Changing landscape: As churches shrink and pastors retire, creative workarounds are redefining ministry
As older clergy get set to retire in the US, there are few younger seminarians to replace them – and few churches that can afford to pay them. ELIZABETH E EVANS reports for Religion News Service…
Lutheran, Presbyterian schools moving to Chicago campus of Catholic Theological Union
Chicago, USRNS The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and McCormick Theological Seminary are moving into available space on the campus of Catholic Theological Union, creating a theological megacampus on the South Side of Chicago. The Lutheran School of Theology, a seminary belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, signed a lease on Wednesday […]
US Lutherans launch initiative joining Indigenous-led Truth and Healing Movement
RNS The head of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination announced on Wednesday the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is launching its own Truth and Healing Movement to help its three million members better understand the “colonising impacts” the church has had on Indigenous people, both past and present. “We must be in better, right, and healthy relationships […]
In the US, transgender pastor claims bias, sues Lutheran denomination
United StatesAP Rev Megan Rohrer, who was elected as the first openly transgender bishop of one of the largest Christian denominations in the country in May, 2021, has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was forced out from his post after enduring several months of discrimination and harassment. The denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, declined […]
A “commitment to service”: DC’s faith communities rally to protect bused-in immigrants
EMILY NEIL, of Religion News Service, reports that organising efforts in Washington have become a blueprint for other cities…
Meet Imran Siddiqui, the first Asian American vice president of the ELCA
United StatesRNS When Imran Siddiqui’s name was put forward for vice president of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, he figured, why not fill out the paperwork? He didn’t expect to make it far in the process. After all, every one of the more than 800 voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church […]
Reckoning with their history, Lutherans issue declaration to Indigenous peoples
Columbus, Ohio, US RNS There was a time when Lutherans were recognised as the advocates for Indigenous peoples, according to Vance Blackfox, director for Indigenous ministries and tribal relations for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United States’ largest Lutheran denomination. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lutherans vocally supported the American Indian Movement, said […]
In the US, Lutheran bishop issues public apology to Latino congregation
United StatesAP Elizabeth A Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, issued a public apology Tuesday to members of a majority Latino immigrant congregation for the pain and trauma they endured after the predominantly white denomination’s first openly transgender bishop unexpectedly fired their pastor. Speaking during the 2022 Churchwide Assembly being held […]
First transgender bishop of largest Lutheran denomination resigns
RNS The first transgender bishop of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States has resigned amid criticism over the decision to remove the pastor of a Latino congregation on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December. “The constant misinformation, bullying and harassment has taken too hard a toll in the Synod I […]
ELCA Presiding Bishop requests resignation of first transgender bishop
Last updated: 11.15am (AEST)RNS The Presiding Bishop of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States has asked its first transgender bishop to resign amid criticism over their removal of the pastor of a Hispanic congregation on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December. In a report to the church published on Friday, […]