ELCA Advocacy share their November Update for U.N. | California | Colorado | Kansas | Minnesota | New Mexico | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Southeastern Synod | Washington | Wisconsin.
Read More
The ELCA has multiple positions open around the world! Current openings include YAGM country coordinators, English-language educators, seminary professors, medical professionals and more. Explore and apply here.
Read More
Imagine 490 ELCA members lost to suicide in 2017! Based on national averages and the number of Americans who are ELCA members, 490 represents the number of members who may have died and will die each year to suicide.
Read More
In observance of Veterans Day, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton invites congregations to hold a Sunday of prayer and action. Congregations are encouraged to invite veterans to share their stories, learn about the issues they face, and let them know that the church is grateful for their service.
Read More
I couldn’t breathe. It was minutes before I was to be ushered in front of thousands of excited teens for the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston, Texas. It would be the most vulnerable I have ever been to such a large crowd of strangers. I felt paralyzed, the words had run out of my head, my heart was pounding, palms sweating, fear course through my veins.
Read More
Marriage is a complicated thing. Some families come from traditional marriages and others are blended. Marriage takes a lot of commitment, work and faithfulness. There are also many reasons to get married, but the primary reason, according to an article from Pew Research, is to marry for love. 88% cited love as an important reason to get married. Other reasons listed are commitment, companionship and to have children.
Read More
In her November column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton compares doubt to winter—it can seem long, cold, barren, isolating and lonely. But she reminds us that doubt is part of faith—and God will carry us through the winter. Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/2oDi1dX and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/328m8wj.
Read More
Angeline Neo has found a home away from home at Wartburg College, where she’s studying under an International Women Leaders scholarship. “I want to walk away from Wartburg and leave my mark,” Angeline said in a profile on the Wartburg website. Read her profile here.
You can support women leaders such as Angeline. Give a gift to International Women Leaders today.
Read More
Interested in applying for a year of service with Young Adults in Global Mission? Applications open early this year. The application window will open Nov. 1, 2019, and close Feb. 15, 2020, with priority given to those who apply by Jan. 15. Spread the word to young adults you know! Learn more at ELCA.org/YAGM.
Read More
Posted to the ELCA Racial Justice Ministries blog by Shari Seifert
As a Christian, I believe that we are all created in the image of God. Racism and white supremacy are heretical and demonic lies as they serve to say that some people are better than other people. The truth is that we are ALL one body in Christ and that body is hurt by white supremacy and racism. We are ALL hurt by these evils.
Read More
These petitions are offered as guides to prayer for the global, social and outreach ministries of the ELCA, as well as for the needs and circumstances of our neighbors, communities and world. Thank you for your continued prayers for the life and mission of this church. Download a Word doc, or PDF for letter size printout or legal size printout, or view the ELCA resource page.
Read More
We lift up in prayer three youth from the Grand Canyon Synod—Alondra, Jill, & Manolo—at the Youth Core Leadership training in North Carolina.
CORE is a partnership between the Synodical Youth Ministry Leadership and the ELCA Churchwide Expression to provide intentional leadership development and faith formation for high school youth.
Read More
The walk to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-25) is a fairly “well-trodden” path for many Christians. It’s a story we hear once a year in the lectionary cycle – a story that comes together so well for me at the end when Jesus has vanished from the disciple’s sight – and yet, they “see” in a new and different way.
“Were not out hearts burning within us?” the disciples say to each other. Through the walking and talking, they caught a glimpse of God’s dream for a reconciled world – perhaps such a glimpse that the whole world might never look the same.
Read More
All Rostered Ministers in the ELCA are invited to join colleagues under the theme of "Rekindle the gift within you" (2 Timothy 1:6).
Let this gathering be an opportunity for you to remember, reclaim, rekindle and revive yourself. All rostered ministers are invited (active in call, on leave from call, awaiting call, retired). More information.
Read More
The leaders of ELCA's American Indian/Native Alaska Lutheran Association were in Phoenix to plan their upcoming triennial gathering (Tulsa, OK, Jan. 2-5, 2020), and we were honored they took the time to visit the office.
From left: Elizabeth Gaskins, Treasurer; our very own Pastor Mary Louise Frenchman of NAUM; Pastor Joan Conroy, President; Bishop Deborah Hutterer; Loni Taylor, Secretary; and Pastor Jack Russell from Living Waters Lutheran Church, Cherokee, NC.
Read More
You are encouraged to host a service of commemoration for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, November 9.
Invite your congregation to break down walls. Schedule your service of commemoration next month. Share your prayers on social media with #BreakingDownWalls. Find resources in the Breaking Down Walls toolkit here.
Read More
Portico has updates on changes to the ELCA Benefits Plan, the annual enrollment, and earning Wellness Dollars by November 30.
Read More
In April, a group of creative youth, young adults and adults gathered in Minneapolis to discern the theme for the 2021 Gathering.
After reading through 2018 evaluations, listening to locals share about their city and much discussion about the spiritual lives of young people, the theme “boundless: God beyond measure” was chosen.
Read More
Topics of citizenship and migration remain front page news, not only in the United States, but across the globe. Many factors drive this discussion, such as the reasons for migration and the impacts on both the countries departed and the countries entered. Even more fundamental to this conversation is the question of belonging. Who belongs in what places? What are the factors that affect belonging? Who is the ultimate authority on affirming or denying belonging?
Read More
This World Food Day, ELCA World Hunger is pleased to announce four ministries that have been awarded Big Dream Grants. ELCA World Hunger’s Big Dream Grants, one-time gifts of $10,000 to $75,000, support domestic ministries as they pursue innovative and sustainable approaches to ending hunger.
Read More