(RNS) — Billy Graham offered to “do all I can to help” Republican Party (GOP) presidential candidate Mitt Romney in an Oct. 11 meeting at the evangelist’s North Carolina home. Romney campaign spokesman Rick Gorka told reporters after the visit that…

KARACHI, Pakistan (RNS) — The Taliban is threatening to kill a 14-year-old Pakistani girl whom it shot for helping other girls go to school — if she survives a wounding that has made her a hero to many Pakistanis. Schoolgirl Malala…

Two staff members in the Synod’s Office of International Mission (OIM) began serving newly created OIM positions Oct. 15. The Rev. Dr. David C. Birner, who previously served as interim executive director and co-executive director of the OIM — along…

By James Heine ST. LOUIS — At its regular meeting Sept. 15-18, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Council of Presidents (COP) welcomed nine new members to its ranks. The new district presidents are the Rev. Mark Miller, Central Illinois District; the…

The Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) is distributing $1,684,407 of its earnings for the fiscal year ending June 30 with 28 LCEF-member districts and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The distribution — which was made available in mid-September — includes $1,378,407 for…

The Good Shepherd Institute of Pastoral Theology and Sacred Music for the Church, located on the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., will hold its annual conference Nov. 4-6 on the theme “Shepherd of Tender Youth: Connecting Postmoderns…

Bach at the Sem, a series of Sunday-afternoon concerts presented by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and the American Kantorei, begins its 20th season this fall. The concerts — scheduled for Oct. 28, Dec. 2, March 24 and April 28 — begin…

By Linda C. Hoops The number of Missouri Synod congregations that reported their annual statistics increased from 3,953 for 2010 to 5,289 (from 64 percent to 86 percent) for 2011. The 22 percent increase in congregations submitting reports provided better…

BETHESDA, Md. (RNS) — The number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has hit an all-time high — about one in five American adults — according to a new study released Oct. 9 by the Pew Forum…

(RNS) — Meet John Q. Nones, a young, white male who is making a big impression on the American religious landscape for something he doesn’t do: align with any religious group. The rise of the religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” as documented…

LONDON (RNS) — As Britain awaits the appointment of the next archbishop of Canterbury to lead both the Church of England and the far-flung Anglican Communion, there’s renewed attention on the woman who officially gets the final say: Queen Elizabeth…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A Vatican court Oct. 6 sentenced Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler to 18 months in jail for stealing the pontiff’s private papers and leaking them to the press. The butler, Paolo Gabriele, stood motionless as the tribunal’s…

Inside the Reformation: The Times That Changed the World, new from Concordia Publishing House, takes readers of all ages on a visual journey through the life and times of the Reformation.With full-color photos and illustrations on every one of its…

Dr. Al H. Senske of St. Louis is providing a Lutheran education viewpoint as a member of the new Commission on Faith-based Schools organized by the American Center for School Choice, San Mateo, Calif.The commission, which met for the first…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council revolutionized life inside the Roman Catholic Church, hundreds of bishops from around the world are gathered in Rome to confront an external threat: a mounting tide of secularization. The Synod…