August 2019 Beloved siblings in Christ, Last week at our Churchwide Assembly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommitted itself to walking alongside immigrants and refugees as a matter of faith.This Assembly action affirmed our history as an immigrant faith in the United States and the Lutheran church’s long history of assisting strangers in...
Category: ELCA
August 16, 2019
Bishop’s Message on ELCA as ‘Sanctuary’
August 2019 Beloved siblings in Christ, Last week at our Churchwide Assembly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommitted itself to walking alongside immigrants and refugees as a matter of faith.This Assembly action affirmed our history as an immigrant faith in the United States and the Lutheran church’s long history of assisting strangers in...
July 2, 2019
Bishop Eaton: We Belong to the Truth
In her July column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton asks: “How do we live as people of Truth in a time of spin?” In deep humility, profound gratitude and real joy. Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/2NrsO6H and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/2JaSfDS. “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or “No, No’”(Matthew...
June 15, 2019
ELCA Presiding Bishop, Faith Leaders Issue Statement on Children in Detention
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has convened ELCA ecumenical and inter-religious partners in a statement addressing concerns over the well-being of children who cross the U.S. border seeking safety from danger and threats in their home countries. “Children coming to our nation for safety and...
May 30, 2019
Presiding Bishop’s Message on Abortion
May 2019 Dear Beloved in Christ, As most of you are well aware, many states have passed or are considering legislation to restrict access to legal abortion. Talking about abortion has never been easy in this country, and the same holds true in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The members of this church have...
March 16, 2019
Presiding Bishop’s Message on Christchurch Shootings
In a pastoral message to the church in the wake of the massacre at mosques in New Zealand, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton quoted the words of Psalm 16:1: “Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” This is my prayer – for our Muslim neighbors, for the people of Christchurch, and for...
March 6, 2019
Bishop Eaton: Spiritual and Religious
Is “Lutheran spirituality” an oxymoron? When we consider Martin Luther and the early reformers, we think of great theologians, prolific writers and musicians. We are well aware of Luther’s earthy language and direct communication. But spirituality? Luther as mystic? Not so much. And yet, Luther was a deeply spiritual person who also cared for the...
February 28, 2019
Presiding Bishop Letter on Methodist Actions
In a pastoral letter to the ELCA, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton writes: “What we can say with certainty is that as the (United Methodist Church) takes its next steps, we in the ELCA will continue to walk with our full communion partner. We treasure the joyful memories of the Churchwide Assembly in 2009, where...
February 7, 2019
What is God up to?
A new question. Amid all the talk of the church in decline, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, in her February column for Living Lutheran, wants us to ask a new question. Instead of “What can we do?” we should ask, “What is God up to?” so we can open ourselves up to the life-giving promise of...
July 4, 2018
African Descent Ministries: Color-brave, not Color-blind
As president of the ELCA’s African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA), Lamont Anthony Wells is on a mission to help build not “a color-blind” church but “a color-brave one,” he said. “It’s important for us to be brave enough to have discussions and solve some of the biases that are real in our church.” Read the...
June 27, 2018
ELCA presiding bishop responds to Supreme Court decision on travel ban
Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow … (Jeremiah 22:3). I am dismayed by the Supreme Court’s recent decision concerning the president’s authority to restrict travel...
June 22, 2018
Presiding Bishop Statement on Executive Order
About two weeks ago, I joined more than 20 other faith leaders in raising concerns about the administration’s announced plans that it would begin separating families and criminally prosecuting all people who enter the U.S. without previous authorization. In line with that statement, I acknowledge that President Donald Trump’s new executive order, “Affording Congress an...
June 7, 2018
Family Separation Addressed by ELCA, Interfaith Leaders
CHICAGO (June 7, 2018) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has convened ELCA ecumenical and inter-religious partners in a statement addressing concerns over a recent U.S. government policy calling for more stringent enforcement of federal immigration laws. The policy will most likely result in an...
June 5, 2018
Learn About New ELCA Hunger Grants
ELCA World Hunger is pleased to announce the 2019 Domestic Hunger Grant application will open soon! Beginning in June, you will be able learn more about the grants and how to apply by visiting ELCA.org/domestichungergrants. The Domestic Hunger Grant process has been in transition this year. Based on feedback from previous applicants, our team has...
May 16, 2018
Bishop Eaton Responds to Gaza Situation
In a pastoral message, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton says “I am appalled and saddened by (Monday’s) escalation of Israeli military action against protestors in Gaza.” At least 60 Palestinians, including six children, have died and thousands injured in the violence. The ELCA “will support a planned medical mission from The Lutheran World Federation’s...
April 16, 2018
Earth Day Message from Bishop Eaton
As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we share a deep love for all of God’s creation and a profound responsibility for it. Made in the image of God, we are called to continue what God is already doing for the earth (Psalm 104), enabling it to flourish. God assigns humans to...
February 21, 2018
ELCA Response to Florida Shooting
Lifting prayers for the “inconsolable loved ones” and “those terrorized by what took place” at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Ash Wednesday, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, in a message to the church, says that prayer and lament alone won’t solve the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our nation. “We acknowledge our own...
February 7, 2018
ELCA Presiding Bishop to Join Rally to End Racism
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will join ecumenical and inter-religious partners for Act Now: Unite to End Racism April 3-5 in Washington, D.C. The focus of the three-day event will be...
December 6, 2017
ELCA presiding bishop responds to decision to move U.S. Embassy in Israel
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton said in a statement that she is “deeply disturbed” by the administration’s plans to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Bishop Eaton called on the president “to rescind this plan and instead continue to focus on our nation’s ability to contribute constructively toward a peaceful settlement of...
September 5, 2017
ELCA Presiding Bishop Responds to DACA Announcement
CHICAGO (Sept. 5, 2017) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s announcement about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. “As we journey together through the time God has given us, may God give...
August 28, 2017
ELCA Speaks Against Hate, Discrimination
In light of recent public events and conversation, the ELCA has issued statements reminding us of its long-standing positions against hateful acts and discrimination by race, religious creed, or sexual identity. Confronting Racism and anti-Semitism The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), stands against all forms of hatred and discrimination. The church believes that...
