ALPB Conference on Christian Sexuality, Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church, Kansas City, MO, October 2002 Report and Reflections by Wayne R. Cowell They came to the heartland from every state except Hawaii, and some from Canada. Conference organizer Russell Saltzman had been clear about what they should expect. In his announcement (Forum Letter, Vol. 31, No. […]
A Standing Invitation…
At the end of July last year the Editorial Council of Let’s Talk agreed that an issue on “peace with justice” would be timely and fruitful. We asked: How is the church involved in peace/justice issues at various levels? Has there been a “sea change” in the Lutheran approach to social ministry? We recognized the […]
What Drives Your Church?
The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission by Rick Warren, Zondervan Publishing House, 1995. Reviewed by Wayne R. Cowell Every Sunday the traffic streams up the four-lane half-mile entrance to the seventy-four acre campus of Saddleback Community Church in Orange County, California. Ten thousand people will attend “seeker” services at this fastest growing […]
The Forde-Nestingen Letter Critiqued
Passage of “Called to Common Mission” by the 1999 Churchwide Assembly has brought a storm of protest organized as the so-called “WordAlone Network.” A preview of the protest could be seen in heated discussions of the “Mahtomedi Resolution” at synod assemblies last year. Let’s Talk published the proceedings of a pre-assembly forum at our MCS […]
Comments and Questions: The Dialogue Extended
[At the 1999 ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod Assembly workshop on ecumenical decisions, written comments and questions were submitted by workshop attendees to the panel of presenters resulting in a lively exchange among the four; a “Let’s Talk” moment. The different views of the nature of communion with other church bodies, different readings of confessional documents, […]
The Reception of the 9.5 Theses: An Exchange of Letters
Wayne Cowell, one of the editors of this issue of Let’s Talk, wrote to Louis A. Smith, one of the authors of the 9.5 Theses, with questions about the reception of the theses in the church You and your fellow authors of the 9.5 Theses have addressed the people in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in […]
Dialogue and Debate: Revisiting the Concordat
Following the narrow defeat of the Concordat of Agreement in the recent ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the Assembly then adopted two resolutions aimed at restarting the move toward full communion with the Episcopal Church. The first declares the intention of the ELCA to preserve conversation and eucharistic sharing with the Episcopal Church, and to bring a […]
Speaking of Church: Good Words for Episcopalians and Lutherans
The dialogue between Lutherans and Episcopalians during the past two decades has been, for the most part, carried forward by theologians whose work has placed a proposal for full communion on the agenda of both churches. It is important that lay women and men in both traditions now engage in the dialogue by learning about […]
Remembering Thomas C. Knutson 1946 – 2013
The Rev. Thomas C. Knutson, pastor of First Ev. Lutheran Church, Harvey, a founder of Let’s Talk, died on September 18, 2013 of pancreatic cancer. Pr. Knutson served as Chairman of the Editorial Council for a decade and a half from the first issue at Epiphany 1996, through the years when the journal was a […]