Is your congregation ready to take some steps (even small steps) toward renewal or revitalization? Are you ready to try some new things, share some ideas, gain a greater understanding of the broader mission, bring clarity about your own congregation’s mission, acquire knowledge on how to live that out in community, gain confidence to share...
Category: ELCA
May 15, 2023
ELCA Congregational Vitality Training This Summer
Is your congregation ready to take some steps (even small steps) toward renewal or revitalization? Are you ready to try some new things, share some ideas, gain a greater understanding of the broader mission, bring clarity about your own congregation’s mission, acquire knowledge on how to live that out in community, gain confidence to share...
October 11, 2022
5 Things to Know About Mission Support
We are grateful for your support of ministries here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, across the country, and around the globe through Mission Support. In a new video, the Rev. Karen Sease, assistant to the bishop, shares five things that you need to know about how these gifts are used. You can share this video with leaders...
June 6, 2022
Bishop’s Responses to Concerns in Sierra Pacific Synod
Updated: June 6, 2022 June 6, 2022 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the...
May 20, 2022
Pastoral Message on Buffalo Racially-Motivated Killings
“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” —Jeremiah 8:22 Our hearts grieve for those who have been killed and our souls cry out against more lives lost to the hatred birthed by racism. As we mourn those lives lost...
May 16, 2022
A message from Presiding Bishop Eaton
May 9, 2022 On March 8, 2022, I appointed a listening panel to review the interactions of Bishop Megan Rohrer with Misión Latina Luterana leading up to and on Dec. 12, 2021. The panel has thoughtfully and judiciously conducted their listening process as is appropriate for a situation as multifaceted as this. Informed by the panel’s...
January 21, 2022
Celebrate Diverse Ministries for Black History Month
This is our future church: A ten-year-old preacher and professional artist; a grassroots campaign for affordable housing; young and diverse communities. African Descent Ministries of the ELCA is celebrating Black History Month with Talks at the Desk, a new series that will explore diverse expressions of the church. Join us each Wednesday in February at 7:30 pm...
November 19, 2021
A pastoral message on the Rittenhouse acquittal
Dear church, In the book of Leviticus we read: “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor” (19:15). Our social message on Community Violence urges us to become more involved in countering the reality and fear...
July 31, 2021
Presiding Bishop’s Response to DACA Ruling
Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has issued a pastoral message in response to a U.S. district judge ruling to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on July 19. “Jesus taught us that when we welcome the stranger as a person made in God’s image, we also welcome God,” the...
July 29, 2021
Bishop: Feeding the 5,000
Bishop Davenport delivered an inspiring sermon on the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-21) to Wednesday’s (July 28) online chapel service for ELCA Churchwide staff. WATCH THE VIDEO Watch the video
March 30, 2021
Writing Contest: Addressing US History of Racial Injustice
This year marks the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which took place on May 31 to June 1, 1921. Mobs of white residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK. It has been called “the single worst incident of...
February 10, 2021
Your congregation can sponsor a missionary
Dear friends: Bethany Friberg works as an ELCA missionary in Ketumbeine, Tanzania, but her definition of missionary service is much more expansive. She believes all Christians are missionaries. “I’m always struck by how wonderful it is when people have committed their life to the Lord and are praying, ‘Lord Jesus, show me how to live...
January 15, 2021
Bishop Eaton Offers Prayer for Our Nation
As we reflect on the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and look toward the inauguration, and share concern about possible violence at our state and national capitols, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offers the following prayer: The psalmist reminds us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm...
July 28, 2020
ELCA unveils new design for future of church
Last week the ELCA unveiled a new design for the future of the church meant to ensure the answering of God’s call to invite more into the way of Jesus. This design will focus on attracting young, diverse people to position the ELCA for the future. “The world has changed but the message of the...
July 8, 2020
Sacred Hospitality
Even before the 2019 Churchwide Assembly declared the ELCA a “sanctuary” denomination, congregations have been working out just what it means to be a “sanctuary.” For First English Lutheran Church in Columbus, OH, it means opening its doors to an undocumented immigrant who had lived in Columbus over a dozen years, held jobs, and paid...
June 5, 2020
‘We Are A Nation In Distress’
June 5, 2020 “Out of my distress I called on the Lord” (Psalm 118:5). We are a nation in distress. We are a church in distress. The coronavirus has killed 103,000 of us. The virus of racism has taken hundreds of thousands more throughout our history. Now these two deadly viruses converge. Under...
May 30, 2020
ELCA presiding bishop calls on church to observe national day of mourning
CHICAGO (May 29, 2020) — The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has called on the church to join with faith communities across the United States in lament and remembrance, and on our elected leaders to observe Monday, June 1, as a day of mourning to honor...
May 30, 2020
ELCA Reaffirms Commitment to Combat Racism and White Supremacy
May 29, 2020 What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8). The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reaffirms its commitment to combating racism and white supremacy following the recent murders of Black Americans. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,...
April 6, 2020
Considerations for Remote Council and Congregation Meetings During the COVID-19 Pandemic
During this time of social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many congregation leaders are asking how they can take advantage of technology to continue to hold necessary meetings to conduct the business of the congregation. Please bear in mind that some matters may best be postponed until the restrictions on gatherings have been lifted....
