The Synod’s two seminaries are offering continuing-education courses this summer in a variety of North American locations. The courses are open to clergy and laypeople. Following is a list of dates, sites, courses, instructors and contact information for each seminary.…

Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) will host the second in its series of school branding webinars at 4:30 p.m. (CT) on April 5. The series is part of LCEF’s new Project School Zone campaign to support Lutheran school marketing and…

After 46 years of cooperation between the Japan Lutheran Church and the LCMS, the Volunteer Youth Ministry (VYM) program has come to an end.  The two partner churches had decided in fall 2010 — before the March 11 earthquake and…

By Kim Plummer Krull Our Japanese Lutheran partners are appreciative of LCMS support and our “ministry of presence,” LCMS World Mission’s Rev. John Mehl told LCMS President Matthew C. Harrison the day after LCMS and Japanese ministry leaders met in…

(RNS) — Charities are seeing improvements in fundraising, with fewer charities reporting declines in 2010 compared with 2009, according to a report released March 22. But a larger percentage of organizations reported bringing in about the same amount of revenue…

(RNS) — Rev. James Howell knew he had a problem on his hands when several teenagers arrived at a church dance drunk and had to be taken from the church by ambulance for treatment for alcohol poisoning. Starting in 2009,…

In a new video produced by Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Dr. Naomichi Masaki, associate professor of systematic theology at the seminary, discusses the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami on Japan. Masaki, who was raised in Japan and…

Starting May 1, active workers and their enrolled spouses in the Concordia Health Plan (CHP) will receive financial rewards for engaging in healthy behaviors in a new program titled “Be Well Rewards.” Members will choose from a selection of 11…

Concordia Publishing House is offering a specially priced “All-Inclusive” Starter Kit for “Big Jungle Adventure,” its 2011 vacation Bible school program.  The items in the $119.99 kit would cost $269 if purchased separately. With the theme “A Faith Journey with…

By Kim Plummer Krull Before heading home to Howell, Mich., from the Laborers For Christ (LFC) annual conference, John Gallmeyer spoke about how Laborers often draw “fringe members” back to a congregation and open a door to witness opportunities in…

By Kim Plummer Krull As the most powerful aftershock yet rattled the coast off northeastern Japan on March 22, LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC) continues to work with Lutheran partners and prepares to assist with long-term recovery in…

(RNS) — Rev. James Martin has seen a lot of religious movies in his life. But the Jesuit priest and author says a new film has sprung to the top of his list. Martin calls “Of Gods and Men,” a…

(RNS) — It’s been proclaimed from pulpits and blogs for years — Christians divorce as much as everyone else in America. But some scholars and family activists are questioning the oft-cited statistics, saying Christians who attend church regularly are more…

(RNS) — A Smithsonian museum is restoring the Jefferson Bible, a unique volume the third president cut and pasted himself — omitting lots of theology — from portions of the New Testament. Thomas Jefferson assembled the book in 1820 when…

Cindy Charlton, an LCMS member living in Fukushima City — some 50 miles west of the damaged nuclear power plants — told KFUO Radio in a March 18 interview that she is not concerned about radiation levels, but about half…