ELCA Radio Ministry Features Head of John Deere
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Robert W. Lane, chairman and chief executive officer, John Deere, Moline, Ill., is the featured guest Oct. 26 on "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Rev. Peter W. Marty, host and senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa,...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Speaks on the U.S. Presidential Election
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed a "high expectation for our public discourse" in the closing weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign. In an Oct. 16 pastoral letter issued to the ELCA, Hanson wrote, "Instead of personal attacks, I...
Theaters, Channel to Show Historic Film about Lutherans, Civil Rights
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Special showings of "A Time for Burning" in Nebraska and New York will coincide with its broadcast on the Documentary Channel. "A Time for Burning" is a landmark civil rights film featuring the struggles of Augustana Lutheran Church, Omaha, Neb., in 1965, and its pastor, the Rev....
Stewardship Tips for Congregations in a Time of Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The fall is generally a time when many congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) invite members to make an annual financial pledge or estimate of giving to the church. But given the current economic downturn in the United States, some Lutherans may find it...
Olsen Named Interim Bishop of ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Southeast Michigan Synod Council, in consultation with the ELCA presiding bishop, named the Rev. Kenneth R. Olsen to serve as its interim bishop, following the Aug. 16 death of its bishop, the Rev. John H.K. Schreiber, and until the synod...
ELCA Fund for Leaders Honors 2008 Scholarship Recipients
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), seminary presidents, churchwide leaders and supporters of the ELCA Fund for Mission honored 33 first-year seminary students Oct. 3 who received full- or partial-tuition scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year through the Fund. Each scholarship...
ELCA Leaders Offer Assurances in Light of Global Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Board of Pensions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is holding steady and not panicking during the current global financial crisis, Board President John G. Kapanke, told the ELCA Conference of Bishops. Kapanke addressed the conference Oct. 3. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is...
ELCA Conference of Bishops Addresses Financial Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a pastoral letter to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the ELCA Conference of Bishops called on church members and others who are concerned about the financial health of the United States to discuss and pray about economic life, financial behaviors and "the interconnectedness of...
Hundreds of Lutherans Help Clean Up Galveston
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a cleanup effort referred to as "10-4," more than 390 Lutherans from the Houston area readied themselves with rubber gloves, paint masks and sack lunches to help clean up hurricane-damaged homes and churches on Galveston from 10 to 4 p.m., Oct. 4. When Galveston reopened Sept....
ELCA Presents 'Native Nations' Documentary on ABC Television
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Native Nations: Standing Together for Civil Rights" is a one-hour documentary exploring the role of the Lutheran church in the American Indian civil rights movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The program begins airing Oct. 12 on ABC television network affiliate stations across the United States. Local...
Reuben Swanson, Lutheran Church in America Secretary, Synod President, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Reuben T. Swanson, 86, who served as secretary of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) and LCA Nebraska Synod president, died Oct. 3 at his home in Fort Collins, Colo. Memorial services are planned for Oct. 10 at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Fort...
Alan Anderson, Former President of ELCA's Carthage College, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Alan R. Anderson, a former president of Carthage College, Kenosha, Wis., died Sept. 28 at his home in Racine, Wis. He was 86 years old. Carthage is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A celebration of Anderson's life was...
Quilt Made by Nigerian Women Living with HIV Now Available to ELCA
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A quilt created by Nigerian women who are HIV-positive is now available to the congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The 22-by-24 foot quilt, weighing more than 65 pounds, is based on a painting by Dr. He Qi, a Chinese Christian artist. The quilt...
ELCA Television Spots are Broadcast on the Travel Channel
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is adding television to a pilot advertising campaign with the tag line, "God's work. Our hands." The Travel Channel is broadcasting two 30-second spots a total of about 60 times from Sept. 29 through Oct. 12 on cable and satellite...
Kaufmann heads Fisher's Net Select online educational resources
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Rev. Gregory P. Kaufmann, assistant to the bishop, Northwest Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Rice Lake, has been named director of Fisher's Net Select. Fisher's Net Select is a combination of Fisher's Net and Select, two online...
Young Adult Lutherans of African Descent to Meet in Atlanta
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At least 75 young adult Lutherans of African descent will travel to Atlanta from across the United States and Caribbean for "Sitting at the Welcome Table," Oct. 2- 5, the second national conference designed to help leaders aged 19-35 find their roles in the Evangelical Lutheran Church...
Lutherans Address the Global Food Crisis in Cookbook
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans have produced a cookbook -- "Food for Life: Recipes and Stories on the Right to Food" -- that calls attention to the global food crisis. Containing more than 100 recipes from around the world, the cookbook features stories, photographs and table blessings illustrating how Lutherans take...
ELCA Synod Bishop to Visit Galveston, Survey Hurricane Damage
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- People are re-entering Galveston, Texas, and it is "incredibly emotional," according to the Rev. Michael W. Rinehart, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, Houston. Along with synod staff and others, Rinehart will travel to Galveston Sept. 26 to survey damage left behind...
New ELCA Mission Personnel Begin Service this Fall
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- More than 270 mission personnel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are serving in 48 countries, and about 30 more Lutherans -- plus 14 members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PCUSA) and three members of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) -- will begin mission...
Repentance a Theme of Reformation, U.S. Lutheran Bishop Says
LUTHERSTADT WITTENBERG, Germany (ELCA) -- Repentance is God's gift to the world through Jesus Christ, and it is one central theme of the ongoing Lutheran Reformation, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, president of the 68.3 million-member Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Geneva, and presiding bishop of the 4.7 million-member Evangelical...
