wfn.org | News in brief

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

 ... Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church holds Assembly. The Japan
Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) will hold its 18th Assembly in
Tokyo from August 25 to 27. The agenda of the biannual event includes
the official mission plan of the JELC from 1999 to 2002, the vote on
the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" as well as
the election of the church president and council members. The JELC
membership is 22,170.

 ... Thirty years of women's ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Brunswick. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick - the church of
the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Christian Krause -
can look back upon 30 years of women's ordination. For the occasion, a book
has been published on the history of women's ordination in Brunswick, which
on Wednesday, 23 September, will be presented to the public.

 ... Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago commemorates 50 years of the
Lutheran World Federation. A series of lectures organized by the
theological faculty in Chicago (USA) from October 1 to 5 will celebrate 50
years of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which celebrated its
anniversary last year at the Assembly in Hong Kong. The keynote address
will be given by LWF general secretary Ishmael Noko on the topic, "The
Future of the Lutheran Communion". Other speakers will include the general
secretary of the World Young Women's Christian Association, Musimbi
Kanyoro; the Brazilian professor of theology Wanda Deifelt; LWF
vice-president Prasanna Kumari; the American churchwoman Dorothy Marple;
the Indian theologian Monica Melanchthon; the director of the Dar al-Kalima
Academy Mitri Raheb, the systematic theologian Vitor Westhelle, who teaches
in Chicago; the director of the Ecumenical Services, Socio-Economic
Transformation, Samuel Molefe Tsele, from South Africa; and the Indian
professor of theology, Paul Rajashekar, who teaches in Phildelphia. The
presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), H.
George Anderson, as well as the Canadian Lutheran bishop Telmor Sartison,
will also be among the speakers.

 ... ELCA congregations' income exceeded USD 2 billion in 1997. Income for
the 10,889 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) in 1997 was USD 2,006,953,384 up USD 133,397,469 or 7.12 percent
from the year previous, reported ELCA secretary Lowell G. Almen. Of that
total, USD 1,384,266,794 was received in regular, unrestricted offerings,
representing an increase of 3.88 percent. Regular "mission support", funds
from congregations to the 65 synods and to the churchwide organization to
support the national and international ministries of this church increased
four times what it had from 1995 to 1996 for a total of USD 123,573,865.
"Specific Mission Support", formerly called Designated Gifts, was up 3.59
percent. Also, contributions reported by congregations to the World Hunger
Appeal and Lutheran Disaster Response jumped from USD 9,792,901 in 1996 to
12,081,550. Funding for missionary sponsorship grew by 8.58 to hit USD
4,971,079, while Mission Partner giving increased 11.83 percent to USD
3,685,468. Mission Partner money goes directly to new ministries without
administrative costs.

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