http://www.elca.org/newsOfficial news releases of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americahttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssen-usThu, 8 May 2008 16:05:09 GMTEvangelical Lutheran Church in America. All Rights Reserved.20http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3859http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3859Thu, 8 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 close to 41,000 are missing," said Dr. Belletech Deressa, director for international development and disaster response, ELCA Global Mission. These fig...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3858http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3858Thu, 8 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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, Texas. "Augie Wenzel was a rare gift to the church -- part theologian, part administrator, part visionary for what the church needs to become and to be," said the Rev. Roger W. Fjeld, Estes Pa...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3857http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3857Wed, 7 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 many states have been impacted by severe storms. Arkansas has been particularly affected by storms including devastating tornadoes. We pray for the fami...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3856http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3856Wed, 7 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 with the Mayo Clinic and an array of resources dealing with everything from financial to spiritual health. There are also voices -- wellness voices. ...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3854http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3854Tue, 6 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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. ELCA International Disaster Response allocated $50,000 and the other half of the amount will come from money the ELCA World Hunger Appeal received in additio...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3853http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3853Tue, 6 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 the remainder of the year and revised its pew edition sales forecast to about $3.4 million for 2008, down from the $5.5 million in sales it originally projected, said ...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3852http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3852Tue, 6 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 on Aug. 1. Strommen served 12 years as bishop and was ineligible for re-election. Aitken was elected on the fifth ballot during the synod assembly May 2-4 in Dul...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3851http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3851Mon, 5 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 or e-zine category. The awards were presented April 22 at the ACP's annual convention in Westlake, Texas. The ACP is an organization of communication professionals in the Christi...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3850http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3850Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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 proposal be adopted at the next ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which meets Aug. 17-23, 2009, in Minneapolis. The UMC General Conference, meeting here April 23-May 2, is t...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3849http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3849Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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. David G. Mullen who will retire July 1. On the sixth ballot Holmerud received 328 votes to 92 cast for the Rev. Nancy M. Feniuk Nelson, Coastside Lutheran Church, Half Moon Bay, Calif.,...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3848http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3848Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT 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. Gustavus Adolphus and Wartburg are two of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "This is a great day for the college," said James H. Gale, Washing...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3847http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3847Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Diane L. Jacobson likes the analogy, but she doesn't take credit for it. She heard "Opening the Book of Faith: Lutheran Insights for Bible Study" described as the GPS (global positioning system) of the "Book of Faith" initiative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Jacobson, professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., is director of the ELCA initiative. She said Dr. Robert A. Bendiksen, retired professor of sociology an...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3846http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3846Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Considered to be the first ecumenical youth gathering in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide there, more than 100 high-school-age and young adult Christians from six African countries and the United States gathered March 27-30 for the "Great Lakes Youth Conference: We are the Future of Africa!" in Kigali, Rwanda. Participants, 75 of them Lutheran, gathered to "bear witness" to the more than 1 million people killed in the genocide and to work toward building a future of...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3845http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3845Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) will consider a proposal for full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) when it meets April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth, Texas. The proposal, "Implementing Resolution for Full Communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church," has been years in the making. Assuming adoption by the UMC General Conference, the ELCA Church Council re...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3844http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3844Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a resolution on racism, asked for a formal proposal for full communion with the United Methodist Church, commended occasional services materials to the church, set the site and date of the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, and acted on several other proposals. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between assemblie...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3843http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3843Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) affirmed the work of the church in developing a proposed Lutheran malaria initiative. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between assemblies. The council met here April 11-13. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 17-23, 2009, in Minneapolis. The council authorized the "receipt of funds" and thei...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3842http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3842Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Krister O. Stendahl, New Testament scholar, teacher, former dean of Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass., and Lutheran bishop of the Diocese of Stockholm (Sweden), died April 15. At the time of his death Stendahl, 86, was Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Divinity Emeritus, Harvard Divinity School. A funeral service for Stendahl is planned for April 18 at 11 a.m. at University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Mass. A memorial service of celebration wil...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3841http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3841Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Donald J. McCoid, executive for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, will represent the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), at an ecumenical prayer service April 18 led by Pope Benedict XVI, at St. Joseph's Church, New York. Participants at the service will include some 250 national and local Protestant and Orthodox Church leaders, according...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3840http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3840Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Ecumenical and interfaith relationships are significant ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which maintains full communion agreements with five Protestant churches and the possibility of another in 17 months. With new leadership in its churchwide ecumenical and interfaith section, the ELCA -- often described as a "bridge" church seeking to build connections with other Christian churches -- is assessing where it wants to go now and in th...http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3839http://archive.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?article=3839Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran Student Movement at Virginia Tech is providing opportunities for growth while bracing for the media attention of the first anniversary of the worst campus shooting in U.S. history. On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman killed 32 faculty and students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., before killing himself. The Rev. William H. King said the greatest anxiety he hears among students as the first anniversary o...http://www.elca.org/ScriptLib/CO/ELCA_News/emblemforreleases.gifhttp://www.elca.org/news