Category: International News
Victoria congregation provides pastor training in Mozambique
KAPASSENI, Mozambique – Eight local candidates for the Lutheran ministry finished their first training session in a remote region of Mozambique thanks to fundraising and organizing efforts of a Vancouver Island Lutheran Church–Canada congregation. The 32-module extension course came from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil,…
Hymnal becomes Canadian snowball
One year after its release in October, 2009, Liturgies et cantiques luthériens (LCL) is in its second printing and enjoys widespread use among francophone Lutheran churches around the world. Upon publication, congregations in Quebec and Haiti used the hymnal. Soon after, at a Lutheran church leadership training workshop…
St. John’s bones—again?
BULGARIA – Various news reports claim the bones of John the Baptist have been found on an island in the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Archeologists discovered a stone urn under the altar of a ruined monastery inscribed with a reference to June 24, the festival…
New LCMS structure emphasizes congregations
HOUSTON, TX – The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod streamlined its structure at its 64th Convention held in Houston, July 10-17. The restructuring comes at a time when the LCMS is facing what Vice-president Finance/treasurer Dr. Thomas Kuchta called a “financial crisis.” The major change came in…
LCMS elects new president
HOUSTON, TX – Delegates to the 64th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) elected Rev. Matthew Harrison the church body’s thirteenth president. Rev. Harrison succeeds Rev. Dr. Gerald Kieschnick who was standing for election to his fourth term. The 48-year-old president-elect currently serves…
Lutheran Federation apologizes to Anabaptists
STUTTGART, Germany – At the eleventh assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in August, delegates unanimously approved a statement asking forgiveness from Anabaptists (Mennonites) for “the harm that our forbears in the sixteenth century committed” in persecuting Anabaptists. Since the Geneva-based LWF does not…