The national ELCA Day of Service – “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday on Sept. 10, 2017 – is an excellent opportunity to let your congregation know about the ministries your congregation provides to your community all year long. Bob Fisher, assistant to the bishop for communication and mission interpretation, offers a number of tips and...
August 1, 2017
God’s work. Your stories.
The national ELCA Day of Service – “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday on Sept. 10, 2017 – is an excellent opportunity to let your congregation know about the ministries your congregation provides to your community all year long. Bob Fisher, assistant to the bishop for communication and mission interpretation, offers a number of tips and...
July 10, 2017
State Budget Has Wins for Children
The 2017-2018 spending plan adopted by Pennsylvania lawmakers by the June 30 deadline includes some good news for Pennsylvania children, including increases in basic education, special education and early childhood funding, plus $2 million to incentivize improvements in school breakfast delivery, for which Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (LAMPa) advocated. Read more at http://www.lutheranadvocacypa.org/general-assembly-passes-spending-plan/
June 12, 2017
The Well Helps Women Find Housing
Philadelphia’s large-scale homeless shelters are not always a good fit for single women. This past winter, The Welcome Church and a number of partners opened “The Well,” a new-concept micro-shelter, to provide a warm and safe place for a dozen women. The concept worked better than expected, with The Well able to serve a total...
June 7, 2017
Give the Gift of Family
There are Central American children and youth in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, specifically in Roslyn, PA that are in great need of either short or long term family foster care. You can help through “Give the Gift of Family,” a joint initiative of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and the ELCA AMMPARO program. LIRS is one of just...
May 26, 2017
Assembly 2017 Report
Many voices offered perspectives on racism and reconciliation at the 2017 Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Assembly May 5-6. Bishop Claire Burkat encouraged those gathered to be “more open to engage, to explore, to repent, to be humbled, to align ourselves with this incredible and abundant new life in Christ.” She called on congregations and leaders to take...
March 13, 2017
Essential Tips to Weather the Storm
The major winter storm moving into the region Monday night into Tuesday, will bring not only several inches of heavy snow, but also strong winds, and therefore likely power outages. Winds could range from 30-40 miles per hour with gusts reaching higher velocities. Snow total estimates as of 11 am on Monday range from 8″ to...
February 28, 2017
Video: Interfaith Leaders Respond to Jewish Cemetery Desecration
Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders spoke in solidarity Monday against the desecration of graves at Mt. Carmel Jewish Cemetery in Wissanoming. Bishop Burkat facilitated a press conference in which dozens of faith leaders from across Greater Philadelphia stood together in support of the Jewish community and others — including immigrants, refugees, Muslims and the LGBTQ...
October 31, 2016
Catholics and Lutherans Commemorate Reformation
Pope Francis and the General Secretary of The Lutheran World Federation Rev. Dr Martin Junge jointly preached on the gospel of the true vine (John 15:1-5) during the Common Prayer of the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation in Lund, Sweden, today (Oct. 31, 2016). They spoke about the unity in Christ that Lutherans and...
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...
July 28, 2016
Living Gospel Finds New Home
Living Gospel’s LIFE ministry with men and women with criminal convictions in their past will expand when it moves to new quarters at Trinity Lutheran in Germantown this fall. The move to the historic Sauer House – where Christopher Sauer printed the first Lutheran bible’s in the US – is made possible by a $10,000...
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 6, 2016
Convert Church Facebook Profiles to Pages
Updated July 9 with link to convert profile to page. If your congregation has a Facebook presence set up as a profile (person with “friends”) rather than a page (with “likes”) or a group (with “members”), take note: We have recently heard from a couple of congregations whose accounts have been locked and asked to provide a...
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
I’m a Lutheran: Lenny Duncan
“I found my faith in the forgotten places, where hope seems like an intruder—homeless, mired in alcoholism and seemingly alone. The truth is it found me at the end of my rope,” says Lenny Duncan, a candidate for ordained ministry and member of Temple, Havertown, in Living Lutheran magazine. “I’m a Lutheran because my life...
May 26, 2016
Living Gospel: A Firm Foundation
Pastor Linda Manson and Living Gospel Ministries, our newest faith community, are giving people newly returned from incarceration a sense of self-worth and help re-integrating with society. “It’s important to me that the people who come to be in ministry with us feel loved and cared for,” Pastor Manson says. Building up self-worth undergirds the work Living...
May 20, 2016
Still Reforming Assembly Highlights
“GOD IS STILL REFORMING!…” …Bishop Burkat declared to the 2016 Synod Assembly. More than 500 Lutherans gathered from across Southeastern Pennsylvania to worship, pray, and discern in community explored how we can go outside our doors and listen to our neighbors in ways that are faithful to our 500-year Reformation heritage. Read on for...
