Posted by Robert Fisher on April 28, 2008
TheReporterOnline.com
Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Souderton, with the lay leadership of Jay Grimes of Franconia, has started a service that allows developmentally delayed members of the community to worship in a ministry that is tailored just for them.
“We’re all part of the same community is what it comes down to,” Grimes said.
Grimes is the ministry coordinator for the Rejoicing Spirits service at Emmanuel Lutheran Church
This monthly service has been providing a Christian outlet for developmentally delayed individuals, their families and their care givers for the last 2½ years.
reporteremmanuelrejoicing
Posted in news sightings | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on April 28, 2008
TheReporterOnline.com
A small Ambler Borough church with a rich history will kick off its centennial with a community celebration Sunday.
St. John’s Lutheran Church of Ambler was chartered April 26, 1908. It was founded by a young pastor from Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Samuel F. Tholan, who began leading services in the heart of Ambler in 1907.
For five years services were held in the Ambler Opera House, at the corner of Butler Avenue and Maple Street. In 1913 the congregation moved to a new church building on the corner of North Ridge Avenue and Race Street, where it still stands.
“I think what’s interesting in anything that lasts,” the Rev. Sandra Ellis-Killian said, “it’s what changes and what stays the same through all the ups and downs.”
reporterambler100th
Posted in news sightings | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on April 16, 2008
When a United Methodist congregation and a Lutheran congregation in McMinnville, Ore., formed a cooperative ministry two years ago, the decision emerged out of a desire to share a common mission, not out of desperation.
Neither the McMinnville United Methodist Church nor Trinity Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was in danger of closing, according to the Rev. Stephan Ross, the United Methodist pastor.
“Both of our churches could survive quite well on their own,” he explained. But the congregations liked the idea of being “a model of and a testimony to the unity of the church, which transcends denominational distinctions.” (United Methodist News Service)
wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 178-Oregon pact models Methodist, Lutheran communion
Posted in ELCA, news sightings | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on April 7, 2008
Making its way through the Senate since last spring, S.B. 9 requires the submission of government-issued ID as a condition of receiving a wide variety of public benefits.
In a state where 1.4 million people live in poverty, there is a $4.6 billion shortfall in adequate funding for K-12 public education and nearly 800,000 people dont have health care insurance. So why is a bill that would accomplish little or nothing a top priority?
State Senate ID bill would harm the needy – themorningcall.com
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on April 6, 2008
Denver motorists saw billboards in September 2007 that displayed tools in the shape of a cross and conveyed a fact — “8,400 homes repaired after Hurricane Katrina” — and a message — “God’s Work. Our Hands.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Rocky Mountain Synod took the lead in a pilot advertising campaign about the ELCA and what Lutherans are about in the world.
Read in Church Executive Magazine
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on March 29, 2008
wfn.org | Lutheran Disaster Response Nearly Completes $27.7 Million Expenditure
Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) has nearly completed the expenditure of more than $27.7 million collected to support recovery work along the U.S. Gulf Coast in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and other hurricanes from the 2005 season. And in an effort to continue rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the long-term, LDR — a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) — is asking for more funds.
Posted in news sightings, sepanews | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on February 29, 2008
wfn.org | William Lazareth, Former ELCA Synod Bishop, Author, Professor, Dies
The Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) died of cancer Feb. 23 in Bar Harbor, Maine. Lazareth, 79, had a distinguished career as a college and seminary professor, author and leader with the ELCA, the former Lutheran Church in America (LCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), Geneva.
Posted in Ministry, news sightings | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on February 29, 2008
Colleges offer programs in church finance | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/18/2008
Many U.S. churches have been victims of embezzlement over the years, reflecting not just moral weakness on the part of the wrongdoers, but lax financial controls. Often, church budgets are overseen by volunteers or employees with little guidance or professional training.
Now, some colleges are hoping to prevent such abuses by offering programs devoted specifically to managing church finances and personnel.
Posted in news sightings | No Comments »
Posted by Robert Fisher on February 29, 2008
Two Sides of the Street | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/24/2008
Center City’s street population - 85 percent of whom are mentally ill or addicted or both - is the highest in 10 years, according to the city’s homeless outreach center. But that’s only the most visible part of the homeless situation. Shelters, which cater more to families, are running at capacity with 20 percent more beds than five years ago, city statistics show.
Posted in Ministry, news sightings | No Comments »