(RNS/ENInews) — Christian leaders in Hungary are divided over a restrictive new law on religion, with larger denominations welcoming its curbs on church activities and smaller groups voicing fears for their future. “We wanted a new law to make it…

“Uno … dos … tres … Jesús es nuestro Sanador!”  That phrase echoed through the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Lunahuanà, Peru, July 6, as more than 30 Peruvians gathered with LCMS missionaries for the first Lutheran worship service…

By Kim Plummer Krull The day after one Mercy Medical Team (MMT) returned from leading first-ever, much-needed diabetes education seminars requested by the India Evangelical Lutheran Church, another group of quickly organized medical volunteers headed to Haiti to answer an…

(RNS) — The Crystal Cathedral, which has put its iconic campus up for sale to end a bankruptcy crisis, has an interested party that needs a large cathedral: the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, Calif. The diocese — the nation’s…

After four years — and hundreds of hours of research — Concordia Publishing House has produced The Story Bible for children ages 3 to 8. The new Bible features lifelike illustrations, Christ-centered stories and resources designed to enhance learning.  It…

By Linda C. Hoops The Missouri Synod’s Praesidium (president and five vice-presidents) at its June 1-2 meeting unanimously endorsed a new document from the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) that offers more detailed theological criteria for assessing the…

In a “Letter to the Church” released Monday, July 18, LCMS President Dr. Matthew C. Harrison announced that, beginning in 2012, the Synod will no longer co-sponsor its training conferences for military chaplains with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America…

By Melanie Ave The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod commissioned 34 new career and long-term missionaries and educators into global service with a special “sending service” July 15 at the LCMS International Center chapel in St. Louis. The 2011 career and GEO…

The 350-some participants in the July 7-10 National Children’s Ministry Conference at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Orange, Calif., definitely took back home with them more than their shiny orange and lime-colored conference tote bags could hold. “Sandals to Sneakers” was…

Concordia College in Selma, Ala., received on June 23 a reaffirmation of its accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Concordia, Selma — one of 10 LCMS colleges and universities nationwide and…

(RNS) — Officials of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) say they were the victims of a hoax in which a group claiming to be the denomination’s Executive Committee announced it had started to support gay marriage. A website of the…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Christian missionaries should renounce all “deception and coercive means” of winning converts, according to an agreement released June 28 by a broad coalition of evangelicals, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican. The document, “Christian…

(RNS) — For Living Faith Lutheran Church, the name change was as much about the future as the past. On Sunday, June 26, the Rockville, Md., congregation formally bid goodbye to its old name, Crusader Lutheran Church. “We’re not saying…

SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) — Mormon (LDS) officials are telling their top full-time leaders that they and their spouses should not participate in political campaigns, including making donations or endorsing candidates. However, part-time leaders — including local and regional congregational…

(RNS) — With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 looming, attendees at North America’s largest Muslim gathering this past weekend are told that the best way to deal with Islamophobia is not to lay low, but to get involved in politics,…

By Kim Plummer Krull It’s been about two weeks since three families — some of the thousands of flood evacuees forced out of their Minot, N.D., houses by the swollen Souris River — moved into campers parked near the home…