MetroLutheranAn independent, pan-Lutheran newspaper serving the Greater Twin Cities area
What if a faith community approached ministry by going out into the community, finding excited and passionate people, and asking them, “How can we, the church, become relevant to you?” Two distinct Lutheran-based, faith communities are exploring just that. Spirit of Truth, in St. Paul, and Project F-M, in Fargo-Moorhead, both have gone into their read on …
In Tanzania, less than 13 percent of graduates from the primary school system pass the national exam allowing entrance into secondary school, said Diane Jacoby, interim director of Operation Bootstrap Africa. “Many of the people who pass the exam do not go on to secondary school because they have nowhere to go,” Jacoby said. Fewer read on …
There is no standard procedure
Choosing a district president or a synod bishop is not something Lutherans take lightly. The consequences can be significant — even fateful — for the fortunes of a denomination.
Rare early Christian document among the finds
Most student work-study jobs are a bit of a grind. But in January, nine papyri documents almost 2,000 years old were discovered by a student in the Luther College library archives, where they had remained hidden in a cardboard box for decades. Luther sophomore Brittany Anderson, a double major in biology and anthropology, was conducting read on …
For more than a century, Wheat Ridge Ministries (WRM) has provided funding and support for inspired leaders starting new health-related ministries. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes on the cutting edge. The launch of WeRaise, WRM’s new Christian crowdfunding program, is just one more sign of its willingness to innovate. “WeRaise is an exciting read on …
The board of Metro Lutheran is reinventing news for Lutherans in the Twin Cities region, and it needs your help. If you are interested in sharing your opinions, please call 612/255-4071 and answer three quick questions. It will take less than five minutes of your time. Here is what we want to know. 1) read on …
On April 1, 1960, a letter was mailed to Howe Sound Company, Chelan, Washington. Howe Sound owned a mining village in the Cascades above Lake Chelan. Wes Prieb, a student at Seattle’s Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI), wrote the letter … on LBI stationery. It was Prieb’s third inquiry to Howe Sound — the first in read on …
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 As parents, we wish there would never be a reason for our children to have to be resilient — no bumps and bruises to read on …
Finlandia University is “going deep” in its goal to grow by announcing a search for a head football coach, initiating a series of new NCAA Division III sport offerings at the Hancock, Michigan, campus.
Peace Prize Forum has a long reach
Planners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Forum, hosted by Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota, took full advantage of electronic technology to connect with peace-lovers across the globe. Plenary sessions and special-interest sessions featured connectivity with students and other interested participants in 41 countries, in locations as diverse as Norway, Africa, and Japan. read on …
The Metro Lutheran will cease monthly print publication with the April issue. The Board of Directors made this decision primarily because we were not able to stabilize our income as advertising revenue declined. All print newspapers face this same dynamic, and Metro Lutheran has not been immune.
I have regularly told friends that I am the luckiest person alive. As the editor of Metro Lutheran, I have received financial compensation to participate in events, discussions, and even controversies that I would find interesting even without pay. I have often been astounded by the high quality of discussion and action I have been read on …
A social teaching document, The Church and Criminal Justice: Hearing the Cries, was passed by a vote of 882-25 at the 13th biennial Churchwide Assembly on August 17, 2013, at Pittsburgh. I find this to be significant because, in a search of an online Bible resource, 42 texts were listed when the request for “prisoner” read on …
Music and visual art can be a powerful match. We see it all the time in the movies and on TV. In person, it is more powerful still. When you add the element of Christian faith, the mix becomes infinitely richer. The musical organization Exultate used this approach in a sequence of concerts March 7-9, read on …
Cherish All Children, a national Lutheran ministry to prevent child sexual exploitation, has hired Ginny Rudloff as its Minneapolis Prevention Coordinator. Rudloff will work with congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Minneapolis Area Synod ELCA to help them engage more deeply in prevention.
Reflections of Light: The Odyssey of a Black American Lutheran Pastor During the Civil Rights Years. Lonnie L. Branch. Minneapolis: Kirk House Publishers. 2014. $15.95, paperback. 266 pages. www.kirkhouse.com. Lonnie Branch’s personal memoir, titled Reflections of Light, offers powerful reflections on both church and society. The author has lived 82 years, just over half read on …
Joyfully Aging: A Christian’s Guide. Richard Bimler. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. $12.99, paperback. 247 pages. 2012. www.cph.org. Is “joyfully aging” an oxymoron? Ask Richard Bimler, author of an insightful book by that title, who has been described as an “ambassador of health, hope and aging.” He invites readers to celebrate God’s gift of aging and read on …
Borrowing a theme from one of the reality shows on television, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) will be conducting its first-ever Amazing gRace fundraiser Saturday, April 26, in the Twin Cities. Participants will begin in St. Paul and end up at Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA) in north Minneapolis for a gala celebration. At the start read on …
A group from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA), Minneapolis, interrupts its visit with Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania Presiding Bishop Samson Mushembe at Trinity School, in the Northwest Diocese, to catch up on Minnesota Lutheran news. The school is operated by the Mushembe Foundation.
Ruth and Paul Hauge (Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Minneapolis), and Pat and Louis Banitt (Bethesda Lutheran Church, Ames, Iowa) stop in front of the National Hotel in Havana, Cuba, to check on Lutheran news in the Twin Cities.
A group of Lutherans from Papua New Guinea are caught reading Lutheran news while visiting North American Lutherans, including a stop at Concordia University, St. Paul.
Dennis and Clarie Streng Broste, Lake Hanska Lutheran Church (ELCA), Hanska, Minnesota, were caught reading Metro Lutheran at the house where Mary, mother of Jesus, and John the disciple lived out their lives in Ephesus. (Lake Hanska Lutheran is part of the Prairie Land Lutheran Parish.)
