Two recorded ELCA webinars offer practical help for congregations preparing for the 2027 ELCA Youth Gathering, including guidance for volunteers and leaders using the Gathering’s Getting Ready materials.
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As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, Living Lutheran explores President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms”—freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear—through a distinctly Lutheran lens.
Leah Taber connects these enduring ideals with unity in Christ, reconciliation, community, grace and faith, asking what it would mean for Lutherans to embody these commitments in our congregations, communities and civic life. Read the full reflection in Living Lutheran.
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Resources are now available from our August 18 conversation with Kendra Stea, ELCA Director, Misconduct Prevention, on safeguarding worshiping communities. Explore or download Kendra’s presentation covering mandatory reporting, Safe Church policies, misconduct, sex offender covenants, behavior agreements, and resources for protecting children and vulnerable adults.
Congregational leaders are encouraged to use and share these materials—and to contact the synod when questions or concerns arise.
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Lutherans Restoring Creation’s August Good Green News features upcoming opportunities for worship, learning and action, including Nature, Spirituality & Church in the Wild on August 25, Season of Creation resources, the 2026–27 EcoPreacher cohort, an environmental spirituality summit with Bill McKibben, and an ELCA creation-care film series beginning September 2.
Explore these events, new resources and more ways for individuals and congregations to connect Lutheran faith with care for God’s creation.
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The Generosity Project has a new online home! For several years, the Grand Canyon Synod Stewardship Team helped host this cross-generational ELCA stewardship resource. We celebrate its next chapter and give special thanks to Grand Canyon Synod member and longtime project champion Linda Staats for her passion and leadership.
Explore The Generosity Project and discover resources for cultivating generosity, discipleship, and faith from generation to generation.
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Lutheran Men in Mission’s Summer 2026 Ambassador-Gram features newly revised men’s ministry resources, a new DIY half-day retreat series, fall One Year to Live retreats and Bold Gatherings, weekly online Bible and book studies, a discipleship course, and a Sept. 8 legacy giving webinar.
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Women of the ELCA welcomed 1,000 registered participants to the “I Am Worthy” Triennial Gathering, July 16-19 in Des Moines, following the Thirteenth Triennial Convention. Explore highlights and photos from the gathering—and look ahead to the 2029 Triennial Gathering in Louisville, Kentucky, with pre-registration savings available through September 1.
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With declining membership and limited finances, Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan didn’t have abundant resources—but it did have space and a willingness to take a leap of faith. Twenty years ago, the congregation began sheltering LGBTQIA+ young adults experiencing homelessness. Today, Trinity Place remains open every night, offering shelter, community and a path toward greater stability.
In Living Lutheran, the story becomes an invitation for congregations to consider how underused buildings and land might serve their neighbors. The article also introduces the ELCA Church Property Resource Hub, which helps congregations explore faithful and creative possibilities for their property. Read “From Scarcity to Sanctuary” in Living Lutheran.
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What do Lutheran pastors, community organizing and the Pennsylvania Lottery have in common? In Living Lutheran, retired ELCA pastor P. Richard Grove recalls how Lutheran leaders helped organize older adults around affordable public transportation in the early 1970s—and how that advocacy contributed to a system that has since provided billions of dollars in benefits for Pennsylvania’s older adults.
Part of Living Lutheran’s America 250 series, the firsthand account offers a fascinating glimpse into Lutheran engagement in civic life and the lasting consequences of community organizing. Read “A Big Deal” in Living Lutheran.
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The Mission Investment Fund’s 2025 Annual Report shares how congregations, individuals and ministry partners are putting financial resources to work in service of the church and their communities. In 2025, MIF reported $615 million in active loans supporting 700 ELCA ministries and $551.5 million in investments from individuals, congregations and organizations.
Beyond the numbers, the report shares stories of ministries expanding essential services, establishing permanent homes and aligning financial stewardship with service, justice and care for the neighbor. Explore the 2025 MIF Annual Report.
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Our July 2026 Mission Support Memo highlights a story created by our Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, about a community-centered ministry in West Lawn, Pa., called InsideOut.
Also, reconnect or connect with ELCA's The Generosity Project through a new webpage available in partnership with Kindling Faith. Finally, take the time to read a farewell from a beloved colleague, Victoria Flood.
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ELCA Worship’s August roundup offers several opportunities for church musicians and worship leaders: more than 40 Lutheran Summer Music performances available on demand, fall webinars from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, October’s Vi Messerli Memorial Lectures in Church Music, and a formation opportunity for early-career church musicians through the Church Music Institute.
Several opportunities have fall deadlines or registration dates, making this a useful roundup to share with your congregation’s musicians and worship leaders. Explore all partner resources and events.
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ELCA Worship highlights several resources from Augsburg Fortress for congregations and worship leaders, including the 2027 Sundays and Seasons calendar featuring the art of Kelly Latimore, a children’s introduction to the church year, ELW Occasional Services for the Assembly, and a large-print edition of Evangelical Lutheran Worship designed to make worship more accessible. Explore the August worship resources.
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The July issue of ELCA Administration Matters offers practical guidance for congregational leaders on three significant financial risks: secure ACH approval practices, church embezzlement and fraudulent donor scams. The issue also highlights Portico Benefit Services’ 2025 Community Impact Report. Explore the July Administration Matters resources.
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The ELCA mourns the death of the Rev. Patricia Ann Curtis Davenport, 70, the first African American woman elected a bishop in the ELCA. Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry remembers Davenport for urging the church, especially in difficult moments, to “pause, pray and listen for the Holy Spirit” so that we might respond rather than react. Read the ELCA remembrance.
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ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry reflects on religious diversity, Christian faith and the church’s calling to a “ministry of reconciliation.” Drawing on the ELCA’s interreligious commitments, Curry encourages Lutherans to build relationships across religious differences while resisting efforts to identify the nation or government with a single faith. Read Presiding Bishop Curry’s full message.
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Join ELCA Director of Misconduct Prevention Kendra Stea on Tuesday, August 18, at 10 a.m. Arizona/PDT for practical guidance on mandatory reporting, involving the bishop, sex offenders in congregations, behavior agreements, Safe Church policies, and resources for protecting children and vulnerable adults.
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The ELCA has released “Conscience and Conversation,” a new study resource to support churchwide discernment during the reconsideration of Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust. Congregations, small groups, and individuals are invited to participate and share feedback with the task force.
The accompanying survey is open through September 30, 2026, and responses will help shape a draft statement for churchwide review. Ministry leaders are encouraged to prayerfully engage the study and ensure their voices are part of the conversation.
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As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry invites Lutherans to hold both gratitude and humility. In the latest installment of his All Together in One Place series, Curry reflects on the nation’s aspirations, its failures to live fully into those ideals, and the Christian call to repentance, justice, and service rooted in Christ’s resurrection.
Drawing on Scripture and the ELCA’s social teaching, Curry encourages the church to remember its baptismal unity, name sin honestly, and work for the common good while trusting in God’s ever-unfolding grace. Read Presiding Bishop Curry’s full reflection.
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Focus groups for the ELCA’s Rooted + Rising storytelling initiative begin June 26, and organizers are seeking participants now. The project is especially interested in hearing from people who are not currently connected to a church but are willing to share their experiences of faith, spirituality, belonging, or Christianity. Selected participants will receive a $100 stipend for a two-hour virtual conversation.
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