Category: ELCA

February 3, 2025

January Mission Support Memo

Mission Support connects us! STORYTELLING ENGAGEMENT Unidad — Unity A story out of our Metropolitan New York Synod for our ELCA stewardship ministry, in celebration of the Peterman Award Have you ever met a person of faith who shines with the light of Christ even in the hardest of times and places? After meeting the...

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December 19, 2024

December Mission Support Memo

Mission Support connects us! STORYTELLING ENGAGEMENT Companion Connections A story from our Oregon Synod bishop Each of our ELCA synods engages with at least one companion synod in another country, a global accompaniment funded by your Mission Support. In this time of Advent wonder, we want to share with you an edited version of a...

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November 15, 2024

November Mission Support Memo

Mission Support connects us! STORYTELLING ENGAGEMENT A story from the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod: Mission Support shared with the churchwide organization allows us to create partnerships with preferred vendors that make things like online giving and having a web presence easier and more affordable for congregations. These partnerships allow the churchwide organization to use some...

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October 14, 2024

October 2024 Mission Support Memo

STORYTELLING ENGAGEMENT Hallelujah! A story from the Indiana-Kentucky Synod Imagine entering a sanctuary, hearing the joyful sounds of a praise band, the drums, keyboard, guitar and voices singing “Hallelujah,” dresses and jackets full of bright color, mostly young adult leaders, and the congregation swaying with the music. Then, you realize the words are not in...

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October 4, 2024

Praying for Peace Amid Ongoing War in the Middle East

In observance of the one-year anniversary of the start of the current conflict in the Holy Land, amid times of escalating conflict and pain, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offers prayers for peace, healing and justice for all people in Israel and Palestine, and the regions where the war has escalated. “We grieve this violence and loss of...

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September 4, 2024

Choices and Voices for Peace – Sign the Statement

August 21, 2024 Dear Rostered Leaders, As we approach this election season, I invite the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod to join us and fellow faith leaders in Harrisburg on Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at the Capitol for an interfaith press conference to present our joint statement, “Choices and Voices for Peace.” The intent...

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August 28, 2024

HEARINGS ON THE DRAFT SOCIAL STATEMENT ON CIVIC LIFE AND FAITH

The ELCA Task Force on Civic Life and Faith will hold two hearings within the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod on the Draft Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith. The hearings are September 11th, 7-8:30 United Lutheran Seminary, 7301 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia September 17th, 7-8:30 pm Trinity Lutheran Church, 1000 West Main Street, Lansdale The hearings...

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June 8, 2024

Bishop Eaton’s Message on War in Gaza

Resources for the Crisis in the Holy Land – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (elca.org) June 5, 2024 Dear church, For eight horrific months war has raged in Gaza. Thousands of people have died, and thousands more are suffering. In recent days we have seen unspeakable images of violence in Rafah and escalating violence in...

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December 5, 2023

Ecumenical Leaders Call for Ceasefire in Holy Lands

Leaders of Churches Without Borders – an ecumenical partnership of the ELCA, The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church in Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada – released a pastoral letter calling for an end to war in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. Churches Without Borders also released an Advent Cycle of Prayer...

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October 30, 2023

Proposed Constitutional Amendments for Consideration at the 2024 Synod Assembly

Dear members of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, The 2024 Synod Assembly will be notable as we will be electing a Bishop to succeed Bishop Davenport.  Yet there will also be other items that will come to your attention for consideration and action.  We will be electing people to serve as Voting Members to the 2025...

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October 12, 2023

One Home, One Future

The ELCA is joining 30 other denominations and faith-organizations to launch One Home One Future, a multi-faith campaign that educates, activates, and supports clergy, congregants, youth, and all spiritual people in meaningful and just solutions locally, regionally, and nationally in ways that are accessible and positive. Learn more Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton said, “In the ELCA...

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October 12, 2023

Your Mission Support at Work

Your congregation’s Mission Support contributions are shared with the ELCA for ministry across the church. Did you know that there is a new Congregation and Synod Support Team that includes Congregational Stewardship, Mission Support and Storytelling Engagement? The linked PDF provides contact information. This month we also highlight our Ecumenical partnerships with a story from...

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August 3, 2023

Who Is A “Real” American?

Column by Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton My husband and I live in Skokie, Ill., a diverse community. Our neighbors to the west are an octogenarian Taiwanese Evangelical couple who regularly order meals from Kosher to Go. Our neighbors to the east are a Ukrainian and Russian multigenerational family. Our grocery stores have both kosher...

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August 3, 2023

Resourceful Servants Unveils Emergency Savings/Congregational Financial Assessment Program

The ELCA’s Resourceful Servants Initiative promotes the financial wellness of congregations, rostered ministers and seminarians. For many rostered ministers, financial stress—frequently caused by personal financial challenges or by congregational or organizational financial challenges–stands in the way. To support growth in both individual and organizational financial health, Resourceful Servants is launching the Emergency Savings/Congregational Financial Assessment...

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August 3, 2023

The ELCA Wants to Hear Your Opinion

Throughout the next couple of months, the ELCA is asking for your help. We are looking for your thoughts and ideas on how we are called to be a church in today’s world. Please visit our website on Future Church: God’s Love Made Real –https://lovemadereal.elca.org – where you can watch a video from Presiding Bishop...

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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...

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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...

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May 27, 2022

ELCA: Response to Uvalde, TX School Shooting

ELCA https://elca.org/News-and-Events/8146

May 27, 2022

Prayer and Worship Resources for Gun Violence

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...

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