Class: “Indian 101”

The general population knows very little about the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Even the most basic topics are often grand mysteries. “Indian 101” explains some of these basics to build a foundation for students to stand in solidarity with Indian people across the United States as we work together to dismantle longstanding systems of oppression.

No pre-registration is required to participate in this workshop, presented by Vance Blackfox on Wednesday, 7/26/2023, 5-7pm PDT/MST, 6-8pm MDT. Just click "join the class" to attend.

Class: “Introduction to the Truth and Healing Movement”

This workshop, presented by Vance Blackfox on Monday, 7/24/2023, 5-6pm PDT/MST, 6-7pm MDT, will explore the truths we seek to learn and the healing we hope to experience, as well as how the movement began, among Indigenous people and within the ELCA. No pre-registration is required to participate. Just click "join the class" to attend.

Native Nations: Standing Together for Civil Rights

Watch this documentary, produced in 2008 and remastered in HD in May 2023, from the National Council of Churches and the IBC.

“It was a turbulent time. Amid social unrest, American Indian activists and organizers struggled for sovereignty, justice, and civil rights. Standing together, Native nations and the National Indian Lutheran Board emerged to speak out with a unified voice.”

ELCA launches Truth and Healing Movement

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has announced the launch of the ELCA's Truth and Healing Movement. The focus of the initiative is to increase the church's understanding of the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people in past generations and in the present.

To learn more, read this post below, visit ELCA.org’s Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations page, the Truth and Healing Movement page, and watch Bishop Eaton’s announcement.

ELCA Churchwide Assembly honors Indigenous people

The 2022 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA will honor and celebrate Indigenous people through presentations and worship during this weeklong event.

In addition to opening with a land acknowledgment, on Wednesday, 8/10/2022: participants are invited to wear red recognize and publicize the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls; Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo will be remembered; Holy Communion will utilize words and music from Native American sources; and the offering will support the Pine Ridge Reservation initiative.

Patterson Yazzie Named Executive Director of Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission

The Board of Directors of Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission Inc. announce the appointment of Patterson Yazzie as Executive Director. The Board’s unanimous affirmation celebrates Yazzie as the first Navajo executive leader in the Mission’s nearly 70-year history.

Remembering the Children: Feast of the Holy Innocents

In July of 2021, the American Indian/Alaska Native Lutheran Association (AIANLA) asked the whole ELCA to remember and lament the children who died in Indian boarding schools in the United States and residential schools in Canada.

As the church observes the Feast of the Holy Innocents*, the Saint Paul Area Synod, the Minneapolis Area Synod, and the Advocates for Racial Equity offer this service of prayer and lament (on Vimeo) for use by individuals and congregations.

A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People

As the United States pauses to honor and celebrate the Indigenous people who first settled on the land thousands of years ago, the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA) has released "A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People." The declaration is a direct result of the social policy resolution "Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery," which was passed by the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Read the declaration in this post.

American Indian Alaska Native Lutheran Association invites displaying orange banners in solidarity

In this letter, the American Indian Alaska Native Lutheran Association invites congregations to hang orange banners in solidarity with Indigenous people throughout North America and in remembrance and lament of Native children that never made it out of residential schools. View the letter in this post or as a PDF.

We also encourage you to learn more about Orange Shirt Day (September 30), a Canadian statutory holiday. Religion News Service also provides these articles on US churches reckoning with the traumatic legacy of Native schools and the new spiritual movement aiming to recognize the official US apology to Native American people.

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