The churchwide office is launching a comprehensive Covid-19 response across the ELCA beginning today. We have three new approaches designed to provide several levels of support for our most vulnerable congregations and ministries. These three approaches are Daily Bread Grants, Here to Serve, and the Covid-19 Response Appeal.
Read MoreFrom the ELCA Public Health page, Guidance for funeral practices during a health crisis (download PDF) is available, updated March 18, 2020.
How does the Christian community respond to these needs when public gatherings for worship are limited or suspended because of a health crisis such as COVID-19? How do we provide pastoral care to the grieving while also acting out of love for those most at risk in our communities by practicing social distancing?
Read MoreFrom the ELCA Public Health page, Congregational Planning Checklist for Public Health Concerns is available in English and Spanish, updated March 11, 2020.
With the outbreaks of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States, congregations and houses of worship need to be well-informed and well-prepared. A step-by-step approach to prepare for a serious outbreak can be useful.
Read MoreFrom the ELCA Public Health page, How to stream your worship service — A starter guide is available in English and Spanish, updated March 13, 2020.
If you’ve ever wondered how to stream your congregation’s worship or events online, this guide is for you. It’s not comprehensive, and the information contained here may change at any time because the software and hardware are always evolving. But the guide explains how to begin streaming for very little money and with equipment you already own or might borrow.
Read MoreThe Census Bureau continues to carefully monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. The key message right now is: It has never been easier to respond to the census on your own—whether online at 2020census.gov, over the phone, or by mail—all without having to meet a census taker.
Promotion of census participation is important, particularly to support challenges like the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Read MoreFrom the ELCA Public Health page, Prayers for Times of Public Health Concern: COVID-19/Coronavirus are available in English and Spanish.
These prayers and prayer suggestions may be used or adapted as needed. Know that your local context may lead to additional prayers that reflect local needs and situations. The conclusion of the prayers may be easily adapted when included as part of the prayers of intercession.
Read MoreFrom the ELCA Public Health page, Worship in Times of Public Health Concerns is available in English and Spanish (updated March 20, 2020).
When worshiping together in person is not advised or prohibited by municipal/state government, leaders are facing circumstances they have likely not encountered. This resource is offered to help consider how we are the body of Christ together when we cannot gather in-person for worship.
Read MoreIs the Coronavirus really a threat to ordinary Americans? Do we actually need to take the inconvenient prevention measures many health and government officials suggest (staying at home, cancelling group events, keeping a distance between yourself and others, etc.)? Why or why not?
Read MoreYou’ve probably never wondered how many tables and chairs it takes to make a Gathering
happen. Me either! Well, until I said yes to serving as the Operations Team Leader for the 2018
ELCA Youth Gathering. (For the record we used 9,555 chairs and 750 tables of varying sizes.)
We can say, today, that women are free. Free to do. Free to dress. Free to decide. They should not need protection. Yet it is apparent that even today in the 21st century they still do. As Jesus protected them in his comment about divorce. (En Español)
Read MoreAt the ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston in 2018, I told the story of being immunosuppressed and going to Rwanda. What I didn’t say was that in Rwanda, when I was 23, I got typhoid fever. About six months after that, I got malaria. I thought I was going to die.
Read More“Psalm 104 celebrates the way in which water pours… This flowing water serves, in the psalm, as a sign of God’s overflowing blessings on creation, pouring down from God to the earth and giving life to creatures,” writes Benjamin M. Stewart in A Watered Garden: Christian Worship and Earth’s Ecology (p. 28).
Read MoreDid you know World Water Day is March 22? Use ELCA World Hunger’s Walk for Water to educate yourself and your community about the link between clean water and a just world where all are fed. View this Walk for Water guide.
Read MoreWith daily developments in the spread and scope of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), our anxiety and uncertainty tempt us to curve inward and fixate on self-preservation.
As a church for the sake of the world, committed to God’s call to love and serve our neighbor, we must turn our attention to those who will be most impacted by what may be massive disruptions.
Read MoreLent is a time in which we see God’s creations of nature change and show their seasonal differences. As nature’s seasons change, so do the seasons of the human life.
Different in the seasonal human change, unlike nature, especially Lent when all things appear new again, our bodies age. Hopefully, our minds are renewed each season to the point of maturity revealing the beauty of Godly wisdom.
Read MoreELCA Advocacy has many updates, including our first ever update from Solveig Muus and the newly formed Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA).
The March update includes: U.N. | Arizona | California | Colorado | Delaware | Kansas | Minnesota | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Southeastern | Texas | Washington | Wisconsin. Advocacy connections include COVID-19 | Landmines | Hmong and Laotian Deportations | FY2021 Budget | Fair housing rule.
Read MoreWe often see what we expect to see and miss other things because we are not looking for them. A famous experiment illustrates this. A group of people is passing balls around. Observers are asked to count the number of passes made. During the time the group is passing the balls around, a person in a gorilla suit walks into the group, struts around, then moves away. About half the observers say they did not see a gorilla. You can see an illustration of this experiment here.
Read MoreCan you name a ministry that, using a comprehensive approach, draws on the strengths of its community to break the cycle of poverty and hunger — for good?
Invite that ministry to apply for a 2020 ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grant! Registration: March 18 – May 20. Application: April 1 – May 22.
Read MoreAs we enter this election year, we remember our call to conversation and prayer around our role as U.S. residents and as people of faith in ensuring our election systems promote dignity and respect for all.
We are called to act by speaking out as advocates and engaging in local efforts to guarantee the right to vote to all citizens. More info at: elca.org/Our-Work/Publicly-Engaged-Church/ELCAVotes
Read MoreWe live in the time of COVID-19.
Daily, sometimes hourly, we hear of more cases of the virus, more cancellations of events, more closing of schools.
This is a time of disruption. It is also a time to live and act as faithful people of God.
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