'ELCA' Tagged Posts

'ELCA' Tagged Posts

Episcopal/Lutheran ministry aids new service in Comanche

Beginning on Sunday, June 8, the Rev. Curt Norman, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and pastor of Common Grace Lutheran Church in Stephenville, will travel to Comanche on every second Sunday of the month to lead a communion/healing service at Hope Lutheran Church in Comanche. Hope Lutheran is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Comanche is a 30-minute drive southwest of Stephenville and slightly more than a two-hour drive from Fort Worth. A story in the…

Lutherans welcome you to Table Talks

Mark your calendars now for three opportunities to learn and share fellowship with lay and clergy leaders from the Northern Texas – Northern Louisiana Mission Area of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). March 18, May 6, and September 23, our Lutheran brothers and sisters invite all from the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to join in dreaming together about mission and ministry.

An invitation to “do church differently”

Dear Friends in Christ – Our wonderful Lutheran neighbors are warmly inviting all of us – lay folks and clergy – to participate in their upcoming “Table Talk” conversation. Briarwood Retreat Center is just a hop, skip and jump north of Fort Worth (670 Copper Canyon Road, Argyle 76226). This is a double-mint good opportunity to learn from Jim Johnson, a pastor who is “doing church differently” – and successfully! It is also an opportunity to connect with some brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have much in common and with whom we might embark on some creative ministry endeavors – as St. Luke’s in Stephenville is already doing!
photo of Curt Norman

Episcopal – Lutheran joint ministry: are we asking the right questions?

By The Rev. Curt Norman When St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Stephenville, Texas, began working the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to bring ELCA worship to Stephenville, part of the deal was to send me, the rector, to new mission leadership training. I anticipated that I would be the sole Episcopalian at this Baltimore conference of Lutherans, wondering how many times I would sing A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Yet when I arrived, I was surprised to see about…
photo of St Luke's Episcopal Church in Stephenville, TX

St. Luke’s Stephenville Adds ELCA Worship Service

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Stephenville is entering into a partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A Sunday evening service geared towards college students done according to Evangelical Lutheran worship will be added to schedule of services at St. Luke’s. There is no ELCA congregation less than 45 minutes in any direction of Stephenville, and The Episcopal Church and ELCA are in full communion with each other. Common Grace, a contemporary worship service to which all are…

US Supreme Court issues decision in Lutheran case

On January 11, 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court decided HOSANNA–TABOR EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL v. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, et al. A copy of the Court’s opinion is here. The Court declared that the ministerial exception bars an employment discrimination suit brought by a minister who challenged her church’s decision to fire her. The Court’s unanimous opinion also reaffirmed the long-standing constitutional principles, cited by the Episcopal Parties, that a hierarchical church’s rights to choose its local clergy and to…