ELCA Bishops Prepare for Uncertainty in Israel, Advance Group in Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan (ELCA) -- Despite the continued conflict in Gaza, bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) are proceeding with plans to travel Jan. 6 to the Middle East. A smaller group of seven ELCA bishops, including the ELCA presiding...
Lutheran Services in Iowa Critical to Storm Victims' Recovery
CHICAGO (ELCA) - Many Iowa families are beginning 2009 still trying to recover from devastating tornadoes and floods of 2008. They're crediting Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) for making their hardships bearable. LSI is affiliated with Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)...
ELCA Presiding Bishop Calls for Gaza Ceasefire; Bishops Prep for Visit
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said the ELCA joins with all people calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and southern Israel. Hanson also asked ELCA members to join Middle East religious leaders who requested that Sunday,...
Lutheran Bishop Joins Jerusalem Church Leaders in Calling for Peace
CHICAGO (ELCA) - Prominent Christian leaders around the world are calling for an end to the violence that erupted in Gaza during the Christmas season. Patriarchs, bishops and the heads of Christian church bodies in Jerusalem issued a statement Dec. 30 urging an end to the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting...
Lutheran Teens Say God's Justice Goes Beyond 'Just Us'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Amanda Kurtz is a ninth grader who loves math, dreams of being an architect and participates on tennis and dance teams at her high school in Aitkin, Minn., a one-stoplight town of 2,000 best known for its annual parade of decorated ice fishing houses. She also volunteers...
Lutherans to observe National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Jan. 11
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service On Sunday, Jan. 11, congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will observe National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, a day committed to raising awareness and fostering action against commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor or slavery. Some congregations are observing the...
Director of disaster response ministry says Lutherans persevere
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service According to the Rev. Kevin A. Massey, Lutherans have shown courage, strength and perseverance in responding to the needs of their neighbors in 2008. Massey, director, Lutheran Disaster Response, commented on the record-breaking year for U.S. disasters in a Dec. 19 letter he...
ELCA Treasurer Advises Synod Leaders on Planning for Budget Contingencies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In the midst of a volatile U.S. and global economy, Christina Jackson-Skelton, treasurer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), sent resources to the 65 synods of the church to assist leaders in budget planning and financial management. Responding to requests from several ELCA synods, Jackson-...
Robert Marshall, Lutheran President, Scholar, Pastor, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert J. Marshall, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), biblical scholar and president of the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA), died Dec. 22 in Allentown, Pa. He was 90. Funeral plans are being made in Burlington, Iowa, and memorials are...
Nutrition, Weight, Emotional Health among Health Risks for ELCA Leaders
MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The results of the 2008 Mayo Clinic Health Assessment are in and show a clear picture of the health of leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Of the more than 11,000 pastors, church workers and spouses who took the assessment through the ELCA-primary health...
Two ELCA pastors ask Congress to learn from largest immigration raid
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service Two pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are calling on the U.S. Congress to evaluate the nation's immigration system and use what happened in Postville, Iowa, to develop a new approach for immigration raids. On May 12, 2008, federal agents...
Lutheran Congregations Bring Christmas Cheer to Hurricane Survivors
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Hurricane Ike survivors lined up early Dec. 13 to receive holiday gifts distributed at First Lutheran Church, Galveston, Texas -- a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Among the items given away: Christmas trees, decorations, bicycles, children's board games, dolls, blankets, winter coats, canned food...
ELCA 'Voices' in CBS Television Special on Christmas Eve
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Several members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are among the "Voices of Christmas from the National Council of Churches" -- a one-hour special to broadcast Christmas Eve on 190 CBS television stations across the United States. The program will air Dec. 24 during the...
Global Priorities Campaign Receives 'Blessed Are The Peacemakers' Award
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The United States Conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its 2008 annual meeting here, presented the Global Priorities Campaign its "Blessed Are the Peacemakers" Award for its work in redefining global needs. Dennis W. Frado, director, Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), and member...
ELCA begins development of a social statement on criminal justice
by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is preparing a social statement on criminal justice that will develop biblical and theological themes and allow it to address such issues as the cost of incarceration and rehabilitation for people convicted of a crime. The...
ELCA's Support Prompts Other Lutherans to Address Zimbabwe's Food Crisis
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) financial response to Zimbabwe's swelling food crisis is prompting other church bodies to contribute, according to the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission. He said Lutheran churches in Namibia and South Africa and organizations that focus on...
ELCA's Wartburg College to honor composer John Ylvisaker
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service John C. Ylvisaker, a leader in contemporary Christian music, is set to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Dec. 14 from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa. Dr. William E. Hamm, Wartburg's interim president, will confer the degree during the college's December Commencement in...
Mensaje Navideño de 2008 del Obispo Presidente de la IELA
Cuando los angeles se fueron al cielo, los pastores se dijeron unos a otros: 'Vamos a Belen, a ver esto que ha pasado y que el Senor nos ha dado a conocer.' -- Lucas 2:15 !Vamos! !Ya! Cuando los angeles se acercaron a unos pastores con un mensaje luminoso una...
ELCA Presiding Bishop's 2008 Christmas Message
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.' -- Luke 2:15 Let's go! Now! When angels came to some shepherds...
ELCA congregations receive grants to support clergy sabbaticals
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service Twenty-one congregations and 23 pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) received grants from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment. The ELCA recipients were among 133 congregations and 138 pastors in 36 states that received grants. Now entering its 10th year, the National Clergy...
