As a thank-you to the rostered ministers, musicians, worship assistants, and tech teams in our congregations, we are making available a pre-recorded Service of the Word for Christmas Day. If you so choose, this service can be used so that your congregations' leaders can spend Christmas Day with their families. Links to the recorded service will be available in early December.

The SEPA Anti-Racism Team’s next educational event for rostered ministers is coming soon. It begins with a 90-minute Zoom meeting to introduce the curriculum on Thursday, January 12, 2023, 7 to 8:30 p.m. The series will complete with an in-person day-long final session covering Connections and Conversations on March 9, 2023, 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., at ULS/Philadelphia. In between, participants will compete historical context modules at their own convenience.

Please register through the Anti-Racism Team email, [email protected]. The registration deadline is January 5, 2023. This educational program, required by a Synod Assembly resolution, is free to all participants

A worship service honoring the Rev. Jenu Jones Jr. (1786-1852), who established the first African American Lutheran congregation in 1834, will be held on Sunday, December 4, at 3 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 7240 Walnut Street, Upper Darby, PA 19082. Sponsored by the African Descent Lutheran Association Philadelphia Chapter.

Guest preacher is the Rev. Cornelius D. Eaddy of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. Guest choir from Grace Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. Musician: Rev. Diane Gilbert/

In November 2021, the ELCA Church Council authorized the development of an ELCA social message on climate care. Drawing from existing social teaching, social messages provide theological rationale and social analysis to foster discernment and engagement on a relatively narrow social issue. This project was authorized in light of the grim contemporary situation affecting our global home and the need for fresh action on the part of this church. It draws its framing themes from several social statements, particularly Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice.

The draft social message is now available for public feedback! Read the social message draft here and then use this survey to share your input by Friday, December 2, 2022.

Advent Pilgrimage in Palestine is a four-week virtual pilgrimage from the ELCA’s Peace Not Walls and Young Adult Ministry teams featuring young adult voices from the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

ReconcilingWorks wants to celebrate with your faith community and is excited to offer these resources. Many RIC communities celebrate RIC Sunday on the last Sunday in January. This year, that lands on January 29, 2023. ReconcilingWorks encourages you to celebrate on a date that is meaningful for your community. Be sure to use this day as a time to recommit to your partnership as a RIC faith community, discern ways to live into your RIC partner commitments, and set new milestones for the year to come

The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields hosted a presentation about Christian Nationalism by Dr. Philip Gorski, a sociologist at Yale University, and co-author of the new book “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.” Watch the video.

Bethany Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Central Philadelphia Conference, will hold their final worship service on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 3 p.m. with Bishop Davenport presiding. Bethany Lutheran Church is located at: 401 Martin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19128.

Rostered ministers and members of the SEPA Synod are welcome to attend the final service at Bethany as we celebrate the life, witness and service of this congregation to the Roxborough-Manayunk community since 1845.  Rostered ministers not participating in worship leadership are invited to sit in the congregation.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, you can volunteer to help families who still need home repairs after Tropical Storm Isaias brought devastating flooding to the Eastwick neighborhood of Philadelphia in August 2020. Lutheran Disaster Response and partners are seeking volunteers, skilled in general construction/carpentry, as well as those willing to learn. We also are looking for licensed and insured contractors. Full funding is available for all materials and contractor labor.