Grace Lutheran Church

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kelsey Nulph is a college student passionate about joining the global fight against malaria, and she's not the only one. Students from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are coming up with creative ways to speak out against the disease, which claims the life of a child every 45 seconds. To help cultivate that passion into action, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is awarding grants to ELCA campus ministries, colleges and universities to equip and...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. James R. Nieman was elected May 14 to serve as the 7th president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He will begin his service Aug. 1. An installation service will be held at Rockefeller Chapel here Oct. 28. The seminary is one of eight of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In presentations given during the presidential search process, Nieman said that he sees the seminary as distinctly situated in the ELCA to meet challenges...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Two years ago Stephanie Berkas set out to Cape Town, South Africa, to work in a Lutheran congregation and an elementary school there. Having lived in Minnesota for the majority of her life, she knew she would be stepping out of her comfort zone but did not anticipate just how life-changing her experience would be. "My experience in South Africa was formative in that I grew up as a person, but it was transformative in that there was a death and resurrection for ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Claire Burkat was re-elected May 4 to serve a second six-year term as bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She was re- elected on the first ballot at the synod assembly in Telford, Pa. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Burkat earned a bachelor's degree in education from City University of New York, and a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, one of eight EL...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. D. Jensen Seyenkulo was elected bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia. Elected April 28 on the first ballot at the denomination's 14th biannual convention, Seyenkulo is a program director at the churchwide ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "This is a great honor for me, and I am humbled by this election," Seyenkulo said in a May 1 interview. "I have dreamt that I would be able to return home and make a contribution to ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Shelley R. Wickstrom, Seattle, was elected April 27 to a six-year term as bishop of the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Wickstrom was elected on the third ballot during the synod's assembly April 26-28 at Joy Lutheran Church in Eagle River, Alaska. Since 2007, Wickstrom has been coordinator for missional leadership in the ELCA's Region 1 office based in Seattle. Of the 67 votes needed for election, Wickstrom rece...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. James W. Gonia, West Dundee, Ill., was elected April 28 to a six-year term as bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Gonia was elected on the fifth ballot during the synod assembly April 26-28 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Gonia is program director for West Africa, Tanzania and Madagascar, at ELCA churchwide ministries. He will be installed as bishop Sept. 23 at Bethany Lutheran Church in Denver. On ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Kevin S. Kanouse was re-elected April 27 to serve a third six-year term as bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was re-elected on the first ballot at the synod assembly in Irving, Texas. Kanouse was born in Berwick, Pa.  In 1975, he graduated from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., and in 1980 he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Ge...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), joined with other national church leaders in urging members of Congress and President Obama to enact U.S. immigration reform "as soon as possible" in April 24 letters. The leaders wrote that state and local governments have taken measures to fill the void in the absence of one federal immigration system. "As political candidates debate immigration policy and courts de...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a revised 2012 current fund spending authorization of $65,498,135, an increase of more than $1.3 million, and it approved a revised total ELCA World Hunger spending authorization for 2012 of $19,900,000, an increase of $1.4 million, when it met here April 13-15. The council serves as the ELCA's board of directors. According to council member John Emery, Fond du Lac, Wis., chair of ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are extending their observance of "World Malaria Day" from April 25 to May 1 with a goal of raising $200,000 to help end death from malaria. Gifts to the ELCA Malaria Campaign will allow the church to expand its anti-malaria work to include Liberia. Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease, is a leading cause of death in Africa, claiming the life of a child every 45 seconds. In Liberia, malaria a...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), shares an Easter message with the 4.2 million members of this church. The full text of the presiding bishop's message follows: Christ is risen! Imagine the power in those words of promise. When the disciples first heard Jesus speak of his death and resurrection, "they kept the matter to themselves" (Mark 9:10). But the news is too good to keep to ourselves. The life ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Sahel region of West and Central Africa is in a growing food crisis. Inadequate rainfall, poor harvests and rising food costs have left nearly 15.5 million people, particularly children, in need of emergency food assistance. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are working to provide food and other life- sustaining necessities like medical supplies, hygiene kits and more to people affected. According to ELCA Disaster Response, the c...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Some congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have growing concerns about the presence of U.S.immigration officials outside churches before and after services, making many parishioners afraid to attend worship for fear that they will be detained or separated from their families. This concern is expressed in a "Statement of Interest" developed by the ELCA and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which is part of a brief submitted t...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - At a March 26 signing ceremony, representatives of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C., and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., celebrated the decision to merge the two institutions, effective July 1. The merger is the first such combination of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) seminary and university since the founding of this church in 1987. The ceremony took place at the Martin Luther Statue on Shaw Plaza in Hickory. ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., has called members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America(ELCA) to engage in the work of "restoring and reconciling communities, pursuing justice and peace no matter how long the journey or wide the chasm," said ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. "The deep sorrow of Trayvon Martin's family has become our shared public lament," he said. "The tragedy of Trayvon's death must move us to ask searching q...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Two universities and one college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have elected new presidents. There are 26 colleges and universities in the United States affiliated with the ELCA. Carthage College The board of trustees of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., elected Gregory Woodward to serve as the college's 19th president. Woodward, dean of the School of Music at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., will succeed F. Gregory Campbell -- Carthage...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Every week it's a shot in the dark for how much food Harry and Eunice Burch will need to prepare. But one thing both Harry and Eunice agree on is that it will be a while before they prepare beef stew again. Harry stood and cut beef for four hours one evening and has the blisters to show for it. The Burch's organize Trinity's Table, a community outreach ministry of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will join Jewish and Islamic leaders on a panel discussion at the Coexist Prize Ceremony March 20 in New York City. Joining Hanson is Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and His Excellency Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt. The panel discussion is part of the Coexist Foundation's inaugural Coexist Prize Ceremony...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - When one of the strongest earthquakes on record struck off the coast of Japan a year ago, the 4.2 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took immediate action, contributing $2.9 million to ELCA Disaster Response. These funds have provided food and clean water, care and counseling to help sustain earthquake survivors and support for programs that address disaster preparedness, sustainability and the redevelopment of communities and ...

Under the title “Praise on the Parking Lot,” Peace Lutheran Church of Joplin, MO included a special event with their regular worship service this morning. The congregation returned to their now empty lot at the corner of Wisconsin Ave. and 20th Street in Joplin. Friends and neighbors joined them under a tent that was erected [...]

Contributed by Paul Henrickson, Salem, VA   Warm-up Questions What if Jesus prayed for you? Would it be the same as the prayer in John 17 which he prayed for his disciples? Would he pray that you would be “sanctified?” Would Jesus pray for your PROTECTION or for your PURIFICATION or both? Caps and Frowns [...]

The Rev. Eric and Christie Hanson are ELCA missionaries in Tokyo. They are serving with the Tokyo Lutheran Church and the Hongo Student Center. To support the Hansons, or another of the ELCA’s 230 missionaries, go to www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship. Since returning from home assignment in September, we have been working to solidify the new outreach ministries that [...]

By Mark Peters, director of the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota, a State Policy Advocacy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America   The advocacy road trip continues, pausing to explore poverty in Minnesota.  In recent years, Minnesotans have heard some policy makers malign people who use government assistance programs. In a [...]

Every spring, I look forward to playing outside all summer (some people call it yard work). In among the flowers and trees in my little backyard playground, I grow a few herbs – basil, oregano, sage, chives, thyme and parsley — and, of course, a tomato plant. Last summer’s parsley plant actually survived the winter, much to my [...]

Wow! My son has graduated from high school. It seems like only yesterday he was toddling along behind his older sisters. Where has the time gone? Before you know it he will be off to college and I will be an empty nester. This is a day that I never truly imagined. It feels like [...]

Maddie Cahoon knows that one person can make a difference. Last year, her congregation, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Arlington, WA, raised awareness for the ELCA Malaria Campaign by using “Story People.” Paper dolls, dressed in African clothing, sat in the pews. The stories written on their backs were read aloud to the congregation.  Maddie [...]

Late April and early May mark a stark contrast for Israelis and Palestinians.  This year, the state of Israel celebrated 64 years of independence in late April.  But on May 15, Palestinians commemorated the same events as a tragedy they call Al Nakba – the Catastrophe, when 800,000 Palestinians became refugees by being displaced by [...]

The experiment that inspires Year of Plenty is one that grows out of a frustration with consumerism as well as a hunger for a sense of connectedness to place and people. Through an accessible and self-aware narrative, Craig Goodwin sketches his family’s year-long journey in sustainable living. Goodwin weaves personal experience with theological reflection (most [...]

The summer 2012 edition of the Global Mission Support quarterly newsletter, “Hand in Hand,” is now available to download. It contains a beautiful glimpse into the daily cycle of tropical life in Papua New Guinea by Nancy Anderson, who like her husband, the Rev. Rodney Norby, is an ELCA missionary in that equatorial country. Pastor [...]

Remembering women harmed by domestic violence, senior Maggie Williams and other art students at Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., paint a door with healing images and a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Essential Pieces, a Lutheran Family Services of Virginia program, opened a "huge window" for Shelley Drago and her son, Camdyn, 4, diagnosed with autism last September.Named for the pieces of a puzzle, it "[puts] the pieces together for the sake of our children," said James H. Utt, a pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Winchester, Va., where the program began in 2008. Today, Essential Pieces offers eight-week evening sessions that connect parents of autistic children with community resources and professionals. It helps parents become proactive in accessing occupational and physical therapy, vocational rehabilitation, advocacy in schools, sign language, diet, music and even horsemanship. While their parents are learning, children with autism and their siblings play games and sing songs in a social group. Stephanie Doney, 10 (clockwise from left), Teagan Bradley, 10, and Clara Doney, 7, take a break from a popular parachute activity offered by Lutheran Family Services of Virginia's Essential Pieces social groups. The groups provide activities for children on the autism spectrum and their "neurotypical" siblings, while their parents attend education sessions. Camdyn loves to go and meet new friends, Drago said. Calling Essential Pieces "wonderful," she added, "And it's free for parents. It's the best organization I've been a part of. If the children are happy, that's everything."Autism spectrum disorders, caused by brain abnormalities, have become more prevalent in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism. Utt said Essential Pieces gives parents a break and is a way the congregation can be a welcoming, safe place for families who have children with special needs.

With presentations from theologians, dancers and a choir, Sabah Theological Seminary in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, opened a new Lutheran Study Center with a March 7-9 symposium on Lutheran theology.Run by the [Lutheran] Basel Christian Church of Malaysia, the ecumenical seminary offers theological training for laypeople and clergy in the Behasa Malaysia, Mandarin and English languages.The center, said its coordinator Michael Press, was launched by the region's Lutheran churches so they could become more rooted in their Lutheran identity. The center will offer a Lutheran-specific curriculum and programs, partner with the seminary and serve as a resource for Lutheran churches in the region.At the symposium, pastors from countries including Malaysia, China, India and Australia heard a wide variety of theologians discuss the theme "Law and Gospel: Learning to Discern the Lutheran Way of Relationship with God."

Five minutes after Justin DeVore left the most recent Northeastern Iowa Synod's disaster network meeting, he was giving his 3-year-old son a bath. There was no small talk after the meeting, no extended goodbyes, no 35-minute drive home. Just a click on his keyboard, and DeVore was back to being a dad at home. The meeting was one of many in the synod that are now conducted electronically through conference calls or Skype, a video calling service that enables face-to-face communication over the Internet. Instead of driving an hour or more to attend a meeting, DeVore and eight other network members meet face-to-face over the Internet from their homes, offices or wherever they have a high-speed Internet connection.  Thanks to digital networks, Justin DeVore, a member of the Northeastern Iowa Synod disaster network, can maintain his commitment to synod ministries — and his family. "You shouldn't have to invest an hour-and-a-half to get to an hour-long meeting," said DeVore, who is also a synod council member. "I don't have to give up a Saturday a month to be part of this ministry. Now I invest only an hour on a Tuesday and we still get done what is needed. This makes an abundance of sense."The prospect of making it easier for people to participate in synod ministries — while reducing costs and time commitments — led the 2011 Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly to adopt a resolution amending the synod constitution and bylaws so most of the traditional boards, committees, task forces and work groups could transform into a more fluid system of networks.

Since the March 2011 election of a young adult, Dietrich Brauer (now 29), as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia (ELCER), winds of change have wafted through one of its congregations — Moscow's lofty St. Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral. Perhaps Russia's most magnificent Lutheran structure, St. Peter and Paul — one mile east of the Kremlin — is fast becoming a focal point of Russian Protestant life. Weddings, conventions and concerts from many Protestant quarters take place there weekly. And since January 2012, the ecumenical, space-cramped Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy has run a medical clinic for the needy in the basement. The cathedral also rents out office space in its outlying buildings, supplementing the congregation's income. Markus Schnepel, a pastor from the German Embassy (left) and Dietrich Brauer, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of European Russia, lead a worship service at St. Peter and Paul. The St. Peter and Paul congregation is beginning to grow again after the previous minister's removal and a difficult leadership transition in 2011 that led to the departure of some parishioners. Now 50 to 80 members attend worship on Sundays and prospects are bright. Separate German- and Russian-language services have been reduced to once a month. Regular Sunday services combine Russian and German elements of liturgy and music. The congregation has many hopes, including raising $27,000 to install a sound system in the massive, main sanctuary — something rejected by previous leadership.

Everything you love about Christmas — the feast, the mountain of gifts, singing "Silent Night" by candlelight, the man in a red suit — you can find at Calvary Lutheran Church, Apollo Beach, Fla., in July.On Wednesday, July 25, Calvary and the surrounding community will celebrate Christmas in July as they have for 17 years. Jack Palzer, one of the pastors, said the event began — and still is — designed as pure outreach. Hunter Stroud holds up some of the Christmas in July gifts provided by his church, Calvary Lutheran in Apollo Beach, Fla., and the community. "We start out with a full Christmas dinner. Hundreds of people. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, apple pie," he said, his voice full of enthusiasm. The church is decorated for Christmas, complete with trees. On every dinner table is a nutcracker from Palzer's collection. Santa and Mrs. Claus are on hand to give out gifts.All the proceeds from the meal and evening offering go to Mary & Martha House, Ruskin, Fla., for abused and homeless women and children. Calvary is one of several churches that support its work. About 30 to 40 of the women and children are also special guests on "Christmas" for the meal and worship.

Yes, you can have Sunday school during the summer. Members learned this at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Rockford, Ill., through playful learning stations where children planted the seeds for a lifelong relationship with God.Members Sara Fleming and Andrea Mahan were both Montessori mothers. So they started putting their ideas together and developed a Montessori-style summer Sunday school experience. Sunday school continues into the summer at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Rockford, Ill. These children (names withheld for privacy) begin their day at the worship circle for discussion of the day's theme. Promotional material says children "are given the freedom to learn about God at their own speed and within the boundaries of their own current knowledge, setting the foundation for a lifetime quest for greater understanding and experience of God."Using the theme "Summer Seeds," a garden plan started growing. First job was to clear out the "stuffed" closets in the primary Sunday school room — just like preparing the soil. Seeds were planted, developing into a garden complete with a worship circle, library reading tent, art easels, a global village corner, a sound stage with keyboards and headphones, a yoga mat with mirror, an offering altar, costume dress-up station, video area, community art canvas, service work choices, and Bible story workstations.

Celebrating the major events of the church year is a tradition in many families. On Easter morning, some families begin the day with worship at a sunrise service or colorful eggs dot the lawn as children fill their baskets. On Christmas Eve, a figurine of baby Jesus may appear in the family's nativity.But another major festival in the life of the Christian community — Pentecost — isn't as likely to be on the celebration schedule in most homes. Pentecost, which falls 50 days after Easter, marks the beginning of the church and the coming of the Spirit."There's always so much going on at this time of the year that it seems like we don't give as much attention to Pentecost, but it is such a major occurrence in church history," said Devra Betts, the ministry coordinator of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Las Vegas.

Some people find it relaxing on a breezy day to listen to the sound of outdoor wind chimes, which play gentle improvised tunes as the wind passes through. By hanging chimes in a tree or overhang, the sounds can serve as year-round reminders for parents and children of Pentecost's arrival of the Spirit, which came as "a rush of wind" (Acts 2:2).

Does my beloved church believe evangelism is our first business? Of course, evangelism is not the only business of the church. But if the church follows our Lord's last command (Matthew 28:18-20), a bundle of adult baptisms should occur, as at Pentecost.I did some checking. There are some 9,800 ELCA congregations and last year there were 4,978 adult baptisms. That must mean almost half of our congregations didn't have one adult baptism and the other half spent an entire year converting one person. If Pentecost had a similar track record, it would have been a colossal flop. Instead, a church was born.For years I have been urging the whole church to make Jesus' last command its first business. What Jesus made primary, the church should not make secondary.

Turn of the century patients in Brooklyn, N.Y., could take this horse-drawn ambulance to the Lutheran Norwegian Deaconess Home and Hospital, a predecessor of today's Lutheran Medical Center. Could this be the horse that Sister Elisabeth Fedde bought at a profit? A horse-drawn ambulance in front of the Lutheran Norwegian Deaconess Home and Hospital. Fedde, the savvy young Norwegian who founded deaconess homes and hospitals in Brooklyn and Minneapolis, actually made $5 on a $53 horse. The story goes that Fedde helpfully pointed out to the horse's owner that ambulance service was necessary in large part because of accidents caused by his transportation business. Then she kindly facilitated his $55 contribution to the hospital's work as well as a $3 price reduction in the cost of the horse.