Calvary Lutheran Church

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kelsey Nulph is a college student passionate about joining the global fight against malaria, and she's not the only one. Students from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are coming up with creative ways to speak out against the disease, which claims the life of a child every 45 seconds. To help cultivate that passion into action, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is awarding grants to ELCA campus ministries, colleges and universities to...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. James R. Nieman was elected May 14 to serve as the 7th president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He will begin his service Aug. 1. An installation service will be held at Rockefeller Chapel here Oct. 28. The seminary is one of eight of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In presentations given during the presidential search process, Nieman said that he sees the seminary as distinctly...

CHICAGO (ELCA) - Two years ago Stephanie Berkas set out to Cape Town, South Africa, to work in a Lutheran congregation and an elementary school there. Having lived in Minnesota for the majority of her life, she knew she would be stepping out of her comfort zone but did not anticipate just how life-changing her experience would be. "My experience in South Africa was formative in that I grew up as a person, but it was...

Celebrating the major events of the church year is a tradition in many families. On Easter morning, some families begin the day with worship at a sunrise service or colorful eggs dot the lawn as children fill their baskets. On Christmas Eve, a figurine of baby Jesus may appear in the family's nativity.But another major festival in the life of the Christian community — Pentecost — isn't as likely to be...

Essential Pieces, a Lutheran Family Services of Virginia program, opened a "huge window" for Shelley Drago and her son, Camdyn, 4, diagnosed with autism last September.Named for the pieces of a puzzle, it "[puts] the pieces together for the sake of our children," said James H. Utt, a pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Winchester, Va., where the program began in 2008. Today, Essential Pieces offers eight-week evening sessions that connect parents of autistic children with...

Remembering women harmed by domestic violence, senior Maggie Williams and other art students at Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., paint a door with healing images and a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."