Here are some items of interest that I've come across lately.

First, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas is an attempt to embody the principles of faithful Lutheran church life without immediate breach from the ELCA (yet). Its answer to the question "Why ELST?" are interesting and refreshingly not angry. So far only three parishes have joined; we'll see what the future holds for them.

A new online journal promotes Lutheran theology with articles by Lutheran thinkers past and present and across several juridical boundaries, administered by Bryce Wandrey, a curate in London, and Piotr Malysz, a doctoral student at Harvard.

Readers may recall an article in the Global Lutheranism department some time ago about Russian Lutheranism. If you'd like to learn more about the efforts toward adequate theological education for Lutheran pastors in Russia, take a look at the website for the Lutheran Endowment for the Novosaratovka Seminary.

The ELCA Wittenberg Center is one of the first important ministries to get hit by the budget crunch. The most recent directors, Jean and Steve Godsall-Myers, were recently recalled because of said financial difficulties. It's hard to imagine how this choice was made, and even more how we will approach 2017 in the proper spirit with no ministry in Wittenberg. If you'd like to continue to give within the ELCA but carefully direct your donations to appropriate targets, this is one to consider.

Finally, if you're not familiar with the Lutheran World Federation, take this opportunity to get to know a little more about it, and consider making donations there too. (For the record, though I work with the LWF in my job at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, I'm not financed by the LWF--so there's no "ulterior motive" in making this suggestion.) Close to 70 million Lutherans are associated with the LWF (and most of the rest are affiliated with the International Lutheran Council). The ELCA has also pulled funding from the LWF as part of the budget cuts. My personal observation is that the global community of the LWF is very likely the only thing that can pull the ELCA back from the brink. For that reason alone it's worth your support.