As we approach March 31, many people are preparing to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility, an international day to celebrate the contributions of transgender people and raise awareness about the deadly injustices they face.
As bishop of this church, I am concerned that the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans have been targeted all over this nation.
Read MorePortico Benefit Services provides ministers and congregations participating in the ELCA benefit program with no-cost access to annual tax guides. For ministers, Clergy Tax Return Preparation Guide by Richard R. Hammar gives special attention to tax-related topics most relevant to ministers.
For congregations, Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches by Richard R. Hammar helps congregations understand their federal tax-reporting requirements.
Read MoreThe community of Cataño, Puerto Rico, is vibrant, with residents talented in music, art and sports, yet it also faces a number of challenges. Forty-six percent of people in Cataño live in poverty. So when Hurricane Maria passed through, the devastation compounded ongoing challenges and added new ones.
Read MoreAll rostered ministers in the ELCA are invited to join colleagues July 17-20 in Phoenix, Ariz., for the Rostered Ministers Gathering. Early registration will close March 31, and online registration will close July 1, 2023. Learn more and register today! And check out this special invitation from Bishop Eaton.
If you like to welcome people, help with registration, or have the gift of hospitality, please connect with Pastor Doug Dill: pastordoug@centrallutheranaz.org or 402-235-6969. Click here to register as a volunteer at elca.org.
Read MoreThe Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) is a pre-event to the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. From July 13-16, youth of color or those whose primary language is not English, will gather together to worship, celebrate, and learn from one another. Dr. Kelly Sherman Conroy (she/her), the director of MYLE, shares an invitation to be a part of this faith formation event. To learn more about the 2024 Gathering, visit elca.org/Gathering and watch the video in this post.
Read MoreClick here for the ELCA Disability Ministries March 2023 newsletter, with a reminder that March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. If you want to learn more, please go to the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities site.
April is Stress Awareness Month. If you're struggling or reaching out to help a friend who may be struggling with stress, consider some of the many resources on coping and managing stress by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Read MoreELCA Advocacy provides their March 2023 updates. Click here to read the UN and State edition, and click here to read the Advocacy Connections from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C.
Read MoreJoin us online Wednesday, March 22, 2023, as we hear from Rev. Jeff Linman. Join ELCA Coaching every Wednesday at 11am MST/PDT, noon MDT, as we practice Courageous Leadership. Log in info is on the ELCA Coaching website.
Read MoreELCA Global Mission shares their Global Links newsletter for March, 2023, featuring: A Milestone for Women Leaders in the Holy Land; news around the world, our global partners, and how to get involved.
Read MoreThe March, 2023 version of the Women of the ELCA’s monthly newsletter Café is available, including: Feeling my feelings as spiritual practice; Blessed are those who grieve; monthly dinner; podcast; and more. View all posts at boldcafe.org.
Read MoreThe March, 2023, bimonthly e-newsletter for ELCA congregational and synodical leaders is here, featuring: updated tax guides, Rostered Ministers Gathering early registration, ELCA Federal Credit Union ministry card, unemployment exemptions for churches, and how to keep your building safe from wayward vehicles.
Read MoreFor all who are anxious for their financial future after this week’s bank collapses and for keen and collaborative wisdom among those crafting policies in response…
For peace and protection for our transgender siblings, and especially transgender youth, as 41 state legislatures consider bills restricting and revoking their rights…
For a path forward and a renewed commitment to the common good amidst continued political partisan division in the United States and across the globe…
For people on the west coast of the United States, Australia, and Kenya who are living with extreme flooding; for those facing threat of sever storms on the east coast of the United States; and for victims of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi…
In thanksgiving for recently negotiated peace between Iran and Saudi Arabia…
For the people of El Salvador, living under a century of civil conflict…
For Muslim siblings preparing for Ramadan…
For all caregivers who provide for, educate, and nurture children…
For all navigating news of pregnancy, expected or unexpected, and for their support systems…
Yvonne Shortt is an artist who uses grasses, clay, moss, and other natural materials to create beautiful sculptures of people’s heads. Slowly over time Yvonne began losing her eyesight because of a rare genetic disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Her story is part of a documentary called Adapt-Ability by filmmaker James Robinson which highlights how her limitations are really a gift to her art.
Read MoreThe healing of the blind man in John chapter 9 is one of my favorite healing stories in the whole Bible. I love this story because in this story Jesus confronts and rejects the common belief that disabilities are somehow caused by sin.
I commend to you the book A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability by Kathy Black. Kathy Black is an ordained Methodist minister who has served as the chaplain at Gallaudet University and pastored two churches for deaf persons.
Read MoreDuring the summer of 2024, the ELCA Youth Gathering, MYLE, the tAble and Young Adult Gathering will center around the theme of “Created to Be” which comes from Psalm 139. To learn more about the 2024 Gathering, visit elca.org/Gathering and watch the video in this post.
Read MoreIf you visit the Saturday-morning farmers market in Federal Way, Wash., you might see Kay (Kyong Yon) Mattingly smiling and dancing with her friends from Dasom Bi-Cultural Cooperation, a ministry of Light of Grace Lutheran Church. The ministry hosts a booth with a variety of Korean goods for sale, but the members also seek to bring joy to those around them – and create it for themselves.
Read MoreKeah Brown, a journalist, has filled this book with her essays. In each standalone essay, Ms. Brown addresses a particular issue of life as a black woman living with Cerebral Palsy in a mostly able-bodied white America. She discusses the depression that comes from internalizing the “idealized body” of the able-bodied world we live in.
Read MoreThank you so much for your support of what we do at ELCA Disability Ministries. Especially, we thank God for you and the way the Spirit is moving you to make accessibility and equity for people with disabilities a priority in the lives of your ministries.
Read MoreMariia Simian, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is living through war for a second time. Just three years old when World War II tore across Europe in the 1940s, she says the memories haunt her.
“I remember everything,” she says. “I often remember. My mother hid our whole family from this horror wherever she could – in the basement, in fields behind the house – because the Nazis were looking for Roma.”
Read MoreIn Ghana, water scarcity threatens the lives and livelihoods of nearly 90% of the population. Even in urban areas, more than half the people lack access to clean, safe water. In developing countries such as Ghana, almost 80% of illnesses and deaths are caused by water-borne diseases, which in turn are driven by people needing to rely on unsafe water sources.
Read More
