News
By the staff of The Lutheran, ELCA News Service and Religion News Service
NCC to move its base to D.C. A
fter decades at New York City’s Interchurch Center (once called the “God Box” and the “Protes- tant Vatican on the Hudson”), the National Council of Churches is closing its headquarters. It will consolidate its operations at a United Methodist-owned ecumeni- cal center in Washington, D.C. The council hopes to maintain
a New York presence via “satel- lite offices” for three senior staff, which could still include space in the Interchurch building. Peg Birk, NCC transitional gen-
eral secretary, said the move will save $400,000 to $500,000 in the long run.
The council also eliminated six administrative positions and
Letter on violence
The ELCA Conference of Bishops adopted a pastoral letter on violence at its March meeting in Itasca, Ill., saying “every person wounded or killed is a precious child of God.” Acknowledging that members “serve in different contexts and have differ- ent perspectives regarding what can
Quote We know that we’ve done and said things that hurt people. Inflicting pain on others wasn’t the goal, but it was one of the outcomes. We wish it weren’t so, and regret that hurt.
Grace and Megan Phelps-Roper, grand-
daughters of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, in a statement announcing their departure from the church that’s best known for picketing soldiers’ funerals and railing against homosexuality. They were quoted by the Wash- ington Post.
will likely use outside vendors for human resources, information technology, strategic accounting and communications support. NCC President Kathryn Lohre,
ELCA director for ecumeni- cal and interreligious relations, said council members can “look with hope upon this new chap- ter in the council’s life. … This consolidation will free us from the infrastructure of a bygone era, enabling us to witness more boldly to our visible unity in Christ, and work for justice and peace in today’s rapidly changing ecclesial, ecumenical and interre- ligious world.” The ELCA is a member of the
NCC.
and should be done,” it called on the faithful “to the work of lament … moral formation and discernment … and advocacy” and offered a list of recourses. For the full letter, go to
www.thelutheran.org/feature/april.
Malaria Sunday, April 28 ELCA Malaria Campaign lead- ers are encouraging congregations to observe a World Malaria Sun- day April 28 (World Malaria Day is April 25). Two years ago, every 30 seconds a child in Africa died from malaria. “After lots of hard work by people all across the globe, that death rate slowed last year, and we were able to say: ‘Every 45 seconds,’ ” said campaign coordinator Jessica Nipp Hacker. That has now become “every 60 seconds,” she said. Along- side those statistics, as of March 4, ELCA members have raised more than $6.5 million toward the goal of
8 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
$15 million by 2015. To help, send checks (payable to “ELCA Malaria Campaign”) to ELCA Malaria Cam- paign, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-9300; visit
www.elca.org/ malaria or call 800-638-3522.
Megachurches doing well Despite the tough economy, some of the nation’s largest churches are doing well, with increased offerings and plans to hire more staff. Just 3 percent of churches with 2,000 or more attendance surveyed by Lead- ership Network, a Dallas-based church think tank, said they were affected “very negatively” by recent economic woes. Nearly half said they were affected “somewhat nega- tively,” but one-third said they were not affected at all. The vast major- ity expected to meet their budgets in 2012 or their current fiscal year. A majority also reported that offerings during worship services were higher last year than in 2011.
Synod embezzler confesses
On Feb. 14, Raenay Rock Hen- drickson confessed to embezzling funds from the Minneapolis Area Synod while serving as its adminis- trator/bishop’s assistant from 1996 to 2012. Henrickson had served as bookkeeper and the embezzlement (approximately $100,000) began as early as 2005 and continued until her departure in June 2012, under staff changes administered by Bishop Ann Svennungsen. The embezzle- ment was discovered during the ini- tial stages of the 2012 auditing pro- cess, initiated by the bishop after she was installed last May. The synod confirmed that it is working with law enforcement officials and that a claim has been filed with insurance carriers. In July 2012 the synod audit established rigorous new financial oversight procedures to ensure sound stewardship of funds.
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