Call for climate change
The National Council of Churches of Kenya called for global carbon emis- sions cuts and launched a multifaith campaign to lobby for agreement on a binding treaty ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference this December in Paris. The Kenya Evan- gelical Lutheran Church, an ELCA global companion, is a member of the council. New protocol to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which called for reduction of greenhouse gas emis- sions, is expected to be adopted at the conference.
Is PTCS a thing? Scholarships awarded
The ELCA Fund for Leaders awarded more than $1.6 million in scholar- ships to 235 seminarians, including its first diversity scholarships, for the 2015-16 academic year. A ban- quet to honor recipients will be held this fall. The average annual tuition cost across the eight ELCA seminar- ies is approximately $15,851.28. The endowment, started in 2000, helps seminarians pursue their vocation without taking on sizable debt.
Blessing of the tractors
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Yorkville, Ill., celebrated its rural heritage with “Tractor Sunday” Aug. 16. The congregation commemorated the day with a special worship service, tractor rides, and tractors on display for children and adults to enjoy.
Fifty-nine percent of millennials who grew up in a Christian church drop out permanently or for an extended period, according to research by Barna Group. Some millennials claim churches are shallow, anti-science and overprotective and that they pro- mote simplistic, judgmental views of sexuality. Some are gone forever, others return later in life, but a large proportion of both end up bitter or jaded toward institutional religion, the research found. Reba Riley said they’re experiencing PTCS. In her memoir, Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome (Howard Books, 2015), she also reminds readers that “some- times we have to get lost to get found.” Although it may be her story as a
“former evangelical poster child,” it is also the story “of everyone who has witnessed the way God can transform brokenness into beauty,” she added
Reporter feels despair
“There are days when I feel despair about the news and the place of reli- gion in it,” said Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times, named first- place winner for excellence in reli- gion reporting at the Religion News- writers Association’s 66th awards cer- emony in Philadelphia this summer. “This work is getting harder,” she added. Yet religion reporting is more important than ever, said David Gib- son of Religion News Service, who won first place for excellence in reli- gion news analysis. “Religion writers are crucial in providing a deeper his- torical, cultural, political and theo- logical framework,” he said. Religion writing “allows us to ask important questions that most other report- ers usually ignore, to ask people about their faith lives and to see what really makes them tick,” said Richard Dujardin, who received the associa- tion’s lifetime achievement award.
Eaton on Iran plan
In an Aug. 5 letter to the U.S. Con- gress in response to the Joint Com- prehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton said, “We urge your careful deliberation and consideration of a number of ethical dimensions which should be taken into account when deciding how to avoid conflict and war.” The letter highlighted the ELCA’s social state- ment “For Peace in God’s World,” which sets a high priority on seek- ing nonviolent means and on arms control and specifically encourages “a sharp reduction in the number of weapons of mass destruction” (www.
elca.org/socialstatements).
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