Lutheran, The: Worldscan

* The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod grew by 94 congregations in 2003, the most in the last 15 years. More than half the new congregations represent nonwhite ethnic groups, the denomination said. The FloridaGeorgia District had the highest number with 14. And most were started by existing congregations rather than by denominational administrators.

* The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania consecrated Mindaugas Sabutis, 28, as bishop in june. His election required a change in church statutes, which said candidates for bishop should have advanced theological attainment and have served the church not less than 10 years. The previous bishop, Jonas V. Kalvanas, 54, died in April 2003, after serving 19 years.

* The ELCA is part of a coalition of Christian and Jewish groups that urged Congress to overhaul the welfare program and stop keeping it alive with temporary extensions. Ten mainline Protestant churches were joined by anti-hunger groups, Jewish organizations and a Roman Catholic social justice group to urge a five-year reauthorization of the 6 16 996 welfare law. "Congress is denying the states the certainty of funding and clarity of program direction that they need to operate their programs most effectively," said a july 13 letter to senators.

* In July at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Gunnar Staalsett, the Church of Norway's bishop of Oslo, called for interfaith cooperation to rethink ethical issues given the record number of almost 40 million worldwide infected with HIV/AIDS. Controversy exists over the ABC program ("Abstinence, be faithful, use Condoms"). But Staalsett said it's time to quit viewing condom use as wrong. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said abstinence and marital fidelity are more effective. Ugandan Bishop Canon Gideon Byamugisha disagreed, saying 61 percent of HIV-infected African women have been in monogamous relationships. "They are faithful but still infected," he said.

* Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, joined celebrations to mark 118 years of Lutheran mission in Papua New Guinea. he visited the two LWF member churches and Lutheran historical sites July 2-12. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea joined the LWF in 1976, is headquartered in Lae, and has 815,000 members. The Gutnius Lutheran Church-Papua New Guinea, with 138,000 members, joined the LWF in 1979 and is based in Wabag. As part of the celebrations, Noko presided at the baptism of 45 children and young adults and the confirmation of 20 adults.

* A feared "doomsday scenario" with the Episcopal Church's budget hasn't materialized, and income is running about $384,000 over projections, the church's treasurer, N. Kurt Barnes, told denominational leaders. In February, the church's Executive Council approved a $40 million budget for 2004 that included $4 million in cutbacks as a handful of conservative dioceses said they wouldn't send money in protest of last year's election of V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire.

* Anglican leaders met in june to discuss how to heal divisions surrounding last year's election and consecration of openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The leaders are part of the Lambeth Commission headed by Irish Archbishop Robin Eames. A final report is expected in October. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said in a statement that the delegation tried to give a "full and accurate picture" of the divisions by representing the "breadth of views and the depth of feeling" across factions. Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh also met with the commission as moderator of the conservative Anglican Communion Network, which opposed Robinson's election.

* Pope John Paul II welcomed the leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians to the Vatican June 29 with an appeal for a "leap forward" in relations between the long-divided Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I called it the "responsibility and the duty" of both churches to seek unity without losing hope. The pope acknowledged that the memory of such events as the 13th century sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade still impedes unity.

* More than 5,000 Reformed and Lutheran Christians gathered June 29 in the Dutch city of Utrecht for a national rally to mark the merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. The new Protestant Church in the Netherlands is the second largest denomination in the country, with more than 2 million baptized members. The Roman Catholic Church there has 5 million members.

* The White House is downplaying a report that President Bush asked Vatican officials to encourage U.S. bishops to take a more active role in promoting their shared social agenda. The independent weekly National Catholic Reporter reported that Bush sought the bishops' help in pushing a constitutional amendment to ban samesex marriages. Bush reportedly made the request june 4 during a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state to the Vatican. The president's trip to Rome came as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the first Roman Catholic presidential nominee from a major party since John F. Kennedy in 1960, faced questions on his differences with Rome, most notably over abortion.

* The first Roman Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Portland, is gambling that U.S. courts will be loath to interfere with the intimate workings of church operations. judges hearing bankruptcy cases routinely take intrusive steps to protect creditors. Archbishop John Vlazny said july 6 that the archdiocese is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because it can't afford to pay settlements in clergy sex abuse-related lawsuits. he said the move was "not an effort to avoid responsibility." judges will have to weigh church canon law and the First Amendment protection of free exercise of religion against bankruptcy statutes.

* Intense cold weather and snowstorms caused extensive damage in the Andean area of Peru in july, affecting 160,000 people. Recent flooding and drought in the affected areas have made the situation worse. The coldest peaks of winter usually occur in August and September, so many fear a heightened emergency. Inhabitants of the affected areas are poor peasants who live from their llama and alpaca herds and subsistence farms, existing in small groups in precarious conditions. Action by Churches Together is working through several member groups in Peru and with its member, Lutheran World Relief.