Young adults understand that gridlock and partisanship are some of the biggest barriers to progress in our world. One particular area of concern that needs action, and quickly, is the looming climate crisis. Inaction poses grave danger to present and future generations.  

Since its founding, the ELCA has used social teaching documents as tools for speaking in and to society, and with each other about society. These teachings result from expansive consensus building processes and intentional conversations with people from many points of view and lived experiences. As we live into our sacred responsibility to care for and keep God’s creation for future generations, ELCA social teaching can strengthen our impact from the inter-personal to communal and global levels.  

The young adult focused ELCA Fall Climate Summit is an opportunity for young adults from a range of identities and experiences to gather and deepen their advocacy, storytelling and organizing. Sponsored by the ELCA Service & Justice team, 25 young adults from across the country will gather in Chicago, Illinois from October 20-22, 2023, to engage with ELCA social teaching, centering in the Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice social statement, the new “Earth’s Climate Crisis” social message, and the ongoing work of the Corporate Social Responsibility program, and will build momentum and power to energize further action and impact.  

Apply and help identify individuals for this opportunity before the July 26 application deadline! 

Who should apply? 

At no cost to participants, this summit is focused on U.S.-based young adults between the ages of 18-35 years old. Whether someone has years of climate advocacy practice, or this would be their first time engaging in advocacy, young adults of all levels of experience are encouraged to apply. There will be intentionality throughout the selection process to ensure that participants reflect intersecting social identities. Meeting spaces and lodging will be accessible for wheelchair and cane users.  

Individuals who do not come from an ELCA background are invited to apply but should understand that the summit will be focused on ELCA systems, processes and teachings. Non-ELCA-affiliated applicants are encouraged to articulate in their applications why they are drawn to this opportunity. 

How to apply 

We have one application for all interested individuals.  

The application includes questions about who the applicant is, why the Fall Climate Summit would be an enriching opportunity, and how it might inform the future engagement and interests of the participant. No references are requested. Applications are due on Wednesday, July 26 at 11:59pm. 

Application link: https://forms.office.com/r/jy3RZUwyZb

By the end of this event participants will:  

• Gain and practice skills such as power-mapping and demonstration, campaign creation, base building and others. 
• Deepen understanding of and literacy around ELCA social teaching documents including what they are, how they are created, and how they can be used as a tool for change-making. 
• Make connections with ELCA faith-based advocacy activity including the ELCA’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, which uses social teaching to engage with company practices. 
• Begin creating an action plan for how and where highlighted social teachings can be employed by summit participants in their own communities and brainstorm on priorities for campaigns and climate-related work. 
• Built stronger relationships and networks with fellow participants and the ELCA. 
• Make connections available with ELCA-affiliated state public policy offices. 

Timeline Overview 

• July 5 – Application process opens. 
• July 26 – Application process closes. 
• August 9 – Decisions communicated to applicants. 
• August 16 – Participant deadline for acceptance response. 
• August 24 – Participant roster finalized. 
• October 20-22 – ELCA Fall Climate Summit 

Use announcements available from @ELCAadvocacy socials to share this opportunity with others. Further questions/inquiries can be directed to Kayla Zopfi (kayla.zopfi@elca.org) and Kaari Reierson (kaari.reierson@elca.org). 

Join us in welcoming Haemin Lee, the new director of ELCA World Hunger, who will lead the amazing team working with ELCA World Hunger’s domestic and international grants! Welcome, Haemin!

A Greeting from Haemin Lee

Hi, my name is Haemin Lee, and I’m super excited to serve alongside you as Director of World Hunger! I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. When I was little (probably around three), I came across a pictorial biography of the famous missionary Dr. Albert Schweitzer. His story somehow challenged me so much, and since then, I have always wanted to participate in God’s mission by sharing the love of Jesus Christ in both word and deed.

I completed my B.A. at Yonsei University, which was founded by Horace Underwood, an American Presbyterian missionary. During my college years, I had an opportunity to serve in England and Belgium through a global mission organization. Amid reaching out to Muslim neighbors with Christian friends from all over the world, I felt a strong call to serve God on a global scale. I came to the U.S. in 2002 with a dream to be better prepared to serve – without really knowing anyone in the U.S. and with my entire family back home in South Korea. It was a lonely journey at first, but by the grace of God I met some incredible friends along the way. I earned advanced degrees from Harvard (M.Div.) and Emory (Th.M; Ph.D) with a special focus on Christian Mission, Intercultural Studies and International Development. I was ordained in 2007 as a Presbyterian minister (PCUSA) and have served in various ministry areas, including congregational ministry, hospital chaplaincy and homeless ministry. During this time, God gave me a deep desire to serve the most vulnerable people around the world. This desire ultimately led me to engage in international evangelism and development mission through World Relief, Food for the Hungry International Korea, Presbyterian Mission Agency and Frontier Fellowship. Through these ministries, I traveled to more than 100 different countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and had the privilege of overseeing numerous mission partnership programs and teaching at Kumi University in Uganda.

I met my amazing wife Nicole in South Africa at a mission conference when she was serving in Tanzania. We got married in her home state of Florida back in 2014 and welcomed a baby daughter, Katie Hayoung (meaning Glory to God in Korea!) in 2019. I like traveling (backpacking adventures!), languages, hiking, playing music and most of all, making new friends while learning about different cultures.

I am very excited to make a collective impact for God’s Mission in our community and the world by collaborating with inspiring colleagues, churches, and community organizations through ELCA! 😊

Blessings, Haemin

No matter where one’s views fall on the spectrum of thoughts about immigration issues, members of our Lutheran faith family should be extraordinarily disturbed by the massive displacement of individuals and families across the globe.  Not only are countless lives tragically upended, and the health and welfare of adults, children, and babies put at extreme risk, but they face manifest danger and intense discrimination in seeking the chance for resettlement.  Granted, the world is full of troubles that seem immune to ready solutions.  Yet, we cannot dismiss these human tragedies from our hearts and minds as too distant or too complicated for our concern and compassion.

A frequent question is: What can I/we do?  A good answer is to go back to the basics – the power of prayer.  Commendably, Church World Services, an increasing presence in our region, has developed a Worship Guide for reflecting and praying for the tens of millions displaced persons.  The ELCA has taken on a role in circulating it.

The guide begins with applicable Bible verses, offers sermon starters, a variety of prayers, a litany prayer, prayer points for personal use, responsive prayer, hymn suggestions, and reflections, which involves a refugee simulation exercise.  The old saw about putting oneself in the shoes of another has not lost its relevance.  The meaning has increased in this age of bombast and belligerence.  This guide is incredibly directed and utile.  It is worth taking a look at and considering making a part of devotions.

In our Tree of Life congregation, concerns in other parts of the world are always incorporated into the prayers of the church during worship services.  As with many parts of the worship service, we can fall into the trap of hearing the familiar but not really listening.  When the significance is brought to our notice afresh, it hopefully causes us to think, and perhaps to respond.

By informing our minds and softening our hearts, prayers for refugees remove the issue of displacement from the hard world of partisan political discourse and bring it back to scriptural context.  We can view the crisis through the lens of our religious beliefs, rather than our political associations.  That plants the seeds for meaningful response, be it advocacy, volunteering, or contributing financially or materially.

The more deeply we become informed on immigration issues, the greater our appreciation for the dedicated organizations who are doing everything within the realm of possibility to welcome those who manage to find their way to America’s doorstep.  The realization sinks in that there are many ways in which we can contribute constructively and live out the precepts of faith and stewardship.  This is the often not so apparent blessing – the chance to bear witness – for which we should be grateful daily.  We often think of prayer in terms of prayer requests, but here prayer can be a motivator for caring and giving.  Will we prayerfully accept the challenge of going forth?

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church.

Music that Makes Community

Music that Makes Community practices communal song-sharing that inspires deep spiritual connection, brave shared leadership, and sparks the possibility of transformation in our world.

We conclude the first half of the year with a One-Day Workshop at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh on Saturday, June 24! Share an enlivening day of singing and learning, and bring new songs and skills back to your community. While we don’t have workshops scheduled over the summer, you’ll find MMC leaders at conferences and gatherings around the country, including the ALCM Biennial Conference, Lutheran Summer Music, and Holden Village, among others. Visit our website to register for fall offerings or to find additional resources and songs.

Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival

LSM 2023 is less than three weeks away! As we countdown the days to welcoming this year’s class to campus, LSM promises to be an exciting four weeks of events, concerts, and worship services. All events are free and open to the public: join us on campus or via livestream.

And recently announced, Artistic Residency & Public Concert with Apollo’s Fire. Musicians from the award-winning Apollo’s Fire ensemble will join the LSM community from June 30-July 2 to work with students and present a public concert on Saturday, July 1 at 7:30pm. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity! Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY-winning period-instrument orchestra dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in its listeners. Apollo’s Fire brings to life the music of the past for audiences of today. This residency is underwritten by the Bach Institute at Valparaiso University.

Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song.

Register for Virtual Conference access! All are welcome!

Resources from the Center for Church Music

The Center for Church Music is a place where one can tap into an expansive online (or on-site) library of resources and perspectives on the music and art of the church, with a focus on a Lutheran context.

This month it highlights the centenary of Richard W. Hillert (1923-2010), a liturgical composer who served as music editor for Lutheran Book of Worship and whose legacy continues in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the music for Holy Communion: Setting 3 and parts of Setting 5, and the hymn “Alleluia! Voices Raise” (ELW 828). The feature includes “Profiles in American Lutheran Church Music” video interviews with prominent ELCA church musicians, including Lorraine Brugh (interviewed by Anne Krentz Organ), Robert Buckley Farlee (interviewed by Zeb Highben), and the sainted Scott Weidler (interviewed by the Rev. Jerry Spice).

Journey to Baptismal Living

Journey to Baptismal Living is an ecumenical community of Christians seeking to support formation in discipleship by exploring the meaning of baptismal identity, faith, and mission. The leadership offers training programs and events to develop skills and resources for baptismal preparation and for deepening faith in baptismal living.

How do you meet a seeker where they are? What do they know and what do they need to know? How do you find out their history, discern their questions, and begin to accompany them on their journey with Jesus?  JBL can help you make the successful next steps when approached by a seeker.

Our next JBL community chat, Monday, June 26 at 7 PM (central time), will focus on how to lead a productive initial conversation with a seeker. Julia Acuna, a member of the catechumenate team at Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento, will role-play such a conversation with a recent seeker. You don’t want to miss this! The basis for the conversation will be a section from JBL’s new Ecumenical Guide for Accompanying Any Seeker, available soon on our website.

Please register by Friday, June 23, 8 PM (central time). Thank you.

Augsburg Fortress Events and Resources

Augsburg Fortress is an imprint of 1517 Media, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Lutheran Mosaics: Three Readings Juxtaposed for Reflection and Proclamation

Lectionary Mosaics began as reflections made available for those not able to gather in their worshiping assemblies during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet its wisdom extends into our current time and beyond. Holding together all three readings of the Revised Common Lectionary for each Sunday and festival, these brief mosaic paragraphs invite you to faith in the triune God, love of neighbor, and care for our earthly home.

Sunday and Seasons Print Subscription

Sale on ELW Gift and Pocket Editions

Luther’s Small Catechism App

Kids Celebrate All Creation Sings

Congratulations to the five recipients of the ELCA Disability Ministries grants for 2023! We have invited each to offer a snapshot of the project their grant will be fun, ding.

Thank you to all applicants! It is amazing to learn about all that is being done across our church for accessibility and inclusion! We were blown away by the number of project applications submitted and all that they entailed for your ministries. We hope those not chosen this time around will consider applying in the future.

I want to offer a special thanks to the advisory team for all their hard work in reviewing the grant applications and proposals. Thank you for all you do!

–Rev. Lisa Heffernan, ELCA Disability Ministries coordinator

2023 Grant Recipients

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, IA

Located in the heart of the Quad Cities, St. Paul Lutheran Church is a congregation of over one thousand families, many of whom have children and teens who identify as autistic or neurodivergent. Social Spectrum began at St. Paul in the summer of 2022 as a support group for parents and caregivers of neurodivergent individuals to connect and find empathy with one another. The stories, experiences, and needs shared within this group clearly identified several opportunities for growth in the ways the church as a whole welcomes, supports, and empowers neurodivergent children and youth and their families.  The funding from the ELCA Disability Ministries grant will bolster St. Paul’s efforts to address these needs, amplify autism inclusivity and awareness, and hopefully inspire other congregations to do the same.  

Specifically, St. Paul’s Social Spectrum will use grant funding to: 1) launch an inclusive family-learning style Sunday School class; 2) train St. Paul staff and volunteers who work with kids on how best to nurture and support neurodivergent children and youth; 3) construct a sensory-friendly space for faith formation for all ages; and 4) equip neurotypical teens to act as buddies and advocates for their neurodivergent peers. Through these initiatives, St. Paul aims to embrace and raise up an historically under-valued and excluded population in the church, thereby modeling a more inclusive, supportive, and whole community of faith. 

Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Seymour, WI

Park Vision: Working together, Emmanuel will build an inclusive and accessible community park to inspire, support, celebrate, and equip neurodivergent children and adults to fulfill their potential in life.

What is God asking us to do? An inclusive park!

Families with neurodivergent individuals and people dependent on mobility devices face many challenges but enjoying a park shouldn’t be one of them! Inspired by God’s hope and love, Emmanuel will create an inclusive park different from others in the Seymour area and develop accompanying ministries to enrich the lives of families in our community. We celebrate, inspire, and support neurodivergent children, adults, and their caregivers by creating a gathering place for all ages and abilities.

Working together, we reach, teach, and serve by building a community playground where children of all capabilities play side-by-side. This accessible area includes surfaces and ramps for children and adults to engage equipment with or without mobility devices. Emmanuel’s truly inclusive playground is designed for all abilities to participate in various activities at varying difficulty levels within the same space. We share God’s love by respecting and embracing the different ways God has created us. We purposely removed many barriers, so all God’s children feel part of His kingdom and experience the joy of play!

Our faith leads us to establish a community where all feel welcomed and valued. The inclusive park honors this belief by including spaces for multiple uses and all generations. Along with the playground, the complete project consists of bathroom facilities and a pavilion for church gatherings, celebrations, fellowship, and faith formation.

Peace Lutheran Church, Gahanna, OH

 Our goal at Peace Lutheran Church is to move from service ‘for’ people with disabilities to service ‘with’ people with disabilities.  We currently provide a program for adults with disabilities that includes a week-long summer resident camp, a bi-weekly Bible Study/Social Group and a Saturday morning respite.  For a variety of reasons, we struggle with recruiting volunteers.

The goal of our funded project, Friendship Connections, is to empower people to volunteer their services to connect with people with disabilities, to help broaden the scope of our congregation’s current ministry to become a more welcoming and inclusive community.   With education, coaching and hands on experience participants will increase their understanding and confidence.   The project has three components: 1) group sessions targeting education, etiquette and awareness, 2) direct experiences with adults with disabilities and 3) creation of a ‘what’s next’ project for each participant to complete the one-year experience.

We are grateful for the grant and excited about the coming year as we implement our plans.  We hope to open the hearts and minds of the project participants to allow for new and fulfilling relationships with others whom they may otherwise have avoided.

North Avenue Mission, Baltimore, MD

 North Ave Mission (NAM) is a Synodically Authorized Worshipping Community of the Delaware/ Maryland Synod of the ELCA. NAM is a fellowship of people experiencing homelessness, people who are food and housing insecure, people who use drugs and people in recovery, LGBTQ+, those living with physical disability or mental illness and those with lived experience of trauma, racism and hate along with their supporters, in central Baltimore. Centering the leadership and following the visions of those most directly impacted by structural racism and unjust systems, we walk together as we care for our community and one another. Most people in the NAM community and leadership have disabilities ranging from mobility limitations which require assistive devices, treated and untreated mental illness, substance misuse disorder, significant neurodiversity, and a variety of chronic diseases. The community comes together to encourage and support one another on their journeys, to worship, and to serve the wider community.

Many in the NAM community have remarkable gifts for ministry. Some speak powerfully in testimony, others write and share profound theology and theopoetics, some have the gift of encouragement and building others up, some post daily messages of gratitude and prayer each morning. Others share their perspectives through freestyle and other creative arts. Still others pitch in to make sure Family Life is set up properly, share worship leadership, and ensure that the service runs smoothly. People with disabilities are already and have always been in leadership roles within the NAM community and now some are ready to take the next steps to hone their gifts further so they can be shared beyond the worshipping community.

Building on Leadership Gifts will provide mentoring, hard and soft skill-building, learning opportunities, and enhanced wellbeing supports for three to four specific members of the NAM community for one year so that they can grow as leaders to share their gifts both within and beyond NAM. All four of these individuals will benefit greatly from training and coaching in communications to enable them to write out drafts, workshop with each other’s writing, put into words both faith and the long-term effects of the systemic oppression they have experienced, and grasp the many and varied forms the written and spoken word can take. We are planning a six-month curriculum that will include one-on-one coaching sessions as well as small group workshops for learning, trying out public speaking in safe environments, providing feedback to one another, developing each person’s unique voice, and learning the soft skills of leadership.

Pastor Elazar Zavaletta, Mission Developer at NAM, will identify appropriate ways for these emerging leaders to be connected to settings beyond NAM, while also providing additional leadership opportunities within the NAM community. Experiencing the DE/MD Synod Assembly will increase understanding of the wider church.

Pine Lake Lutheran Camp, Crossways Camping Ministries, WI

Pine Lake Lutheran Camp (part of Crossways Camping Ministries) is excited to extend a wider welcome to faith-filled, camp programming for youth and adults with disabilities! Thanks to the generosity of the ELCA Disability Ministries, Pine Lake Camp will be able to implement new programming and additional supports for campers with disabilities.  Our new Self-Determination Camp Program is welcoming adults with disabilities in the middle of August. Young adults with disabilities will come together to create connections, experience traditional camp elements, and create individualized plans for participation in order to engage in meaningful church and community ministry upon their arrivals home.

Alongside our tailored program, we aim to include a wider community of youth and family program participants throughout the summer by employing an Inclusion Advocate who will serve three primary audiences at three primary times. Our Inclusion Advocate will work with camper families, campers seeking additional support, and the camp staff to provide meaningful supports and needed accessibility.  Our Inclusion Advocate will coordinate needed supports in advance of weekly camp programming.  In addition, support from the Inclusion Advocate to the staff or campers will happen throughout the onsite week.   Finally, Our Inclusion Advocate will record important details after the camp program has completed, in order to plan for future success in other camp programs.

In addition to our new Self-Determination Camp program and Inclusion Advocate staff position, we are investing in other ways to build meaningful relationships and opportunities for our siblings in Christ with disabilities. We are working with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to train, support and employ a young adult with disabilities on our current camp staff.  In addition, we welcomed a self advocate with an Intellectual and developmental disability, to lead a staff training session on best practices for including and supporting campers with disabilities.

This month’s article is written by ELCA Disability Ministries Advisory team member Rev. Peter Heide, written from a perspective of blindness.

“Organizations by and for people with disabilities have existed since the 1800’s.” [1] In 1921, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Home | American Foundation for the Blind (afb.org) was created to help veterans who had been blinded during World War I. Through the AFB, supported by Helen Keller and the national organization of Lions (Keller called them the Knights of the Blind), great strides were made creating employment opportunities for the blindness community (e.g., Randolph-Sheppard Act, 1936) Randolph Sheppard Vending Facility Program | Rehabilitation Services Administration (ed.gov) and access to books through the National Library Service (NLS) “Talking Book” program NLS at the Library of Congress – National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) | Library of Congress (loc.gov).

Yet, by the end of the 30’s, there was a realization that, if blind people were going to gain parity with sighted people, blind people were going to need to advocate for themselves. In November 1940, Jacobus TenBroek and others living with blindness, formed the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Homepage | National Federation of the Blind (nfb.org). Its tagline is, “Live the life you want.” Through the advocacy of the NFB, progress was made in gaining better education and training for job opportunities that focused more on what blind people wished to do rather than areas sighted people relegated them to.

Later unrest in the NFB caused a number of blind people to break with the NFB. In July 1961, a new consumer group, the American Council of the Blind (ACB) Home | American Council of the Blind (acb.org), was formed. It too advocates for the needs of the blind in living independent lives. ACB’s tagline is, “Together for a bright future.”

It is little known or recognized that these organizations have not only advocated for the needs of the blind, but that these organizations have contributed to the case of Brown v Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the 70s, Judith (Judy) Heumann led advocacy work for people using wheelchairs. She, with the NFB, ACB, the Deaf community, and other disability advocacy groups, helped write and pressure congress to pass the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), which was signed by Pres. George H.W. Bush in July 1990.

In recognition of the enactment of the ADA, July is designated Disability Pride month. The continued work of advocacy by and for the disabled continues to make life for many safer and better. At the same time, the work they do adds to the lifestyles of the sighted. The availability of audio books and voice-activated hands-free phones are only two of the things that the general population benefits from. Wheelchair ramps also benefit us all by often making bicycle travel safer and easing the lives of parents pushing strollers. Accommodations for people living with disabilities makes life for all of us better.

Happy Disability Pride Month!

[1] Disability History: The Disability Rights Movement (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

LDR staff with members of the LDR national network.

At the beginning of May, five Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) staff members attended the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  

NVOAD is a coalition of community-based, faith-based and nonprofit disaster response organizations throughout the United States. Its purpose is to serve as a forum in which organizations can coordinate responses. In addition to the more than 70 national member organizations (including LDR), there are also VOADs at the state and local levels. 

The NVOAD conference is an opportunity to network with other disaster organizations and attend various workshops, plenaries and vendor exhibitions. Pastor Matthew Zemanick, Program Director for LDR Initiatives,  was one of the presenters for a session entitled “The Power of Place, Historical Trauma, and the Lifting up of Cultural Humility in Disaster Response.” 

Reflections from LDR staff:

“This was my first time attending the National VOAD Conference, which had a record-breaking year with over 800 participants! It was amazing to see and notice how passionate the member organizations are about their work in disaster and love what they do. It helped me personally to see a bigger picture of how diverse the groups were and how important it is to have existing relationships with NVOAD members in the blue-sky times. My favorite time was connection with our LDR Community of Practice Members over meals and meeting with some of the LDR partners in person for the first time. It was a meaningful experience in many ways from networking, to making connections, to building new relationships, and being part of important discussions.”  

-Zaya Gilmer, Program Manager, LDR-US 

“The NVOAD conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with new and long-time members of the LDR network. It was great to see people in person, to build and strengthen relationships, and deepen the bonds between LDR, our colleagues, and the institutions that provide humanitarian relief around the world.” 

-Sean Coffman, Program Director, LDR Networks and Training 

“This was my first NVOAD conference and I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to have learned alongside the wide range of partners and organizations involved in responding to disasters. I’ve come to this work from parish ministry and community chaplaincy in an environmental justice community. As someone who grew up with a single mom who was a nurse, for me, one striking parallel between both the environmental justice movement and the VOAD movement is the amount of people with working-class backgrounds in leadership. Representation matters, especially when disasters disproportionately impact working-class and impoverished households. I am humbled and honored to be surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, which gives me tremendous hope in the ways the Spirit is guiding us.” 

-Pr. Matthew Zemanick, Program Director, LDR Initiatives 

Issue 87 of Administration Matters

(Delayed until June 5 from May 15 publication date)

ELCAdvantage Program

Through the ELCAdvantage Program, the ELCA churchwide organization develops agreements with participating providers that offer products and services at competitive prices. Using the program enables collective, volume purchasing of essential products and services. >More

Inflation’s effect on houses of worship

This is a difficult time for houses of worship, which have experienced the one-two punch of first COVID-19 closures and now inflation. Inflation affects both a church’s finances and its members’ finances as the price of groceries, gas, clothing and other necessities rapidly increases. While these prices are rising, cost-of-living increases aren’t matching them, which means a dollar is worth less today than it was a year ago. How can you weather this latest crisis and come out on the other side with a still strong ministry. Church Mutual is publishing a series of blog posts on how different types of organizations can best handle inflation. Here it offers five tips for houses of worship.

What’s love got to do with it?

We all know the commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” but how does this apply to rostered ministers? As reported on NPR in September 2022, burnout among faith leaders is at an all-time high. The apostle Paul reminds us that if we have not love, we have nothing. Extending love to those who lead means we are generous with their compensation, forgiving of their human foibles, and reasonable and flexible with our demands, allowing them adequate rest.

Portico offers many programs for this: the Omada program for blood pressure and diabetes management, online health and fitness classes from Burnalong, employee assistance programs (including access to Talkspace for dealing with depression, anxiety and stress) and Learn to Live courses for cognitive behavioral therapy-based (CBT) support, among others. Best of all, these programs are virtual and can be accessed at home. Remind your employees who have ELCA-Primary health benefits that preventive exams are covered. Portico Care Coordinators by Quantum Health are just a phone call away to answer questions about exam and test coverage.

Operational ethics policy for congregations

Best practices for all organizations, including churches and nonprofits, recommend that business ethics and conflict-of-interest policies be in place. Such policies clarify fiduciary duties and address real or apparent conflicts of interest. >More

Three steps to stronger passwords

Strong passwords are of the utmost importance. They protect your electronic accounts and devices from unauthorized access, keeping your sensitive personal information safe. The more complex the password, the more protected your information will be from hackers and other cyber threats. >More

Five ways to demonstrate good church stewardship

Good stewardship is the careful and responsible management of all resources God provides for the betterment of creation. It is about using your gifts and talents to better the lives of others. Giving back to God’s mission in our world can go farther than you know! >More

The last few years have seen record numbers of anti-LGBTQ bills being proposed and passed, particularly in state legislatures, across the country. “As bishop of this church, I am concerned that the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans have been targeted all over this nation,” wrote ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton in her statement on anti-transgender legislation (3/20/23). “We must stand together, dear church, faithfully advocating for the full humanity and dignity of all people. Let us recognize and affirm the humanity of our transgender and nonbinary siblings. Let us advocate for their dignity.”

With a family-informed plea, Jamie Bruesehoff, a member of the ELCA Church Council, wrote: “Our transgender siblings are crying out for justice, they are begging for mercy and protection, for support, for people to care with their words and their actions. Our rostered leaders, our seminarians, families with transgender youth, and the transgender people in our pews need the church to show up at this moment” [written for their blog and reprinted in the ELCA Advocacy Blog (4/3/23)].

A confession in ELCA social teaching serves as caution as we confront the current policy trend. “Christian churches have rarely been in the forefront to gain civil rights for people who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered or queer,” reads the ELCA social message “Human Rights” (p. 7). Yet many in this church have cried and heard the cries and been stirred to action.

SHOWING UP AND SPEAKING OUT

Showing up and speaking out in support of transgender siblings include several ELCA bishops, ELCA-affiliated state public policy offices, and lay and rostered congregational leaders from many parts of the United States.

Synod Sampling

As Missouri grapples with reportedly the most anti-LGBTQ bills filed of any state, more than 300 faith leaders throughout Missouri including Bishop Susan Candea of the ELCA Central States Synod and many rostered ministers of that synod added their signatures to an open letter to state lawmakers to oppose bills targeting the LGBTQ community. “Many of the bill sponsors cite their faith as a reason for their support of such legislation,” the letter (March 28, 2023) available from The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri states. “We disagree. These bills do not uphold the shared principles of mutual respect, undeniable dignity, or abiding love found in the tenets of our faiths. The signers of this statement, while representing a diversity of faiths and perspectives, are united by our opposition to further legal restrictions aimed at LGBTQIA+ people that dishonors their belovedness and worth.”

In a March 17, 2023, statement shared with the ELCA Central States Synod, Bishop Candea wrote, “This is not a social issue. These are the lives of people we know… We are all diminished by the lines we draw between ‘us’ and ‘them.’”

Also acting in coalition, Bishop Tessa Moon Leiseth of the ELCA Eastern North Dakota Synod and Bishop Craig A. Schweitzer of the Western North Dakota Synod signed on with others from the ELCA as well as other denominations to a published letter (March 10, 2023) calling for the state legislature to “oppose bills that would harm the people of North Dakota and support legislation that reflects the true values of North Dakotans, values that guide us to care for one another and build a state that welcomes everyone.”

Earlier in the year, Bishop Amy Current of the ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod included raising attention to anti-LGBTQ legislation among items in the legislative session that aligned with Lent. “A recent study shows 44% of LGBTQ youth in Iowa considered suicide in the last year compared to 18% of non-LGBTQ youth,” she wrote to the synod (Feb. 27, 2023), noting several bills had been introduced in this legislative session that put LGBTQ adults and children at risk, including through curbing access to education, privacy, accommodations and healthcare. “Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves,” Bishop Current wrote, “These neighbors, LGBTQ children, adults, and their families are our neighbors and deserve to live with dignity and respect.”

An op-ed column coauthored by Bishop Sue Briner, ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, and Bishop Suffragan Kathryn M. Ryan, The Episcopal Diocese of Texas, was published (March 30, 2023) in the state which has seen may anti-LGBTQ bills in the 2023 legislative session. “It is plain to see by the many anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed in the Texas Legislature and across the country that trans individuals are not being seen to bear the image of Christ, are not having their dignity respected, and are not being seen as an opportunity through which the rest of us, in striving for justice and peace, might honor the image of God,” they wrote. “We faithfully hold the position that God calls us to meet the needs of transgender individuals and to empower them to flourish through the means of care which medical and therapeutic professionals continue to hold up as the gold standard. We stand with our transgender siblings and their parents and doctors, opposing interference with their access to medical and psychological care because it violates the human dignity we seek to uphold.”

Bishop Michael Rinehart of the ELCA Gulf Coast Synod participated in a prayer vigil (March 27, 2023) to support LGBTQ Texans testifying against a number of anti-trans bills in the state’s House.

From the ELCA Nebraska Synod, Bishop Scott Alan Johnson co-authored with Bishop J. Scott Barker of The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska a piece in the Omaha News-Herald titled “Midlands Voices: Legislation like LB 574 and LB 575 violates human dignity” (4/2/23 updated 5/9/23).* “These bills dishonor those who are doing their utmost to discover how they bear the image of God within themselves and in relationship to the people they love,” they write.

ELCA-Affiliated State Public Policy Office Sampling

ELCA-affiliated state public policy offices (sppos) have galvanized significant advocacy to promote dignity and respect under legislative threat.

• Discrimination is not a Texas Value is the headline accompanying a letter to Texas lawmakers (May 2023) organized through Texas Impact in the sppo network. “We wish to bring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Texans to your attention, as they remain at great risk. They are the target of routine mistreatment ranging from unkindness to life-ending assault, and they are forced to navigate unjust policies and practices on a daily basis. Alarmist language, fear-based rhetoric, and general mis or disinformation fuels discrimination, and discrimination does great harm.” The letter, signed by many including Lutheran congregations and individuals, continues, “As legislation is developed, filed, and negotiated, we urge you to use the authority afforded you by your office to unequivocally reject the targeting of marginalized people, and to both protect and do good for vulnerable Texans.”
• Kansas Interfaith Action, a sppo, has been attentive to developments in the Kansas legislature. “We spent quite a bit of time and effort recruiting and preparing testimony on several bills targeting trans people in Kansas,” wrote Rabbi Moti Rieber, executive director (February 2023).
• The Columbus Dispatch published a Letter to the Editor (Dec. 2022) by ELCA Deacon Nick Bates, director of Hunger Network in Ohio. “Sadly, there are lawmakers in Ohio that want to ban the right of kids to play as their authentic selves. I am discouraged by legislative proposals such as House Bill 151 that deny our trans and non-binary youth the opportunity to play sports,” he wrote. “House Bill 151 replaces love with bureaucracy, it replaces compassion with big government. We should welcome these children, because God already has.”

ALL OF US

There is some encouragement to hear voices of Christians confronting this struggle, but our advocacy remains vital. “As we celebrate Pride Month in June, we know that there are 29 states that still have harmful laws that are harmful to our LGBTQIA+ siblings,” says John Johnson, ELCA Program Director for Domestic Policy. “As too many states across the country join in introducing anti-trans legislation at the state level, we must remain allied, together, and vigilant.”

The ELCA social message “Human Rights” articulates a summons for God’s people in the ELCA to renewed attention and courage, discernment and action to promote and protect human rights. It says, “Christians are called to participate in God’s work in society, and we should expect to participate in history as rights are discerned, defined and defended” (p. 11).

In your communities and states, your advocacy is important. Reach out to your sppo or synod staff or task force for support and collaboration. Federally, our ELCA Witness in Society advocacy staff are monitoring for opportunities for federal policy action. The 🗺️ “Synod and District Map” can help you identify federal policy makers in your area to whom you may want to reach out to urge federal action.

Thank you for showing up and speaking out.

*Reference added to ELCA Advocacy Blog post 6/15/23

Faith Lens will not be published over the summer. But don’t worry, it will be back in the fall.

The next Faith Lens is scheduled to be posted on September 5, 2023 for Sunday, September 10.