ELCA Women Hear from Organizational Leaders
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Leaders of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reflected on the past three years and offered their views of the future in a series of remarks to 500 convention voting delegates here July 11. Women of the ELCA's Triennial Gathering is meeting here July...
ELCA Women Elect Mary Ellen Kiesner President
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Five hundred voting delegates of the Fifth Triennial Convention and Gathering of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected Mary Ellen M. Kiesner to a three-year term as president July 11. Kiesner, Menomonee Falls, Wis., is a longtime active member of Women of ELCA...
ELCA Women Learn about Women's Advocacy, Disability Issues
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) learned about global advocacy, women's leadership and disability issues July 10 as a part of the ELCA Fifth Triennial Gathering here at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Women of the ELCA's Triennial Gathering is meeting here July 8-14. The...
ELCA Women Celebrate Culture and Unity
PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- About 400 African American and Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Latina, Middle Eastern and Arab, and European American Lutheran women gathered to celebrate culture and pave a way for unity at "Way-Making Women: A Way to Unity" here July 8-10 at the...
ELCA Pastor Continues U.S. Unicycle Trip
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Lars C. Clausen, Greenback, Wash., a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is more than halfway through a 5,000-mile trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast riding a unicycle. The purpose of Clausen's trip, "One Wheel -- Many Spokes," is to...
ELCA Pastor Featured on 'Day 1' Radio, TV Broadcasts
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Ramona Soto Rank, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and former president of the American Indian/Alaska Native Association of the ELCA, will be featured July 14, Aug. 11 and Sept. 8 on "Day 1" -- formerly known as "The Protestant Hour,"...
Bishop Grants First Exception to ELCA Ordination Policy
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A synod bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) granted the first exception to rules governing the ELCA's full communion relationship with the Episcopal Church. Daniel D. Shaw, a 2002 graduate of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., will be ordained July 20 by his pastor...
Tiede New President of Association of Theological Schools
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. David L. Tiede, president of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., has been elected to a two-year term as president of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). Tiede was elected at ATS' biennial meeting June 22-24 in Pittsburgh. ATS functions...
ELCA Bishop Says Church Supports Key U.S. Mideast Policies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In response to June 24 remarks by U.S. President George W. Bush, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), speaking on behalf of the ELCA, said the church affirms several of the points the president raised regarding the situation in the Middle East....
ELCA Supports Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A June 11 letter to finance committee members of the U.S. Senate listed 14 points the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) supports in legislation Congress is considering now that would reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants. The letter also raised a few related...
Church Leaders Call on Bush to Provide More Housing
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and several other church leaders called on President George W. Bush to "provide safe, permanent and affordable housing for over 200,000 working families." Other organizations that signed a June 1 letter to...
Wilma Kucharek Elected Bishop of ELCA Slovak Zion Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Wilma S. Kucharek, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Torrington, Conn., was elected June 22 to a six-year term as bishop of the Slovak Zion Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Kucharek was elected at the synod's assembly June 21-23 at Muhlenberg College, Allentown,...
Lutherans Express Variety of Concerns in Early Assemblies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) serving as voting members to 2002 synod assemblies addressed a variety of topics, according to reports from early assemblies on file here with the ELCA Department for Synodical Relations. The topics included evangelism, debt relief for seminarians, a...
ELCA Survey Shows 'Who Is Coming to Church'
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Results from a national survey of attendees of 420 randomly selected Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations have been calculated, and the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation is currently in the process of determining worship attendance trends and how the results can directly benefit the...
Treptow, Former Director of ALC Board of Pensions, Dies
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Henry F. Treptow, 74, former executive director of the American Lutheran Church (ALC) Board of Pensions and retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), died June 13 in Kerrville, Texas. Before he was executive director of the Board of Pensions, Treptow was...
Lutherans Organize Recovery Work in Minnesota
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), is organizing recovery work in Roseau and Warroad, cities in northern Minnesota, after five to 12 inches of rainfall produced flooding there and in surrounding areas June...
Lutheran-Episcopal Committee Learns of Exception Request
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A candidate for ordination has formally requested an exception to ordination procedures of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), members of the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee (LECC) and staff members from the ELCA and Episcopal Church ecumenical offices were told when the committee met June 3-5 at...
Hougen Re-Elected Bishop of ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Philip L. Hougen was re-elected to a six-year term as bishop of the Southeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Hougen was elected at the synod's assembly June 14-16 at Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa. Hougen, 59, was first elected bishop of...
ELCA Unveils Online Congregational Study of Economic Life
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In 1999, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social statement on economic life. To help congregations examine the statement and the issues it raised, the ELCA Division for Church in Society has created a Web-based study guide, "Receive with Thanksgiving!" at http://www.elca.org/dcs/receivewiththanksgiving.html "A social...
Christians Being Recruited for Peacekeeping in Middle East
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is recruiting Christians from all over the world for peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East. The World Council of Churches (WCC) sponsors EAPPI, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a member of the WCC. The...
