Massey Named Director of Lutheran Disaster Response
CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Kevin A. Massey has been named director of Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran-Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), and director for ELCA Domestic Disaster Response. In 2005 Massey became assistant director of ELCA Domestic Disaster...
Lutheran Leaders Express Concern over Impact of Immigration Raids
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Steven L. Ullestad, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northeastern Iowa Synod, Waverly, and Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., president, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Baltimore, expressed concern about the impact of immigration enforcement raids on children and families in a May 20 statement submitted...
ELCA Synod Bishop Calls for Immigration Reform
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In response to the May 12 federal immigration raid at a meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa, the Rev. Steven L. Ullestad, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northeastern Iowa Synod, said, "The intervention by the U.S. government in my hometown of Postville has instilled fear...
Robert Rimbo Elected Bishop of ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert A. Rimbo, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York, and former bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Southeast Michigan Synod, was elected May 17 to a six-year term as bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod. Rimbo will assume the role of bishop...
Herman Yoos Elected Bishop of ELCA South Carolina Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Herman R. Yoos III, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Columbia, S.C., was elected May 18 to a six-year term as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) South Carolina Synod. On Aug. 1 he succeeds the Rev. David A. Donges, who announced earlier his...
Lutherans Responding to People Affected by Iowa Immigration Raid
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Postville, Iowa, are responding to the needs of people who have been affected by a May 12 federal immigration raid at a Postville meat processing plant. Hundreds of family members of those arrested have taken refuge inside St. Bridget's Catholic Church,...
Lutherans Evaluate Damage from Another Series of Storms in the South
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) is evaluating damage left behind by another round of severe storms and tornadoes May 10-11 that swept through Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma. LDR reported that 22 people died and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed in the most recent storms. "The...
August Wenzel, Former Lutheran Bishop, Seminary Educator, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. August E. Wenzel, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), former Lutheran bishop and seminary educator, died May 5 of cancer at home in San Antonio. He was 72. A funeral service will be held May 10 at Faith Lutheran Church, Seguin,...
Lutherans Work to Meet the Needs of People in Myanmar
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided $100,000 as an initial response to help meet the basic needs of survivors in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis battered the Southeast Asian country May 3. "The Myanmar government reported that nearly 22,500 people died and...
Lutherans Assess Damage in Arkansas from Tornadoes, Spring Storms
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) is assessing damage left behind by tornadoes and severe storms that swept across Arkansas May 5. Seven people died and more than 400 homes, businesses, hospitals, schools and churches were damaged or destroyed in the most recent storms. "This spring numerous communities in...
Lutherans are Hearing Wellness Voices
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- For the past decade the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Board of Pensions has supported the pursuit of wellness and health promotion initiatives within the ELCA. The initiatives support the personal wellness journeys of those who serve the church, including a "wholeness wheel," a working relationship...
Scholarships for students, others to attend International AIDS Conference
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is offering scholarships for seminarians, students and others ages 18-26 to attend the International AIDS Conference July 31-Aug. 9, 2008, in Mexico City. Held every two years, the conference draws more than 20,000 health workers, government representatives, people living...
Sales of Worship Resources to Impact ELCA Publisher in 2008
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- Sales of the pew edition of "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" (ELW) for the first quarter of 2008 were slightly more than half what was projected by Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA publisher expects this trend to continue for...
World Food Emergency Prompts Special ELCA Assistance
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- With the price of food rising, especially in the world's poorest regions, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will send an initial $100,000 to companion churches and partner relief agencies to provide food to vulnerable people and to strengthen development work in rural communities....
Thomas Aitken Elected Bishop of ELCA Northeastern Minnesota Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Thomas M. Aitken, Bethany Lutheran Church, Loman, Minn., and First Lutheran Church, International Falls, Minn., was elected May 4 to a six-year term as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northeastern Minnesota Synod. He succeeds the Rev. E. Peter Strommen as bishop...
Associated Church Press Awards Top Honors to Women of the ELCA E-Zine
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Associated Church Press (ACP) named "Cafe --Stirring the Spirit Within," the online e-zine of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a top winner in its awards competition for work done in 2007. "Cafe" was named "Best in Class" in ACP's independent Web site...
United Methodist Church Adopts Full Communion Proposal with ELCA
FORT WORTH, Texas (ELCA) -- By a vote of 864-19, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) adopted an implementing resolution April 28 that will establish full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Full communion will be fully realized by both churches should the same...
ELCA endorses Church Mutual Insurance Company
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Office of the Secretary, in consultation with the ELCA Office of the Treasurer, announced online April 10 that the ELCA-Endorsed Property and Liability Insurance Program for Congregations and Synods is underwritten through Church Mutual Insurance Company, Merrill,...
Mark Holmerud Elected Bishop of ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark W. Holmerud, Lutheran Church of the Incarnation, Davis, Calif., was elected April 26 to a six- year term as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Sierra Pacific Synod at the synod assembly April 25-27 in Oakland, Calif. He succeeds the Rev....
Jack Ohle Named President of ELCA's Gustavus Adolphus College
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Trustees of Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., voted April 25 to elect Jack R. Ohle as the college's next president. He will succeed James L. Peterson on July 1. Ohle is president of Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, and has served in that role for 10 years....
