(RNS) — The State Department has a “rigidly narrow” view of diplomacy that neglects religion’s role in foreign affairs, a prominent Catholic ambassador charged on April 17 as he announced his resignation. Other foreign policy experts have another name for…

Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) will host its third Regional Outreach Conference May 13-14 at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel in Branson, Mo.   Designed to “train and encourage God’s people to be mission-minded witnesses for Jesus Christ,” the two-day events…

Registration is now open for the 31st annual Concordia Deaconess Conference to be held June 15-18 at Concordia University Nebraska, Seward, Neb. Under the theme of “Lutheran Spirituality: The Life of Receptivity,” the conference is open to all LCMS-rostered deaconesses…

Both seminaries of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod will provide live coverage of their call day and assignment services on their websites.  Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., will provide video and audio streaming of its vicarage placement and deaconess internship…

The Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., will visit cities in Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio on its Easter Choral Vespers Tour April 27-May 1. The 16-member choir, composed of men studying to become pastors, was founded in 1978…

Rev. Louis Grother of Kalamazoo, Mich., says he’s humbled to win the Irving S. Gilmore Lifetime Achievement Award in this year’s STAR (Sharing Time and Resources) Awards presented by the Kalamazoo Gazette and the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo. As…

By Kim Plummer Krull Instead of a scheduled work day at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Clinton, Miss., members abruptly shifted gears on Saturday, April 16, and helped families with homes damaged by a powerful tornado, one of string of…

Please be advised that the election for the new President of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, will be held pursuant to Bylaw 3.10.4.5.2(b) on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at the campus of the seminary at 6600 North Clinton Street,…

BERLIN (RNS) — The number of Germans leaving the Roman Catholic Church rose dramatically in 2010 as Pope Benedict XVI’s homeland wrestled with reports of systematic sexual abuse of minors and attempted cover-ups, according to a study by a German…

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (RNS) — Even long before the times of Jesus and the Apostle Paul, Malta was the rocky knob at the western edge of the Roman Empire, the place where the leftovers of the Mediterranean Sea washed up and…

(RNS) — A long-lost letter has surfaced that describes President Abraham Lincoln’s belief in God. The Raab Collection of Philadelphia plans to sell a recently discovered letter written in 1866 by William Herndon, a Springfield, Ill., lawyer and Lincoln confidant.…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The official Vatican newspaper has praised two recent Hollywood movies for showing the ethical downsides of sperm donation. In the lead article in the April 9 edition of L’Osservatore Romano, Carlo Bellieni writes in “When Cinema…

A new Holy Week video message from LCMS President Rev. Matthew C. Harrison is available for viewing on the Synod’s website. In the video, Harrison reflects on the crucifixion as a reminder that, as Jesus trekked to the cross, His…

As of April 28, donors had given $1,317,385.73 for The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and its partners in Japan to aid those affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But, by the time you read this, that figure will have…

Concordia University, St. Paul, Minn., will host a workshop on Strategic Grant Development April 27-28. The workshop, led by instructors from the Institute for Strategic Funding Development (ISFD) in Pasadena, Calif., is designed to teach the basics of grant writing…

Dr. Steven D. Paulson, associate professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., will offer two presentations April 26-27 at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind. Speaking during a “fireside chat” at 7:30 p.m. April 26…