This PDF resource from ELCA explores the role of the congregation council: to assess and shape strategic and long-term direction, protect church unity and oversee administrative functions of the church.
Being elected to a congregation council carries with it the respect and trust of your congregation. Learn some of the functions and responsibilities of the congregation council’s positions.
Read MoreNational Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month We remember and pray for victims of sex trafficking, involuntary servitude, debt bondage and forced labor in our nation and around the world, and we ask God’s guidance in caring for victims and actively working to end this abuse, injustice and oppression.
Read MoreIncorporate care for creation into your worship life. Lutherans Restoring Creation is offering substantive care-for-creation reflections on the lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, 2020-2021.
These commentaries are exegetically-based, theologically sound, creative in their ecological exploration of the text’s potential, and effective in articulation. These are not add-ons, but an integral part of the exposition of the text itself.
Read MoreIt’s a new year, and a good time to remember the ELCA's environmental commitment from our social statement Caring for Creation, available in Spanish and English.
Read an introduction or a brief summary if you’re busy. Engage with the study guide, and order multiple copies of the social statement click here.
Read MoreGive thanks and praise to God that we are children of God, knowing and testifying to the good news that Jesus Christ became flesh and lived among us, and that we have seen the glory of God’s only son, full of grace and truth for the world.
Read MorePray for our companion churches and international leaders as they confront multiple waves of the pandemic. Ask the Spirit to fill them with hope, resilience and reassurance that our faith in the presence and love of God, which we share as siblings in Christ, will unify us in caring for one another and in doing God’s work in the world, using our diverse gifts, cultures, languages, resources and perspectives in every circumstance.
Read MoreGive thanks and praise that God knows intimately our complexities, failures, accomplishments, questions, goals and hopes, and still looks upon us with loving kindness, newness and a desire for us to thrive as individuals and communities.
Read MoreNew Year’s Eve A new year can offer hope and enthusiasm for starting anew, or it can bring fear and despair stirred by our human weaknesses and failures. Ask God to help us achieve our new endeavors and resolutions and reground ourselves in God’s grace, forgiveness and newness when we fall short of our expectations and goals. Ask the Spirit to help us encourage, assist and surround with grace people who stumble or whose confidence is unsteady.
Read MoreThe Grand Canyon Women of the ELCA present the Winter Gather Bible Study on January 23rd, 2021 from 9am to noon MST.
We invite you to join us and Rev. Christa von Zychlin to “Journey with Angels” by exploring the Bible in search for angels and God’s calls to action. Register here for this free event. Registration open through Jan. 21, 2021. English-to-Spanish closed captioning available.
Read MoreListen to devotional music available through Augsburg Fortress: “On Hills of Bethlehem;” “This Little Light of Mine;” “O Laughing Light.”
Read MoreHerod has a way to see the world: it is centered on himself, his power, his privileges, his city. We may often be like Herod, centered on ourselves, using religion only for our own purposes.
Read MorePray that the light, celebration and blessings of community we experience as followers of Christ will continue far beyond the Christmas holidays and permeate our daily lives as we participate in God’s life-giving work and witness in the world.
Read MoreListen to devotional music available through Augsburg Fortress: “A Babe Is Born;” “O God of Light;” “Now the Heavens Start to Whisper.”
Read MoreThis year on the Tenth Day of Christmas we keep Sunday once more, and the whole mystery of the incarnation of God in Christ washes over us again. Of course, we are often part of that world that does not know him, his own people who do not accept him. But the Word is given to us in these readings. Receiving it, the Spirit of God comes to us and we are brought to faith again.
Read MoreThese 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.
Download a Word doc, or PDF for letter size printout or legal size printout, or view the ELCA resource page.
Read MoreAugsburg Fortress has great worship resources for congregations and individuals available for 2021, some as inexpensive as three or four dollars.
Let our prayers, creation and all living things give glory and honor to God, our creator, sustainer, guiding light and redeemer.
Read MoreDo a quick search for conspiracy theories and Google will give you over 100,000,000 results to explore. Conspiracy theories used to be confined to rumors and small groups of ardent believers.
The internet and social media have given conspiracy theories like QAnon and those who believe them a feeling of credibility and a highly effective way to broadcast their beliefs to a larger audience.
Read MoreThe ELCA Systems Academy is a four-year structured engagement with family systems theory, theology, and clinical work. For more info, read more in this post and this introductory PDF.
Pastor Steve Beyer, Lord of Life Lutheran in Sun City West, is our synod representative. Through the academy he’ll learn more about family systems and conflict, and assist our synod after he’s been trained.
Read MorePray that we will carry forward the story and significance of Jesus and their implications for our daily actions, relationships and decisions as loved and reclaimed children of God. Ask the Spirit to guide us in responding to God’s call to proclaim the gospel, make peace, work for justice, propagate hope and serve our neighbors in need — without partiality, foot-dragging, embarrassment or expectation of reward or credit.
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