Emily McFarlan Miller
Emily McFarlan Miller is a national reporter for RNS based in Chicago. She covers evangelical and mainline Protestant Christianity.
All Stories by Emily McFarlan Miller
Meet Imran Siddiqui, the first Asian American vice president of the ELCA
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 19, 2022
(RNS) — Siddiqui, who became Lutheran in 2011, said he doesn’t always get all the ELCA's 'in' jokes about hot dishes and Garrison Keillor. But he hopes he’ll bring a different perspective that will be helpful.
31 UMC churches in NC demand immediate exit from denomination, threaten lawsuit
By Yonat Shimron and Emily McFarlan Miller — August 18, 2022
(RNS) — Legal action or the threat of legal action represents a new strategy on behalf of churches wanting an immediate exit from the United Methodist Church.
WCA calls on conservative churches to withhold dues from United Methodist Church
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 16, 2022
(RNS) — Those apportionments, determined by each annual conference, fund bishops’ salaries and support the work of the mainline Protestant denomination around the world.
Frederick Buechner, popular Christian ‘writer’s writer’ and ‘minister’s minister,’ dies at 96
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 15, 2022
(RNS) — Buechner died peacefully in his sleep on Monday (Aug. 15) at age 96, according to his family.
5 things you need to know from the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 12, 2022
COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) — The denomination's first meeting since the pandemic saw the election of the first Asian American vice president, as well as support for the #Landback movement and a long-awaited apology.
Reckoning with their history, Lutherans issue declaration to Indigenous peoples
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 11, 2022
COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) — The largest Lutheran denomination in the United States shared its Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People for the first time in person Wednesday (Aug. 10) at its triennial Churchwide Assembly in Columbus, Ohio.
ELCA apologizes to Latino congregation whose pastor was removed on sacred day
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 10, 2022
(RNS) — ‘We hope that this public apology is only the first step of many in our committed journey to dismantle
systemic racism in this church,’ representatives of Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina said.
Why the largest US Lutheran denomination apologized to a Latino congregation
By Emily McFarlan Miller — August 9, 2022
(RNS) — It’s been a ‘perfect storm’ of charismatic personalities and a heightened awareness of racism, all brewing in one of the country’s whitest denominations.
Who is St. Anne and why is she so important to Indigenous peoples?
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 26, 2022
(RNS) — As the pope visits Canada, he will celebrate the Feast of St. Anne in the country. He also will visit several sites dedicated to the saint, whom Catholics believe to be the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus.
More than 100 Florida churches file lawsuit to leave United Methodist Church
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 18, 2022
(RNS) — The lawsuit comes amid a slow-moving schism in the United Methodist Church largely over the ordination and marriage of its LGBTQ members.
Episcopalians approve fact-finding commission on Indigenous boarding schools
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 12, 2022
(RNS) — The resolution comes as U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland kicks off ‘The Road to Healing,’ a national tour listening to the stories of survivors of Indian boarding schools in the United States.
What happened to United Methodists’ proposal to split the denomination?
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 29, 2022
(RNS) — Before United Methodists could vote on the widely endorsed plan, traditionalists went ahead and launched a new denomination and several representatives of centrist and progressive groups revoked their support.
Presbyterian Church in America votes to leave National Association of Evangelicals
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 23, 2022
(RNS) — It’s the third time in the past decade the theologically conservative Presbyterian denomination has considered a measure to leave the association, an umbrella organization of 40 evangelical Christian denominations.
New documentary follows the Rev. James Martin ‘Building a Bridge’ to LGBTQ Catholics
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 23, 2022
(RNS) — ‘I just hope that it helps LGBTQ Catholics see that there’s a place for them in their own church — it’s their church, too — and also for Catholic leaders to hear these voices,’ Martin said.
Meet the first minister of gun violence prevention
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 1, 2022
(RNS) — The Rev. Deanna Hollas urged Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations to host Guns to Gardens events at their churches, inviting — and sometimes incentivizing — gun owners to hand over their weapons to be turned into garden tools.
