Story of the ELCA

With the recent, drastic budget shortfalls and staff reductions at my former employer, the ELCA Churchwide office in Chicago, I found myself reviewing a program we did in 2003 titled: The Story of the ELCA. It is difficult to reconcile the enthusiasim illustrated in this documentary with the recent struggles endured by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The video features rare footage and interviews with key leaders from the ELCA’s three predecessor church bodies, the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.

Included in the program are portions of interviews with the Rev. James R. Crumley Jr., bishop of the former LCA; Dr. Dorothy Marple, coordinator of the Transition Team for a New Lutheran Church; the Rev. Rev. Robert J. Marshall, LCA president; the Rev. David W. Preus, president of the former ALC; the late Rev. Jacob A. O. Preus, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS); and the Rev. John H. Tietjen, president of the LCMS Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.