Posts in News
Faith, Footnotes, and Fresh Conversations: What’s New in the Lutheran Study Bible
Faith, Footnotes, and Fresh Conversations: What’s New in the Lutheran Study Bible

On July 1, Augsburg Fortress released The Lutheran Study Bible, Second Edition, a fully updated resource featuring the NRSVue translation, revised articles, and insights from over 50 ELCA pastors and scholars. With fresh perspectives on Jewish-Christian relations, updated notes on biblical figures, and new study tools like “Together by Grace: Bible Conversations,” this edition invites readers into a deeper, more inclusive engagement with Scripture. Click here to read the full interview with co-editor Laurie J. Hanson in Living Lutheran.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardLiving LutheranComment
Protecting Public Schools and Religious Liberty: July Updates from BJC
Protecting Public Schools and Religious Liberty: July Updates from BJC

This month’s Faith Freedom Dispatch from BJC offers urgent updates on a national school voucher proposal buried in the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” major Supreme Court rulings on religious liberty, and grassroots faith responses in Texas. Learn how pastors are organizing against ICE activity at schools, courts are defending student rights, and advocates are standing up against Christian nationalism. Read the full newsletter.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian FlatgardChristian Nationalism, Christians Against Christian Nationalism, BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty)Comment
School Meals and Hunger Relief Funded—Thanks to Your Advocacy!
School Meals and Hunger Relief Funded—Thanks to Your Advocacy!

Thanks to your advocacy, Arizona’s new budget includes $3.8 million for reduced-price school meals and $2 million for Double Up Food Bucks—key programs to fight food insecurity. These one-time wins came after strong bipartisan support and faithful engagement by hunger advocates like you. Learn more and celebrate the good news—click here.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian FlatgardLutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (LAMA), Advocacy, HungerComment
Act in Faith This July: Events, Advocacy, and Interfaith Action Across Arizona
Act in Faith This July: Events, Advocacy, and Interfaith Action Across Arizona

Stay connected with Arizona Faith Network this July! From interfaith meditations and voter advocacy to Bags of Hope packing events and heat relief support, AFN offers many ways to engage your faith in action. Explore gatherings, trainings, and service opportunities across the state—and invite others to get involved. Read the full update and sign up for the AFN newsletter.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian FlatgardEcumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, Arizona Faith NetworkComment
Apply Now: 2026 ELCA Domestic Hunger Grant Applications Open Through July 7
Apply Now: 2026 ELCA Domestic Hunger Grant Applications Open Through July 7

Letters of inquiry are now open through July 7 for ELCA World Hunger’s 2026 Domestic Hunger Grants. These grants support ministries and organizations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico working toward a just world where all are fed. Learn more about eligibility, grant priorities, and how to apply.

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ELCA, Leadership Resources, NewsBrian FlatgardHunger, dp, ELCA World Hunger Domestic Hunger Grants, GrantsComment
Bishop’s Fall Gathering Returns Sept. 29–Oct. 1 with Wartburg Seminary Leaders
Bishop’s Fall Gathering Returns Sept. 29–Oct. 1 with Wartburg Seminary Leaders

Join Bishop Hutterer and special guests from Wartburg Theological Seminary for the 2025 Bishop’s Fall Gathering, September 29–October 1, at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale. Under the theme Life Together: Lament, Love, and Christian Hope in a Time Such as This, rostered ministers will explore faithful community amid division with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka. Registration is open through September 5. Scholarships available.

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Grand Canyon Synod, News, Bishop HuttererBrian Flatgard2025 Bishop's Fall Gathering, Wartburg SeminaryComment
Lutheran World Federation newsletter
Lutheran World Federation newsletter
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News, Global Church, SpotlightBrian FlatgardLutheran World FederationComment
Lead by Listening: Coaching for Spirit-Led Leadership Begins July 7
Lead by Listening: Coaching for Spirit-Led Leadership Begins July 7

Coaching for Spirit-Led Leadership, an online training from July 7 to September 8, equips leaders to listen deeply, ask powerful questions, and support others without taking over. With 9 live sessions and 3 coaching labs, participants will learn how to foster discernment and share ministry in a more sustainable, Spirit-led way. Cost: $375. Scholarships available. Registration now open.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian Flatgardfaith+lead, Luther Seminary, CoachingComment
Promise Magazine’s ‘Advocacy Issue’ Highlights The Faces of Medicaid
Promise Magazine’s ‘Advocacy Issue’ Highlights The Faces of Medicaid

Although she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder too late to fully benefit from treatment, MaryBeth’s family became advocates that all infants be tested for the disorder. Her family has met others who, because of the now mandatory testing, started treatments as infants to counter the effects of the disorder.

The post Promise Magazine’s ‘Advocacy Issue’ Highlights The Faces of Medicaid appeared first on Mosaic.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian FlatgardDisability Ministries, MosaicComment
Inside Out Network Launches New Reentry Vodcast for Arizona Prisons
Inside Out Network Launches New Reentry Vodcast for Arizona Prisons

ION’s Summer 2025 newsletter is out now! Highlights include a new vodcast partnership with Arizona prisons, expansion to Oregon prison tablets, and growing momentum in Arizona and Montana. Meet new board member Sarah Estes, celebrate Maddi Briguglio’s ASU award, and check out ION’s new book on reentry ministry for congregations. Read the full ION Summer Newsletter.

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Grand Canyon Synod, NewsBrian FlatgardPrison, Inside Out NetworkComment
Celebrate Five Years of All Creation Sings—Share Your Story
Celebrate Five Years of All Creation Sings—Share Your Story

Each month, ELCA Worship highlights new and essential resources from Augsburg Fortress Publishers to support worship leaders, musicians, and planners. This month’s update includes tools like In Sure and Certain Hope: A Funeral Sourcebook, a Year A Lectionary using the NRSVue translation, choir devotions, and a call for stories celebrating All Creation Sings five years after its release. You’ll also find information on upcoming Summer Music Clinics and a renewed focus on ELCA social teaching on faith, sexism, and justice. Click here to read the full July update and explore all resources.

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ELCA, Leadership Resources, NewsBrian FlatgardWorship Resources, ELCA WorshipComment
June 2025 Mission Support Memo: Not Good to Be Alone
June 2025 Mission Support Memo: Not Good to Be Alone

Our June 2025 Mission Support Memo connects us to Peoples Church, one of our Indigenous Ministries of the ELCA. A church that lives out its call to love and serve Creator God by opening its doors year-round as an overnight shelter, providing hot meals for the community every day and joyfully celebrating in a festival worship meal every Sunday. Peoples Church believes everyone deserves shelter, a meal, community and dignity. It is a place where folks need not pretend to be anything other than exactly who they are — with imperfections and quirks, with longings and failures, with all their hopes and their visions of the future.

The memo also provides tips to stay connected with members in the busy summer months and thanks our synods for their partnership during assemblies and in ministry. View the memo in pdf as well.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardMission Support, ELCA Mission Support Team, StewardshipComment
Innovation Needs a Foundation: Why Infrastructure Must Come First
Innovation Needs a Foundation: Why Infrastructure Must Come First

Innovation is a powerful tool in ministry—but for many congregations, it’s a privilege they can’t afford. In this compelling piece from Rahel Mwitula Williams of the ELCA Innovation Lab, we are challenged to consider how crumbling infrastructure, financial instability, and lack of basic resources prevent many churches—especially in marginalized communities—from engaging in bold new ministry. True innovation, she argues, must be grounded in justice and stability. Click here to read the full article on the ELCA Innovation Lab blog.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardInnovation, ELCA Innovation LabComment
How Ohio Advocates Treat Budgets as Moral Documents
How Ohio Advocates Treat Budgets as Moral Documents

State budgets shape the everyday lives of our communities—from schools and libraries to food security and elder care. In a powerful reflection, Deacon Nick Bates of the Hunger Network in Ohio highlights how Lutherans and faith leaders across Ohio engaged the budget process as a matter of moral responsibility. Through advocacy meetings, prayer chains made from paper plates, and public witness, they worked to ensure that faith values shaped public policy. Click here to read more about this inspiring and strategic advocacy work.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardAdvocacy, ELCA AdvocacyComment
Seeds of Hope: How Ibu Dewi’s Organic Farm Changed a Village
Seeds of Hope: How Ibu Dewi’s Organic Farm Changed a Village

What began as a small farm has blossomed into a powerful story of transformation. In a quiet village in Indonesia, Ibu Dewi joined an organic farming program supported by the Lutheran World Federation and grew not only her crops—but also her confidence and community. Now a teacher and leader, she’s helping others thrive with the same sustainable techniques that changed her life. Click here to read the full story from ELCA World Hunger.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardHunger, ELCA World HungerComment
Immigration, Faith, and the Gospel’s Invitation to Welcome
Immigration, Faith, and the Gospel’s Invitation to Welcome

In light of recent immigration executive orders, Deacon Erin Brown reflects on John 1:14—“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood”—and what it means to welcome the stranger as a neighbor. Drawing on her border immersion trip with ELCA young adults, she calls the church to live out God’s incarnational love with humility, compassion, and action. Read more about how AMMPARO invites us to accompany our immigrant siblings with dignity and hope. Click here for more at ELCA.org.

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ELCA, NewsBrian FlatgardImmigration and Refugees, AMMPAROComment