Your congregation’s Constitution is a vital statement about who you are as a community of faith, and your interdependence within the ELCA. The 2016 Churchwide Assembly made important changes to required provisions to the Model Constitution that should be included in your church’s documents, according to the Rev. Karl M. Richard, Synod secretary. (Read his...
Category: ELCA
October 12, 2016
Time To Update Your Constitution
Your congregation’s Constitution is a vital statement about who you are as a community of faith, and your interdependence within the ELCA. The 2016 Churchwide Assembly made important changes to required provisions to the Model Constitution that should be included in your church’s documents, according to the Rev. Karl M. Richard, Synod secretary. (Read his...
October 6, 2016
A Big Look at the Small Catechism
Several years ago my husband’s bishop tried initiating a diocese-wide call to the catechumenate to engage those preparing for confirmation in a period of study and formation. We call it confirmation class or catechism, something generations of Lutherans have gone through. But this was a new experience for the Episcopalians in his diocese. He set...
August 22, 2016
Key Actions Of Churchwide Assembly
Gathering under the theme “Freed and Renewed in Christ,” nearly 1,000 voting members — including 18 from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod — met in New Orleans Aug. 8-13 for the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Full days included worship, legislative action, reports from Bishop Eaton and Churchwide officers and units, updates on ministries, workshops, Bible study, fellowship...
August 16, 2016
ELCA elects vice president
William B. Horne II of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Clearwater, Fla., was elected vice president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) by the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Horne was elected on the fourth ballot with 565 votes to 175 votes for Cheryl G. Stuart of St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Tallahassee, Fla., and 161...
August 16, 2016
ELCA approves Word and Service roster
The 2016 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly, by a vote of 811 to 55, approved adoption of the roster of Ministry of Word and Service. Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, associates in ministry, deaconesses of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and diaconal ministers will be a single, unified roster of Ministry of...
August 16, 2016
ELCA presiding bishop reflects on work of the church and looks to future priorities
In her report to the 2016 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton reflected on the ELCA’s work over the past three years and lifted up future priorities for the church. Eaton said much of her focus the past three years has been on the “how and why...
August 11, 2016
ELCA Approves Lutheran-Catholic Ecumenical Document
The 2016 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly took several significant steps Wednesday moving forward the mission of this church as a church for the sake of the world. By a vote of 931 to 9, the assembly overwhelmingly accepted the “Declaration on the Way,” a unique ecumenical document that marks a path toward...
August 10, 2016
ELCA Assembly On Ecumenism, Refugees, Budget
Recognizing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as a Book of Faith church, ELCA Vice President Carlos Peña reflected on the 10th chapter of Luke as he opened his Aug. 9 final report to the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” Peña said. “I think sometimes that’s because there is so...
August 9, 2016
2017 Health Cost Rise Lowest in 4 Years
Portico is taking its next wellness reformation step — introducing Care Coordinators to help ELCA-Primary health plan members navigate the complicated health care landscape and purchase care with an eye to both quality and cost. This innovation is helping Portico keep the 2017 ELCA-Primary baseline health contribution increase the lowest in four years. Over the...
August 2, 2016
Bishop Eaton: A Proclivity For Paradox
Wow, Lutherans love paradox! Law and gospel. Saint and sinner. Free and bound. David Swartling, former ELCA secretary, often noted that we are a “both and church” in an “either or world.” This proclivity for paradox, or at least the recognition that this is part of the Lutheran tradition, was often cited as a strength...
July 20, 2016
Bishop Eaton Issues Statement On Police Shootings
CHICAGO (July 20, 2016) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has released a statement in response to the shootings in Baton Rouge, La., and Dallas that killed eight police officers. Eaton’s statement follows: My soul is bereft of peace: I have forgotten what happiness is. (Lamentations 3:17) Too...
July 8, 2016
Bishop Eaton Responds To Shootings
CHICAGO (ELCA) – In a July 7 video message responding to the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul, Minn., the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), urged members to “be present in our communities.” “We are killing...
July 6, 2016
God’s Work. Our Hands. Sunday
“God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor. The suggested date for the 2016 dedicated day of service is Sunday, Sept. 11. Mark your calendars today! If your congregation cannot participate on...
July 1, 2016
What It Means To Be Lutheran
In the spotlight. In her July column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton notes that the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 may have the media knocking on our doors, asking us to explain ourselves. What will we say? She reminds us that our understanding of the gospel is what makes us distinctive. Download...
June 14, 2016
Presiding Bishop’s Letter on Orlando Shootings
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has issued a letter in response to the June 12 shooting that claimed the lives of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla. This is the deadliest mass shooting in U. S. history. In the letter Eaton states, “We...
June 13, 2016
Orlando: Christians Cannot Keep Silent
“As Christians, we turn first to Jesus” in the wake of the nation’s worst mass shooting in history at Pulse in Orlando, Florida-Bahamas Synod Bishop Robert G. Schaefer wrote in a message to that synod Monday (June 13). “But, we can no longer afford to let it end there,” he wrote. “Church, it’s time to...
June 9, 2016
Becoming A Place For All
With increasing diversity in our culture and growing mobility of people across and into the U.S., how can we as ELCA congregations become places that affirm the God-given dignity and personhood of everyone? What will it take? What’s our role? What’s working? Watch Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Pastor Ruben Duran, Mikka McCracken and Pastor Matt...
June 7, 2016
ELCA Advocacy Statement on Ryan Poverty Plan
Today (June 7), Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and the House of Representatives’ Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, and Upward Mobility released a plan that will launch a bipartisan discussion on hunger and poverty and the policies required to end them. ELCA Advocacy appreciates Speaker Ryan’s leadership, and that of all who make poverty in our...
February 1, 2016
Presiding Bishop Calls for Conversation About Race
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton has called on the ELCA’s 3.7 million members to “be the church that models for the rest of this country what it means to have these difficult conversations” about racial inequality. Eaton made her remarks during a Jan. 14 live webcast, “Confronting Racism: A Holy Yearning.” Watch the webcast recording and get...
January 4, 2016
Bishop Eaton: Putting the Pieces Together
In her January column for The Lutheran, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton notes that “we are church together” — that is, “some days.” But “many days and in many ways we aren’t.” This year, she says, will be dedicated to looking at the future directions and priorities of this church. The complete column follows: Putting the...
