Synod President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison was guest preacher at the opening worship service of the North Dakota District convention — the first of 35 LCMS district conventions to be held this year through July. The convention, Jan. 22-25 in…

By Kim Plummer Krull With hundreds of thousands of people still living in squalid, makeshift camps, a first-time visitor to Haiti might assume that little has changed since the tragic earthquake devastated an already struggling nation two years ago this January.…

Bethesda Lutheran Communities scholarship applications for the 2012-13 academic year are now available for Lutheran high school, college and seminary students interested in pursuing careers in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Six scholarships will be awarded: two $3,000 awards…

(RNS) — At 87, the Rev. C.T. Vivian can still recall the moment, decades after the height of the civil rights movement. As he stood to conclude a meeting in his Atlanta home, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. joined his…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11 unanimously threw its support behind a church school that fired a teacher, using a widely watched church-state case to bolster a legal doctrine that exempts religious institutions from some civil…

MEMPHIS, N.Y. (RNS) — Brent Howard left his job as a home remodeler in Ohio in 2007, moved his young family into a trailer and began traveling to wherever he was needed. Over the past 4 1/2 years, he has helped…

(RNS) — Seven congregations that broke with the Episcopal Church in 2006 over its liberal policies on homosexuality are not entitled to keep parish property estimated to be worth millions, a Virginia judge ruled on Jan. 10. The ruling by Fairfax…

By Joe Isenhower Jr. “The entire room broke into applause” after Bishop Amos Bolay of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia (ELCL) requested altar and pulpit fellowship between the Missouri Synod and his church body during Dec. 31 discussions in…

The Rev. Dr. Guido Merkens, a former LCMS vice-president and founding pastor of one of the Synod’s largest congregations, died Jan. 11 in San Antonio. A funeral service for Merkens, 84, was held Jan. 18 at Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio. Merkens founded…

LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison joined 38 leaders of some of the largest religious communities in the United States in signing an open letter to all Americans to voice their shared concern for protecting the traditional definition of…

(RNS) — President Obama on Jan. 10 named an immigration expert with longstanding ties to the Catholic Church as his top domestic policy official, continuing a campaign-year makeover of White House staff. The hiring of Cecilia Munoz, along with the appointment…

(RNS) — Oklahoma’s referendum against state judges considering Islamic law is unconstitutional, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 10, upholding a lower court ruling that had blocked the measure. The ruling could affect more than 20 other states where…

By Paula Schlueter Ross The United States Supreme Court Jan. 11 issued an historic 9-0 decision in favor of a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod church and school in Redford, Mich. The decision marks the first time the Supreme Court has ruled that federal…

The Rev. Gregory K. Williamson, a native of Walters, Minn., was installed Jan. 9 to a three-year term as the Synod’s first chief mission officer. Preaching at the installation service, held in the chapel of the LCMS International Center in St. Louis,…

By Elizabeth M. Truong On Dec. 8, the first Hispanic ministry roundtable group to gather in St. Louis in many years met at the LCMS International Center. Roundtable members discussed the possibilities for future Hispanic ministry in the St. Louis area and…