) nor the Church of Sweden's decision to allow its clergy...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Attends Easter Prayer Breakfast at White House
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said he "very much appreciated" comments by U.S. President Barack Obama April 6, in which the president spoke of "the significance of Christ's death and Resurrection for his life and faith, and...
ELCA Affirms 41 Congregational 'New Starts'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Starting new congregations is a top priority for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). For 2010 the denomination has affirmed 41 "new starts" across the United States. More http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4492 For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news Twitter: http://twitter.com/elcanews
Howard Hong, Lutheran, Kierkegaard Translator, Refugee Advocate, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Howard V. Hong, English translator of writings by the Danish philosopher and theologian SÃ ̧ren Kierkegaard, a pioneer in leading Lutherans' service to refugees in Europe after World War II, and philosophy professor emeritus at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., died earlier this month while in hospice...
Lutherans Inspired at Ecumenical Advocacy Days
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- More than 80 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met here with more than 700 people of faith to worship, study and dialogue about migration and refugee issues at the eighth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) for Global Peace with Justice March 19-22. More:...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Participates in Religious Leaders Summit on HIV
DEN DOLDER, The Netherlands (ELCA) -- An international group of high- level religious and spiritual leaders pledged "stronger, more visible and practical leadership in the response to HIV" as a global Summit of Religious Leaders on HIV concluded here March 23. More http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4489 For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773)...
USAID to Purchase Cancer Equipment for Jerusalem Lutheran Hospital
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced this month it will purchase a second linear accelerator for Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH), a project of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in East Jerusalem. The equipment, valued at about $5.5 million, will be used to treat cancer...
LWF Executive Committee Welcomes Middle East Quartet Statement
GENEVA (ELCA) -- The Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomed the "clear and forceful language" used by representatives of the United Nations, the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union --known as the Middle East Quartet -- in denouncing new settlement activity in East Jerusalem...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's 2010 Easter Message
The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:26 For a brief time, while the crucified Jesus lay in a borrowed tomb, it seemed as if death had triumphed once again. Threatened by a messenger of God's expansive, steadfast love, yet another human mob succumbed to death's...
