In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from other sources around the ELCA. The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here.

My take: We are not newcomers

Let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage—let us be changed by it

By Khader Khalilia | April 28, 2025

Marhaba (mar-huh-bah or mar-ha-bah). A simple word, ancient and powerful. Rooted in Aramaic and Syriac languages of early Middle Eastern Christians. It means more than just “hello.” It means God is love. It’s a greeting, a theology, a word grounded in relationship, faith and belonging.

April is known as Arab American Heritage Month, but the church is invited to not only observe one month out of the year but to reclaim marhaba as a spiritual practice of welcome, belonging, dignity and solidarity.

At the heart of our culture is hospitality. The moment a guest walks into our home or church, we no longer see them as a stranger—they are part of our family. We don’t just offer food, we offer belonging. You’re not just a visitor, you’re embraced with dignity and love. That spirit of open doors and open hearts mirrors the gospel: there are no outsiders in the body of Christ. The church is called to do likewise—not only to welcome the stranger but to receive them as part of the body of Christ.

But for too long, Arab Americans have been painted as the “other.” Our stories flattened and identities misrepresented. Whether Muslim, Christian, Druze or otherwise, in Hollywood and other places, including the church, we’re cast as villains, terrorists, foreigners or footnotes. These images have real consequences—from hate crimes and surveillance to erasure and isolation. Even indigenous Arab Christians who are descendants of the earliest followers of Christ are often invisible in American Christian spaces.

That’s why this month matters.

It’s why we give thanks to the ELCA, specifically the Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities (MDCC), for opening its doors to Arab American communities. For making space not only for our language, culture and style of worship but for our leadership, theology, story and witness. Through the MDCC’s support, Arab Lutheran congregations are taking root in places where the gospel is preached in Arabic, where Dabke is danced in celebration and where marhaba is lived out loud. These congregations aren’t side projects—they are essential to the church.

Arab Americans have helped build this country. We are doctors, engineers, teachers, artists, small-business owners, veterans and public servants. We’ve enriched American cuisine, contributed to scientific breakthroughs, helped shape national policy and led movements for justice. Arab Americans have woven their lives into every part of this nation’s fabric.

We are not newcomers—we are neighbors.

Let us remember: marhaba is not just about welcome. It’s about belonging.

Representation shapes how we see God and how we see each other. To support Arab American ministries is to proclaim that Christ speaks every language, eats every dish and walks with every people. It’s to remember that Christianity was never Western to begin with, and we did not convert from Judaism or Islam. Jesus was born in my hometown, Bethlehem; grew up in Nazareth; and was crucified in Jerusalem. And Christianity first spread across lands now called Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt.

Marhaba is more than a greeting. It’s an invitation to reimagine the church as a place where no one is foreign. It’s a call to resist tokenism and performative inclusion and instead build real relationships rooted in listening, trust and shared struggle.

So this month, let us not just celebrate Arab American heritage—let us be changed by it.

Let us teach and preach about the early church as a living legacy still carried in Arab American communities. Let us teach our congregations that when Jesus said to love your neighbor and the stranger, he was talking to a people who knew what it meant to flee, to be displaced, to be labeled othered. Let us break down the walls that separate us from our neighbor and dismantle racism, support Arab-led ministries and show up in solidarity when our siblings are targeted or dismissed.

Let us remember: marhaba is not just about welcome. It’s about belonging.

To my beloved ELCA, we thank you for making room at the table for us. For helping Arab American congregations not just survive but thrive. For reminding the whole church that inclusion reflects the kingdom of God.

Khader Khalilia
Khader Khalilia is program director for ELCA Arab and Middle Eastern Ministries.

In honor of Arab American Heritage Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our Arab and Middle Eastern Descent peers and reposting their works from others sources around the ELCA. The following article is cross-posted from Living Lutheran online. The original post can be found here.

Rodny Said, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), leads a children’s sermon at the Church of Hope in Ramallah. Photos: ELCJHL

Said leads a bible study with youth during a youth retreat in Jordan.

Sani Ibrahim Azar, bishop of the ELCJHL, delivers a sermon at the Church of Hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two spouses living in two places—kept apart by two kinds of government ID.

It may sound like Romeo and Juliet, but that was life for Rodny Said, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).

With a Jerusalem ID, Said could cross the checkpoints between his East Jerusalem home and his congregation, the Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah. His wife lived with her parents because she couldn’t enter East Jerusalem with her Palestinian ID.

“We started the process of reunification, as the Israeli government calls it,” he explained during an Advent Pilgrimage 2024 webinar, “but it can take years for a person from East Jerusalem and a person from the West Bank to live together.”

Fortunately, Said’s wife received her permit shortly after the webinar, and the couple can now live and travel together between the two communities.

The webinar series was a program of Sumud, the ELCA’s initiative for justice in Palestine and Israel. Previously the ministry was known as Peace Not Walls, named after the 440-mile barrier wall that the Israeli government was building to separate Palestine from Israel. The wall is complete today.

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“To us, sumud means to in our country and continue bearing witness.”

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Sumud, an Arabic word meaning “steadfast,” conveys the determination it takes to be a Palestinian Christian. “Palestinians struggle to get to work, to universities, to churches and schools,” Said noted in the webinar. Since the onset of the Gaza War in 2023, many lost their jobs because they are no longer allowed to work in Israel. Many families are separated even though they live just a few blocks apart.

Life has gotten so difficult that the number of Christian families—already only 1% of the West Bank population—who are leaving is increasing. “They don’t see a future,” he said.

Emigration “means more pressure on us as a Christian community,” Said noted—especially for the ELCJHL, whose six congregations and four schools are supported by only 2,000 members.

“I think the easiest way is to leave,” Said added, “and the hard and painful way is to stay.”

Staying put, enduring and never giving up hope—that’s sumud. Through the initiative, the ELCA seeks to accompany Palestinians in their daily lives and advocate for peace with justice in Palestine and Israel.

Creating possibilities

For Maddi Froiland, program director for Sumud, a prime goal is making ELCA members more aware of what life under occupation is like.

As someone who spent four years in East Jerusalem and the West Bank—one as a Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteer and three years as communications officer for the ELCJHL—Froiland watched Christians live out Luke 6:31 (“Do to others as you would have them do to you”) even with soldiers who had arrested their sons. “The experience,” she said, “made me redefine what it means to be a Christian.”

Froiland said Sumud’s webinar series drew over 100 viewers who heard ELCJHL pastors and youth group members share stories of “resistance through existence” by living and worshiping together under occupation. Attendees heard their main message: Christians living in the Holy Land need to know someone is listening to and supporting them.

The Sumud initiative, Froiland said, “underscores that justice in Israel and Palestine means everyone has dignity and human rights. Right now the people who are lacking human rights are our Palestinian partners.”

Froiland is building synod-level networks of Palestinian Christians, YAGM alumni and others who can share their experiences in the region. “These networks will build communities that are both aware of the context of our siblings in the ELCJHL and are empowered through their faith to advocate for justice in Palestine and Israel,” she said.

A new ceasefire currently being negotiated between Israel and Hamas could open the door for healing and recovery from a war marked by violence and displacement. The ELCA supports that process through Sumud, Lutheran Disaster Response, the ELCA Middle East and North Africa desk, and deployed personnel in the region. Witness in Society, the ELCA’s public advocacy team, continues to advocate for a negotiated resolution to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to ongoing acts of violence.

On the ground, the ELCJHL creates possibilities for Palestinian Christians. “We do this through offering quality education for our youth, diaconal ministry for the vulnerable, environmental ministry for God’s creation, gender justice ministry and supporting our youth,” said Sani Ibrahim Azar, bishop of the ELCJHL.

“To us, sumud means to stay in our country and continue bearing witness as the Indigenous Christians of this land. This important and meaningful Arabic word … gives us strength—that we are not alone, we have our partners, our brothers and sisters, who will be steadfast in accompanying us.”

Anne Basye
Basye, a freelance writer living in Mount Vernon, Wash., is the author of Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal (ELCA, 2007).

In case you missed it:  In honor of Black History Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our African Descent peers and reposting their works from others sources around the ELCA. The following article is cross-posted from Living Lutheran online. The original post can be found here.

To honor and celebrate the contributions of Black Lutherans, Nicolette Peñaranda, ELCA program director for African Descent Ministries, created a quiz that highlights key figures, congregations and milestones in ELCA history. This interactive challenge is an opportunity to test your knowledge and deepen your understanding of the rich legacy of Black Lutherans in the ELCA.

In honor of Black History Month, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries will be elevating the voices of our African Descent peers and reposting their works from others sources around the ELCA. The following article is cross-posted from Living Lutheran online. The original post can be found here.

My take: Still Black. Still Lutheran

By Nicolette Peñaranda |February 3, 2025

It wasn’t long ago that Gov. Tim Walz was first announced as the Democratic nominee for U.S. vice president, alongside presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Moments after Harris declared her running mate, posts about Walz being a Lutheran began to pop up across social media.

“One of us!” I remember cheering as I sat on the couch in the faculty lodge of Pinecrest Lutheran Leadership Ministries. This ticket would be one of those rare moments when my identity would be fully displayed to the American people. A powerful, competent, multiethnic Black woman and a Midwest Lutheran represented the Democratic Party for the highest offices. What a rare and divine moment!

I know I wasn’t alone in this sentiment. One of my colleagues is, like Harris, a Black woman from Northern California who attended a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), pledged to a Black sorority and has had to work twice as hard as her white counterparts to get where she is today. Her story is my story. Our story is the story of thousands of other Black women in this church.

Many of us in ministry are aware that the odds are stacked against us. We intern in ministerial contexts that counter our lived experiences. Some of us complete second master’s degrees while waiting for a call or a work opportunity. If we attend a Lutheran seminary, we spend most of our education completing coursework while acting as racial justice translators in the classroom, fielding questions about our blackness and Lutheran identity.

Our nonclergy sisters do the same in their contexts. Black women in medicine must explain that they are the doctor and not the social worker. Black women in education must teach their 22-year-old counterparts from Teach for America about trauma-informed approaches to learning. Because of the additional work we are tasked with while working or completing our education, we are experts in both the content and in navigating white mediocrity, the truth that many professional settings are skewed in favor of white Americans.

This story is not about who won the presidential election nor about political parties. Rather, it’s about holding in tension the struggle that Black women face in the professional world. Regardless of our qualifications and professional experience, we aren’t considered for leadership positions, a situation not exclusive to the secular world.

An abusive relationship

I bring up Walz, a lifelong Lutheran who said yes to supporting a Black woman for president. Walz accepting the vice presidential nomination was more countercultural to most ELCA congregations than we realize. For over a decade, Black women candidates for ministry have waited three to five years for their first call. This means that if they were fortunate enough to interview at even four congregations a year, 1 out of every 12 to 20 congregations affirms a Black woman’s call to word and sacrament ministry. After nearly 40 years of Black women being ordained in the ELCA, only three have been elected as a synod bishop.

Since the inception of the ELCA, only two Black women have served as executive director for a home area. One of them saw her position eliminated, and the other works in People Solutions, which is mostly a human resources team. Wyvetta Bullock, an ELCA pastor, has held one of the highest offices in the ELCA as the executive for administration, but no ELCA seminary, college or university has had a Black woman as president. In 2022 at least four Black women were forced out of their ELCA congregations within two months.

The sobering truth is that Black women have been in an abusive relationship with the ELCA for a long time. Perhaps that is why the Walz announcement for the Harris ticket felt so special. Maybe this would start a trend in our denomination.

The reality is that Harris did not win the presidency. It didn’t matter that she was only the second presidential candidate ever to have worked inside all three branches of government. It didn’t matter that she had clear and concise policy proposals or that some of her positions even aligned with the Republican Party. She lost support in most demographics except the Black community and millennials. It’s challenging to find hope for ministry in a church with the same demographics as those who didn’t see one of the people most qualified for office as fit to serve.

What does this mean?

What, then, does this mean for those of us asked to educate the masses within the ELCA? At what point do we just become a broken record for racial justice to ears that refuse to hear it? When is it appropriate to call the time of death for these DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) workshops and cultural competency talks?

I’m not quite sure how we move forward to pay homage to Black leaders in our church when we refuse to address the elephant in the room. Some leaders still don’t think we should be in the pulpit nor the Oval Office. For years we have documented, celebrated and named the historic contributions Black leaders have offered our church, and still we have not seen our white counterparts build a base of people to support our ministry and advocate for equitable work opportunities.

So, rather than provide more resources and community discussions, I hope congregations will watch all three seasons of “Talks at the Desk” this Black History Month. Use the discussion guides and pledge to make a special offering all month for the African Descent Lutheran Association or the 66th Synod Reparations Fund. But until we start using the resources we already have and apply change, then we will never be free.

The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here.

I’m a Lutheran: Glory Godwin Lekashu

By John Potter|December 20, 2024

Medical laboratory technician, Essentia Health
Trinity Lutheran Church, Moorhead, Minn.

Growing up, I was highly involved with the youth ministry of my home church, Kimandolu Lutheran Church in Arusha, Tanzania, and was on the church praise and worship team. I started going to Trinity Lutheran Church in 2019 as a college freshman at Concordia College [in Moorhead, Minn.]. Currently, I serve on the hospitality team for Trinity. I usher and read Scripture.

This involvement is very important to me because there is nothing else that gives me more purpose than serving the Lord and being a servant to my local congregation. This also gives me peace and joy. Every second I spend in church makes me so happy that I could never trade these moments with anything else in the world.

I graduated from Concordia this year with a major in biology—premed—minoring in religion and environmental and sustainability studies.

I was always fascinated with science and wanted to know more about human bodies and how to heal and restore them using different biological procedures and scientific findings. This passion drew me close to biology. But as I was learning this, I realized the importance of faith when it comes to healing and restoring, so my minor in religion was a complement to biology and an approach to healing the whole body, not just the physical [aspect]. And who said religion and science don’t go together?

In the same spirit of healing and restoring comes the environmental issue. As we all know, our environment is changing, our climate is changing—and these changes are not necessarily the best changes. Knowing and acknowledging this drove me into environmental and sustainability studies.

All these areas of study, to me, were just one big picture addressing one thing, which is healing—healing the body, the soul and our world. I love how these different areas of studies have shaped me and made me more informed.

The International Women Leaders [IWL] program was the best thing that has ever happened to me. IWL allowed me to experience education from a whole different angle. It gave me choices and opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if I was not in the program. I have had the greatest experience in the program; I got introduced to opportunities and connections that I cherish dearly. IWL helped me to understand my leadership roles and envision what I can do as a leader in my community and the world at large. It opened doors and placed me in spaces I would have never dreamt of. Every time I introduce myself as an IWL scholar, things just sparkle, and I am forever grateful for this program.

All my areas of study were just one big picture addressing one thing, which is healing—healing the body, the soul and our world.

Serving on the logistics team for the 2024 Youth Gathering was eye-opening. I learned a lot about myself as a leader regarding areas that I need some improvement in and areas that I’m really good at. In general, serving the Youth Gathering was a blessing. To witness over 16,000 Lutheran youth come together to praise, worship, learn, serve and be who they were created to be was just phenomenal.

My role as a medical laboratory technician entails multitasking, ensuring patients’ safety, properly explaining details of procedures to patients in a clear way of understanding, performing intravenous blood draws, efficiently handling patient specimens in a proper manner to ensure non-contamination for transportation and running different tests in proper equipment. All this is in order to make a healthy difference in people’s lives.

I’m enrolled at North Dakota State University in a Master of Public Health program. My desire for health care justice is what drew me close to public health. It is my hope to see communities being able to access the best medical care they need and being well-informed about their health, regardless of where they are or who they are.

I plan to use my master’s degree to influence the health care system and work to create policies that will give health care access to marginalized communities. [I also want to] come up with projects that will inform communities about determinants of health.

I hope to live my faith through my vocation by serving with love, justice, grace and honesty to all. I hope to be a helping hand and a voice to those around me and to shine the light of Christ to the lives of people I get to interact with.

In my free time, I practice Aikido, which is a Japanese martial art, play drums and do puzzles.

I’ve witnessed God’s presence in my life through my journey to the U.S., the doors that God opened when I thought they were closed, and the opportunities that God gave me.

I pray, especially in this season, that the light of Christ will shine on every land and that the peace of the Lord will prevail on earth.

Grace is an undeserving favor from God, not because of what I did or what I did not [do] but just pure favor.

I’m a Lutheran because I continue to believe that I am saved by grace alone, through faith in Jesus and nothing else.

Celebrate Black History Month with season three of “Talks at the Desk,” a four-part video series by African Descent Ministries of the ELCA. This season focuses on the Reclaim Gathering and will explore its themes: reclaim, embolden, embody and liberate. A new video will premiere each Wednesday in February at 7:30 p.m. Central time beginning Feb. 7. Watch live at https://youtube.com/ELCA.

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The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. The original post can be found here.

The inaugural cohort of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary’s (PLTS) Theological Education for Indigenous Leaders (TEIL) launched on Oct. 9 with an opening ceremony and shared celebration attended by leaders from across the ELCA. Photos: Courtesy of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

Larry Thiele, a pastor in the Eastern North Dakota Synod, teaches a TEIL course as one of the program’s wisdom keepers.

Some of the Indigenous leaders and wisdom keepers of the TEIL program with Moses Paul Peter Penumaka, director of Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (far right); PLTS Rector Raymond Pickett (center); and Francisco Javier Goitia Padilla, director of theological formation for seminaries and schools of the ELCA (second from right).

Centuries after colonial models of education were first forced on Indigenous people in North America, their effects are still keenly felt. Western theological education has remained the default methodology within the church, including the ELCA. This fall, Native leaders from across the ELCA, in partnership with leaders from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) of California Lutheran University in Berkeley, are seeking to change that with the launch of the Theological Education for Indigenous Leaders (TEIL) program.

“The TEIL program is a historic and first-of-its-kind opportunity for Indigenous leaders and for our church,” said Vance Blackfox, ELCA director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. “It gives students an opportunity to access education and leadership development—and possibly become ordained—so that they might be even more effective leaders in their communities and congregations.”

Though modeled after PLTS’ Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM) certificate program—which is offered in collaboration with Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., and the Lutheran Center of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod in Indianapolis and aims to prepare students for ordained ministry in the ELCA—the TEIL program is distinct in groundbreaking ways. “While the timeline looks like the traditional TEEM program, the content and teachers look very different,” said Blackfox, a partner in the development of TEIL and one of its instructors.

“Ninety percent of our instructors, whom we call wisdom keepers, are Indigenous, and the students will experience Indigenous pedagogy, or ways of learning about ministry and biblical studies, that are not offered anywhere else in our church,” said Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

The TEIL curriculum was designed by and for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) leaders, with their leadership and ministry formation and Indigenous theologies in mind.

“Students will experience Indigenous pedagogy not offered anywhere else in our church.”

The program gave its developers the freedom to look at why some of the courses traditionally offered in TEEM weren’t relevant to Indigenous students’ ministry and context, and what would be meaningful for their experience, said Moses Paul Peter Penumaka, director of TEEM.

“One of the first classes we offer in TEEM is ‘Ministry in Context,’ but TEIL leaders named it as ‘Ministry in Indigenous Context,’” he said. Other classes offered in the 16-course curriculum include “American Lutheranism and Indigenous History” and “Truth and Healing.”

“This program that the wisdom keepers put together is their own program,” Penumaka said. “They are defining what land, context, ministry and theology mean to them, for their own communities and their own people. So it is very unique, authentic and charismatic.”

In many seminary courses, the gospel is read through a Western lens, said Penumaka. The TEIL program offers students “an education that can empower and enlighten them, that’s not enforced upon them,” he said.

Blackfox has a personal understanding of the model’s importance. “There has never been a time in my own studies where the class was made up of 100% Native students, from early childhood until graduate-level seminary classes,” he said. “So for the students in TEIL to have that opportunity is unique and will be, I believe, invaluable to the ways they learn and what they learn.”

“Strengthening our ministry”

The inaugural cohort of TEIL, comprised of 10 students representing a range of ELCA Indigenous ministries and congregations, began their program on Oct. 9, Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The program was launched with in-person classes hosted at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland, Ore., and an opening ceremony and shared celebration attended by leaders from across the ELCA.

“The ELCA has committed to supporting Native-focused and Native-led leadership and education, and to developing future Native leaders, pastors and theologians,” said Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop. “The Theological Education for Indigenous Leaders program is one important way to honor that commitment. Our Indigenous leaders have vital gifts to offer this church, and the TEIL program is an opportunity to meaningfully support their development.”

Joann Conroy, president of the ELCA’s American Indian Alaska Native Lutheran Association (AIAN), agreed. “We’ve been invisible people for too long,” she said of AIAN members and leaders of the ELCA. “Being able to have TEIL is something that not only strengthens our ministry, wherever we happen to be situated, but strengthens the church and recognizes the gifts we bring to the church.”

“The ELCA has committed to supporting Native-focused and Native-led leadership and education.”

Conroy, an Oglala Sioux Lakota pastor who serves as a TEIL wisdom keeper, began meeting with Blackfox and Penumaka several years ago to decide how the program would take shape. Eventually that group broadened to include a team of Indigenous leaders who helped determine what the distinctive courses would be.

“We discussed what the Indigenous pedagogy might look like for each of those classes and who would lead them,” Blackfox said. “We met multiple times to develop this Indigenous learning experience together.”

Blackfox identified several primary goals for the program. “One would be providing quality and appropriate classes and experiences for Indigenous students that empower them to be even stronger ministry leaders in their communities, congregations and Indigenous ministries, both as ministers and with their fellow lay members,” he said. “Two, to allow for their experiences and tribal life ways to also be contributing gifts to their learning environments while in the TEIL program.”

He also hopes to “continue to connect the church at large—the churchwide organization, synods, congregations, individuals—with ways of supporting Indigenous ministries in our church. And this is one tremendous way in which that can happen.”

Seeds planted

The TEIL program is open to lay leaders and those on the ordination track alike. “Students don’t have to be candidates for ordination to be in the program but will be introduced to candidacy in case they do want to pursue ordination,” Blackfox said.

TEIL student Amanda Vivier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, had been looking for just such a program. “My heart has been yearning for this connection and acceptance as an Anishinaabe leader and as a follower of Christ Jesus, so it was a no-brainer when the opportunity presented itself,” she said of enrolling in the program.

Vivier has served as spiritual director and minister for The Way (formerly Native American Christian Ministry) in Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., since 2017 and is seeking ordination. “This is a huge blessing to the Indigenous population of followers of Christ Jesus,” she said of the TEIL program. “It has opened the door for me to pursue becoming a pastor while still [being] very engaged with my family and ministry.”

She has already found her TEIL coursework directly applicable to her ministry context. “In the short first week I spent in TEIL, I picked up teachings I was able to bring back to The Way that following Sunday,” she said. “It has also actually encouraged me to look at the Bible in my lens of an Anishinaabe kwe [woman] and share it in a language that becomes more relevant for the population I’m serving.”

“This is a huge blessing to the Indigenous population of followers of Christ Jesus.”

Gabe Wounded Head is an Oglala Lakota student completing his undergraduate degree at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks this year. He has also applied what he is learning in TEIL to his college campus, where he is a chapel service leader and an active member of Campus Ministry. “I have learned that the idea that there is one path down any road, whether it be education style, church service style or leadership style, is false,” he said. “This program provided me with a unique opportunity to take advantage of a new alternative viewpoint in biblical exegesis.”

In his ministry experience, Wounded Head has found that “most of the people who have turned away from their adolescent churchgoing habits have done so because they’ve learned a new perspective of history, one of the colonized people, that church leaders have historically desired to keep under wraps.” But he believes that TEIL can help enrich people’s faith while also inviting new members by offering important context.

“A historical context creates a picture that the good news was not just meant for the European church, and it wasn’t just meant for the American church—it was meant for the people of God, worldwide,” Wounded Head said. He believes the seeds being planted with TEIL will invite more voices into the ELCA, both from Indigenous communities and beyond current church membership.

When Conroy was in seminary, she experienced that lack of context as a missing piece of her education. “A lot of what I was being taught was very white-focused—my cultural understanding wasn’t being taught,” she said. “TEIL is now bringing those things to the table for our young leaders, where their voice and their cultural relevance can finally be applied to theological learning.

“If you look to the future of the church, if you look at [Indigenous] elders, children, young adults, it really is necessary to keep working toward this. It’s important.”

John Potter
John G. Potter is content editor of Living Lutheran. He lives in St. Paul, Minn.

The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here.

In April, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton launched the Truth and Healing Movement to increase the church’s understanding of the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people in past and present generations. Living Lutheran reached out to Richard A. Magnus, a retired pastor who attends Edina (Minn.) Community Lutheran (ECLC), to hear how the congregation’s work with the movement has affected members and the community.

Living Lutheran: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Magnus: My first call was to urban ministry at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Denver. My assignment was to get to know the communities of color and then invite suburban congregations into relationship with those communities. My second call was to an urban campus ministry in Boulder and the Auraria Higher Education Center, Denver. In that role I was … invited to serve on the National Indian Lutheran Board (NILB) from 1979 to 1981 as one of three “blue eyes” on the board. While in Denver I served as a mission director for the Rocky Mountain Synod and in that capacity supported Rev. Dr. George (“Tink”) Tinker in forming the Four Winds American Indian Survival Project.

In 1997, I was called [as] executive director of the ELCA Division for Outreach. In that capacity I worked with pastors Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, former pastor of All Nations Indian Church, and Gordon Straw, director of the ELCA Indian desk [both deceased], to form the Indigenous Institute, which trained 20 ELCA leaders in a better understanding of Native Americans.

In retirement I was invited to serve on the ELCA Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery Task Force, where I continue to serve on the leadership team.

Could you tell me about ECLC?

In September, ECLC will celebrate its 75th anniversary. ECLC has always had a concern for justice. In 1971, ECLC called Barbara Andrews as the first woman pastor in the former American Lutheran Church. In 1973, ECLC supported members of the American Indian Movement with meals in their Wounded Knee trial. Since the 1980s the congregation has supported homeless housing ministries. It continues to support two food shelves. In 1985, ECLC became a Reconciling in Christ congregation. Strong advocacy was given to the Minnesota Marriage Amendment. The congregation partners with Redeemer Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis in the African American community, Iglesia Luterana San Pablo in southeast Minneapolis and Cristo de Paz in El Salvador. Youth groups have traveled to the Pine Ridge Reservation. In 2003 the congregation sued the state of Minnesota over requirements for churches in the “conceal and carry” law.

In a current capital campaign to reduce debt, one-tenth of all contributions are given to community partners. One of those recipients is the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. Members accompanied Pastor Helgemo to Standing Rock [Indian Reservation] to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline at least twice.

There is increasing interest [in learning] the history of settler takeover of Native land, to understand the history as having an ongoing effect on Native people and to ask what is called for from us to address current injustices.

Why did ECLC decide to engage with the Truth and Healing Movement?

The 2016 Churchwide Assembly passed the “Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery.” Some members paid attention to that action. The trips to Standing Rock followed. Then in 2020 the ELCA Church Council adopted the “Declaration to American Indian and Alaska Native People,” which I brought to ECLC. In October 2021 eight members under the leadership of Pastor Helgemo visited the Lower Sioux Agency, the Mille Lacs Band and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Those visits were a great stimulus for more action.

In September 2021 the Indigenous Rights group was formed. [It] has offered many educational experiences for the congregation, including sacred sites tours in the Twin Cities; educational forums on the Doctrine of Discovery; conversations with Vance Blackfox, director for Indigenous ministry and tribal relations; and more. The group prepared a land acknowledgment that is used in the bulletin every Sunday and is encouraged to be used at the beginning of committee meetings, etc.

In initial planning for the ECLC’s 75th anniversary, the theme chosen was “Sacred Ground.” The study portion of the celebration in September through mid-November will focus on the fact that we are on Dakota land and encourage the congregation to ask what that means and how it should inform our relations with Native nations, hopefully as strong advocates for justice for Native nations.

The action to join the Truth and Healing Movement announced by Presiding Bishop Eaton during Holy Week this year encouraged the congregation even more to dig deeper and make even more use of the excellent resources on the ELCA website (www.elca.org/indigenous).

How has work with the movement impacted the congregation?

There is increasing interest [in learning] the history of settler takeover of Native land, to understand the history as having an ongoing effect on Native people and to ask what is called for from us to address current injustices.

The congregation had as many as 60 screens when offering Zooms on the Doctrine of Discovery, the ELCA declaration and conversations with Vance. Twenty-seven members traveled to the Lower Sioux Agency on June 17 to learn from the Rev. John Robertson, a retired Episcopal priest who now works as a cultural interpreter in the Lower Sioux Museum.

Upcoming plans include attendance at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Wacipi (powwow) on Aug. 19 and a sacred sites tour led by Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs of the Minnesota Council of Churches on Oct. 7. There will also be several sessions directly related to resources provided for the Truth and Healing Movement during the anniversary celebration time.

Use of the land acknowledgment statement also deepens the understanding of members and calls them to action. Here is the land acknowledgment:

My hope is that we are in the Truth and Healing Movement for the long run. There is so much to be undone to right the wrongs of our past.

“We acknowledge that Edina Community Lutheran Church is located on the traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakhota Oyate, the Dakota nation. Treaties developed through exploitation and violence were broken. Tribes were forced to exist on ever smaller amounts of land.

“Acknowledging this painful history, we as a congregation confess our complicity in the theft of Native land and acknowledge that we have not yet honored our treaties. We further confess that Christians and Christian churches have benefited from this land theft. We commit to being active advocates for justice for Native people and to truth telling that leads to healing.”

Another item that appears in our bulletin each week is:

“At ECLC’s Annual Meeting on February 5, 2017, the congregation approved the following statement and made a commitment toward racial justice: Racial injustice continues to thrive in our country and communities. Our Christian response is to walk in solidarity with people of color, because standing silent sanctions continued violence.  We recognize that those who are white, are intertwined in a network of unearned privilege. We, as a congregation, are compelled to advocate for racial justice. We invite other congregations to join together in expressing their commitments to live out our shared faith—active in love—in the struggle for equity and justice.”

What should congregations consider before they engage in this movement?

Ask yourselves why you are considering joining the Truth and Healing Movement. Ask whether you are willing to be changed by what you will learn in the process. Go to the ELCA website to see … what might be best for you to use as you begin. Find Native organizations and people who can be your guides and informers, remembering that leadership must come from those communities and people (but the work of learning will need to come from you).

Take the leap—there is so much to learn, so much to gain as you see the connectedness and begin to remove myths to be fed by the gifts of reality in the Native world these days.

Do you have any closing thoughts you want to share?

I am so grateful that our church is where it is now as it seeks to reclaim relationships that were lost with the end of the NILB. We have tremendous opportunity to become an important ally in working for Native justice. … My hope is that we are in the Truth and Healing Movement for the long run. There is so much to be undone to right the wrongs of our past. I’m a humble volunteer in an exciting justice-oriented congregation.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the author’s name and listed Richard Magnus as the pastor at ECLC. Both have been corrected. The story also included a reference to Enbridge Line 3 as the pipeline ECLC members protested with Rev. Marlene Helgemo and not the Dakota Access Pipeline. This has been corrected and clarified.

The following is cross-posted from Living Lutheran. You can find the original post here.

Para celebrar el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, del 15 de septiembre al 15 de octubre estamos hablando con luteranos de ascendencia latiné para amplificar las voces de nuestros hermanos en Cristo. Hoy estamos hablando con Rev. Alejandro Mejía, director de la misión evangélica del Sínodo de Delaware-Maryland.

Las respuestas han sido editadas para su publicación.

¿Cómo está usted conectado a la ELCA?

Nací y crecí en Colombia, América del Sur. Mi familia siempre ha pertenecido a la iglesia luterana. Recuerdo estar presente en conversaciones en las que se mencionaba el nombre “ELCA”. Cuando me hice más activo en la iglesia, aprendí sobre los fuertes lazos que hay entre la Iglesia Evangélica Luterana de Colombia y la ELCA. Recuerdo haber visto o escuchado de líderes como Mary Campbell, Rafael Malpica Padilla, por mencionar a algunos que son conocidos y que todavía están entre nosotros. Tiempo después, cuando ya servía a una congregación, me llegó una invitación del Sínodo de Carolina del Sur de la ELCA en los Estados Unidos para servir como desarrollador de misiones entre la creciente comunidad latina.

Todo eso es para decir que la ELCA siempre fue parte de mi jornada de fe, gracias a su asociación con la iglesia en Colombia. Por supuesto que nuestra conexión se ha vuelto directa y más fuerte desde que me mudé a este país.

¿Cómo cree que la ELCA puede amplificar mejor las voces latinés?

Creo que, juntando las caras con las historias, explicando los puntos fuertes de nuestra gente. Debemos fomentar atención y empatía en nuestra iglesia hacia las necesidades y realidades de nuestros hermanos latinés, pero también es necesario que publiquemos historias sobre las habilidades, los puntos fuertes, el poder que existe entre nuestra gente. Somos luchadores; nunca nos echamos para atrás. Eso es algo que hay que mencionar. Por supuesto, aún hay tantas necesidades por satisfacer. Sin embargo, hay tanto que podemos ofrecer para hacer más fuerte a nuestra denominación. Así como contribuimos a la grandeza de este país, también podemos hacerlo en nuestra denominación.

¿En qué formas puede la ELCA ser más inclusiva de la comunidad latiné?

Es importante abrir espacios en la mesa de toma de decisiones donde se sientan los poderosos. Pero no se trata de traer a una persona latiné porque existe la necesidad de cierta diversidad. Se trata de traer suficientes personas de una comunidad en particular, en este caso la comunidad latiné, para que haya una voz más fuerte y asertiva. Para una persona de color es intimidante estar en la mesa con probablemente otras dos o tres, pero en la que todavía somos una minoría.

También es importante tener presente que América Latina está formada por varios países, cada uno con tantas culturas diferentes que nos hacen únicos. Los líderes de nuestra iglesia deben confiar en nosotros, escucharnos, y aprender con nosotros y de nosotros. Podemos prosperar si lo hacemos juntos.

Es esencial ser conscientes de nuestra presencia proporcionando formas en las que podemos sentir que pertenecemos. No porque necesitemos ayuda, sino como iguales. Un ejemplo de ese enfoque podría ser ofrecer interpretación simultánea al español en reuniones como la asamblea de toda la iglesia, entre otros espacios importantes para nuestra vida como iglesia; poniendo a disposición material de adoración, de formación en la fe —por mencionar unos cuantos— en español, escrito por líderes latinés.

Necesitamos más y más líderes latinés listos para servir; por lo tanto, debemos crear formas de capacitar y equipar a las personas de nuestras comunidades facilitando el acceso a la educación. Y no solo seminarios; hay otras profesiones que se necesitan dentro de nuestra iglesia que pueden funcionar por el bien de nuestra comunidad latiné.

Hay muchas oportunidades y maneras que nuestra iglesia podría implementar para poner en práctica el hecho de que todos son bienvenidos, con el fin de que podamos sentir en nuestros cuerpos que, en efecto, somos vistos y apreciados.

¿Cómo ve a la comunidad latiné representada en su sínodo e iglesias locales?

Soy muy afortunado de trabajar con el obispo William Gohl. Él me ha dado la oportunidad de ocupar una posición de liderazgo dentro de nuestro sínodo. Me encantaría ver que esto sucediera en otros sínodos. Me encantaría ver a más ministros latinés en la lista como pastores principales o como diáconos a cargo de programas sólidos dentro de congregaciones y sínodos. Directores juveniles, directores musicales.

¿Qué le da esperanza?

Hay comunidades y ministros en la lista que, a pesar de los retos (inequidad, falta de recursos, racismo), se despiertan cada mañana para trabajar duro y prosperar. Ellos y sus comunidades están marcando una gran diferencia en esta iglesia y esta nación. Tengo esperanza al ver a niños y jóvenes diciendo que aman a la iglesia, y se identifican como cristianos luteranos.

Sé de familias que se suben al automóvil y conducen varias millas solo por la oportunidad de reunirse en torno a la palabra y el sacramento porque sienten que pertenecen. Madres que vienen con sus hijos porque necesitan ser nutridas por el amor de Dios hecho realidad a través de la comunidad. Dios nos ha inspirado a seguir adelante, a nunca echar para atrás, sino a levantarnos si caemos. Y nos levantamos más fuertes, porque no estamos solos.

¿Por qué cosas ora usted?

El fin de la mentalidad patriarcal, de supremacía blanca y despreciativa con la que muchos están acostumbrados a mirarnos. Oro por oportunidades para que nuestras nuevas generaciones sean quienes son, que promovamos el bilingüismo, que fomentemos el aprendizaje de otros idiomas, que nuestras iglesias sean espacios seguros, no para asimilar la cultura dominante, sino para afirmar que la diversidad es uno de los dones más preciosos de Dios y la esencia de Dios.

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 we are speaking with Lutherans of Latiné descent to amplify voices of our siblings in Christ. Today we are speaking with Rev. Alejandro Mejia, director for evangelical mission with the Delaware-Maryland Synod.

Responses have been edited for publication.

How are you connected to the ELCA?

I was born and raised in Colombia, South America. My family has always belonged to the Lutheran church. I remember being present at conversations in which the name “ELCA” would be mentioned. When I became more active in the church, I learned about the strong ties between the Iglesia Evangelica Luterana de Colombia and the ELCA. I remember seeing or hearing about leaders such as Mary Campbell, Rafael Malpica Padilla, just to mention some who are well-known and still among us. Later, when I was already serving a congregation, an invitation came from the ELCA South Carolina Synod in the United States to serve among the growing Latino community as a mission developer.

All of that is to say, the ELCA was always part of my faith journey, thanks to its partnership with the church in Colombia. Of course, our connection has become direct and stronger since I moved to this country.

How do you believe the ELCA can better amplify Latiné voices?

I think putting faces and stories together, explaining the strengths that our people have. We need to promote mindfulness and empathy among our church toward the needs and realities of our Latiné siblings, but we also need to put stories out there about the abilities, the strengths, the power that exists within our people. We are fighters; we never step back. That is something that has to be mentioned. Of course, there are so many needs still to be satisfied. However, there is so much that we can offer to make our denomination a stronger one. As we are contributing to the greatness of this country, we are also able to do it within our denomination.

What are ways in which the ELCA can be more inclusive for the Latiné community?

It is important to open spaces at the decision-making table where the powerful sit. But it is not about bringing a Latiné person because there is the need for some diversity. It is about bringing enough people from a particular community, in this case the Latiné community, in order that there is a stronger and assertive voice. It is intimidating for one person of color being at the table with probably another two or three but where, still, we are a minority.

It is also important to keep in mind that the Latino America is made of several countries, each having so many different cultures that make us unique. Leaders from our church need to trust us, listen, and learn with us and from us. We can thrive if we do it together.

Being mindful of our presence by providing ways in which we can feel we belong is essential. Not because we need help, but as equals. One example of that approach could be offering simultaneous interpretation to Spanish at gatherings such as a churchwide assembly, among other important spaces for our life as a church; making available worship, faith formation material—just to mention a few—in Spanish, written by Latiné leaders.

We need more and more  Latiné leaders ready to serve; therefore, we need to create ways to train and equip people from our communities by facilitating access to education. And not only seminaries—there are other professions that are needed within our church that can work for the sake of our  Latiné community.

There are many opportunities and ways that our church could implement in order to put into practice the fact that all are welcome, so that we can feel in our bodies that we are indeed seen and appreciated.

How do you see the Latiné  community represented in your synod/local churches?

I am so fortunate to work with Bishop William Gohl. He has given me the opportunity to occupy a position of leadership within our synod. I would love to see this happening in other synods. I would love to see more Latiné rostered ministers as senior pastors or as deacons in charge of strong programs within congregations and synods. Youth directors, music directors.

What gives you hope?

There are communities and rostered ministers who, despite the challenges—inequity, lack of resources, racism—wake up every morning to work hard and thrive. They and their communities are making a huge difference in this church and nation. I have hope by seeing children and youth saying that they love the church, identifying as Christians Lutherans.

I know about families who get in the car and drive several miles just for the opportunity to gather around word and sacrament because they feel they belong. Single mothers coming with their children because they need to be nurtured by God’s love made real through community. God has inspired us to move forward, to never step back, but rather to rise if we fall. And we rise stronger, because we are not alone.

What do you pray for?

The end of the patriarchal, white supremacist, patronizing mindset from where many are used to looking at us. I pray for opportunities for our new generations to be who they are, that we promote bilingualism, that we encourage learning other languages, that our churches are safe spaces not to assimilate the dominant culture but by affirming that diversity is one of God’s most precious gifts and God’s essence.