By Kim Plummer Krull After seeing firsthand the suffering as starving Somalis pour into the Dadaab refugee camps, the Rev. Dr. Walter Obare, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), is requesting additional financial support to meet urgent…

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (RNS) — It started as a simple gesture. But it could have implications far beyond the quiet New Jersey street where Patrick Racaniello affixed a wooden cross on a tree in his front yard. Livingston Township officials say…

(RNS) — A group of military atheists have won the backing of U.S. Army officials to hold a “Rock Beyond Belief” concert for nonbelievers at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg next year. The victory came after several church-state separation watchdog groups…

(RNS) — Leaders of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Aug. 1 to stop enforcement of the state’s new immigration law, which they say could strike at the core of their ability…

BERLIN (RNS) — For the first time since membership records have been kept, more Germans departed the Roman Catholic Church than were baptized into it in 2010, according to new data from Germany’s Catholic Conference of Bishops. The new statistics,…

(RNS) — Almost every major college and university offers a degree in religious studies. But secularism? Nary a one — until now. Starting this fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California, will offer a bachelor’s degree…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The House has passed a bill that would create a special State Department envoy for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, where Christians have come under attack in recent years, particularly in Muslim…

(RNS) — Women, long considered the dominant pew dwellers in the nation’s churches, have shown a dramatic drop in attendance in the last two decades, a new survey shows. Since 1991, the percentage of women attending church during a typical…

Two video Bible studies produced by Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) for its “Men’s NetWork” were honored with a total of four bronze (second-place) Telly Awards June 24. The Bible studies — “We the People: Citizens of Two Kingdoms” and “The…

The Centre Luthérien d’Etudes Théologiques (CLET), or Lutheran Center for Theological Studies, in Dapaong, Togo, West Africa — a seminary started in 1997 by the Lutheran Church of Togo and LCMS World Mission — celebrated the graduation of four students,…

By Kim Plummer Krull Tim Staffeld says he probably could make more money with a “regular” summer job. And the Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill., student has no doubt he would sweat less if he weren’t helping replace more…

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., have scheduled free visitation events for prospective students: “Contemplate” is the St. Louis seminary’s structured visitation designed for men interested in the pastoral ministry and women considering deaconess service.…

The Rev. John Barton “Bart” Day was installed Aug. 1 as executive director of the Synod’s new Office of National Mission (Life Together). In the new position, Day oversees the national mission functions of the ministries based at the International…

The first of 12 Bible story books combining written language, art work and illustrated sign language to teach hearing and deaf individuals is available from Lutheran Friends of the Deaf (LFD), a ministry of The Mill Neck Family of Organizations,…

(RNS) — Rev. Howard Creecy Jr., a Baptist preacher chosen early this year as the new president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), died suddenly July 28 at the age of 57. His death means the civil rights organization…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pilgrims at next month’s Catholic World Youth Day in Madrid will have some high-tech help in their devotions, thanks to a new iPhone app unveiled at the Vatican on July 29. World Youth Day (WYD), an…