congregations at which ancestors worshiped, finding those individuals is a slow and painstaking process.”
Climb for malaria Three ELCA pastors are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro July 14-21 to help the Metropolitan New York Synod raise $100,000 for the ELCA Malaria Campaign (
www.elca.org/ malaria). The climbers are Jack Horner, assistant to the synod bishop; Carol Fryer, director of spiritual care and church relations for The Wart- burg Adult Care Community; and M. Wyvetta Bullock, executive for administration in the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop. Since their six- day trip to the summit will take them 19,340 feet above sea level, they’re asking for pledges of one penny per foot ($193.40) to provide mosquito nets, medicine and more.
MARY E. KLASSEN/ASSOCIATED MENNONITE BIBLICAL SEMINARY
Seyenkulo elected Liberian bishop D
. Jensen Seyenkulo, ELCA program director for disability ministries and support of rostered leaders in Congregational and Syn- odical Mission, was elected bishop of the 75,000-member Lutheran Church in Liberia April 28. He won 59.62 percent of the vote on the first ballot. He will be installed this summer. Seyenkulo, a pastor of the Libe- rian church, co-founded the Kuwaa Mission, a venture of ELCA and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod congregations and the Lutheran Church in Liberia to provide wells for the Kuwaa area.
“I think the Lutheran Church in Liberia has a lot of potential,” said Seyenkulo during the church’s convention. “Our future is bright because of the wealth of young people we have who are so strongly
committed to the ministry. ... We have a lot to offer for the building of our own faith and the faith of those who yet do not know our Lord Jesus Christ. There is joy in Christ.” Seyenkulo has worked at the
ELCA churchwide offices since 2005. He currently serves on the can- didacy committee of the Metropoli- tan Chicago Synod and on the board of Currents, a theological journal published by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in cooperation with Wartburg Theological Semi- nary, Dubuque, Iowa, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. His past calls include St. Mark Lutheran Church, Chicago; Bong [Liberia] Mine Parish; Gbarnga [Liberia] Parish; and instructor at the Gbarnga School of Theology in Monrovia, Liberia.
Mortenson suit dismissed On April 29, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a class- action fraud lawsuit against Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. The suit accused Mortenson of fabricating much of his story about promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Rooted in
reconciliation Indiana-Kentucky Synod Bishop William Gafkjen waters a tree planted April 10 outside the Mennonite Church USA offices in Elkhart, Ind. Since the Lutheran World Federation’s 2010 apol- ogy for the historic perse- cution of Anabaptists by Lutherans, LWF members and Mennonites have dedicated such trees at sites worldwide as a sym- bol of reconciliation.
Christianity bad for sexuality?
Seventy-two percent of Americans say Christian faith positively impacts helping the poor and raising children. But 37 percent said it has a negative impact on sexuality, compared to 26 percent who noted a positive influ- ence. Grey Matter Research asked more than 1,000 Americans if Chris- tianity had a positive, negative or no real impact on 16 areas of society, such as crime, poverty and women’s roles. Fifty-two percent said Chris- tianity helps keep the U.S. a “strong nation,” and 49 percent said it has a positive influence on women’s role in society.
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