In 2025, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly committed to encouraging and equipping congregations, synods and affiliated ministries to observe the National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools annually on or near Sept. 30. The action also calls for continuing education, research, truth telling, healing and repair related to the church’s involvement in Indian boarding schools.

One year later, Indigenous Ministries, part of the Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities (MDCC), is drawing attention again to the Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities and sent to schools designed to suppress their languages, cultures and identities. The day also recognizes boarding school survivors, descendants, families, tribal nations and communities still living with the consequences of a system in which Christian churches, including Lutheran bodies, participated.

Sept. 30 is also observed as Orange Shirt Day, named for boarding school survivor Phyllis Webstad’s account of having her orange shirt taken from her on her first day at a residential school. Wearing orange has become a visible way to remember Indigenous children affected by boarding schools and the loss of culture, identity and belonging those institutions sought to impose.

A personal story

Wanda K. Frenchman, a member of the Oglala Lakota and Lenape tribes, currently serves as the interim director of Indigenous Ministries. Here she shares her story:

“One day in September, the 30th, is set aside to remember Indigenous children who died, those who survived and the families and communities impacted by the federal boarding school era. As an Indigenous person who was raised by Catholic boarding school survivors, that one day becomes every day.

“My Lakota grandparents were raised at Holy Rosary Catholic Mission in Pine Ridge, S.D., in the 1930s by German-speaking Catholic nuns and priests. They weren’t offered God’s love as grace and kindness but shown God in the worst light possible through punishment for the sin of being born as Lakota people.

“My grandparents weren’t parented by their own Lakota families. Therefore, they parented their kids much as they were raised. The cycle of generational trauma was started with young children at boarding schools and continues still today.”

Frenchman’s family history with Indian boarding schools extends beyond her grandparents’ experiences as students. Her mother taught at the federally operated Phoenix Indian School in the early 1970s, and her paternal grandmother worked there as a dorm matron in the 1960s.

Truth seeking and truth telling

Frenchman’s story and others like it are the impetus for remembrance, truth seeking and truth telling.

The 2025 Churchwide Assembly approved the ELCA resolution on boarding schools by a vote of 779-7 after memorials were submitted by 22 synods. The first of six actions call on the churchwide organization to encourage and equip ELCA congregations, synods and affiliated or related ministries to observe the National Day of Remembrance. The remaining actions extend beyond Sept. 30 through education about Christian and Lutheran involvement in boarding schools, continued research into the church’s history, preservation and responsible access to records, healing and repair, and funding to sustain the work.

Central to those efforts is the Indigenous Ministries’ Truth Seeking & Truth Telling Initiative. Launched in September 2022, it organizes Lutherans to research and acknowledge Lutheran and broader Christian involvement in Indian boarding schools and their continuing impact on Native peoples.

“They weren’t offered God’s love as grace and kindness but shown God in the worst light possible through punishment for the sin of being born as Lakota people.”

The initiative began with 15 synods across four Midwestern states and expanded in 2023 to 27 synods across 10 additional states. In 2026, the work is expanding to synods nationwide. More than 100 laypeople and rostered ministers have participated in the initiative through gatherings, discussions, research and educational efforts.

The project connects research into boarding and day schools sponsored or supported by Lutherans with opportunities for worship and learning, all as part of an ongoing process of truth and healing. This research requires the church to examine its own history. The ELCA acknowledges that many white Christians, including Lutherans, participated in the physical and cultural genocide of Native peoples and supported boarding and day schools that separated Native children from their languages, cultures, families and communities.

Researchers have identified Bethany Indian Mission and School in Wittenberg, Wis., which was operated by ELCA predecessors with federal funding. The ELCA holds extensive archival materials related to the school and is digitizing them.

The assembly action also addresses what should happen to information uncovered through this research. It affirms that the boarding school records belong to survivors, their descendants, communities and tribal nations and can support healing. It also calls for survivors and their families to have responsible access to the records and related research. In addition, the action calls for funding to support continued research and the digitization and labeling of Indian boarding school records held by the ELCA Archives.

Healing in community

The work of addressing generational trauma is also taking place within Indigenous communities served by ELCA ministries.

At Native American Urban Ministry in downtown Phoenix, a weekly Talking Circle launched in August 2024 has grown into an intergenerational community of about 50 people. The circle provides a culturally grounded space for Indigenous people seeking community and support while navigating experiences that include substance abuse, domestic violence, grief, homelessness and loss of culture.

Participants gather for conversation, prayer and traditional practices. Frenchman said six established leaders now help sustain the circle each week, which incorporates singing in participants’ tribal languages, prayer, tobacco offerings and ceremonial smudging. Some participants have expressed surprise at being able to practice Indigenous traditions openly within a Christian church.

“The cycle of generational trauma was started with young children at boarding schools and continues still today.”

In Fargo, N.D., The Way (formerly Native American Christian Ministry) gathers Indigenous community members weekly for Native and Christian worship with traditional singing, prayer, food and fellowship. The Eastern North Dakota Synod identifies caring for people in recovery and those experiencing addiction as a central focus of the ministry. Frenchman said The Way also helps community members attend a weekly sweat lodge by providing transportation to the ceremony, including for some participants experiencing substance abuse and homelessness.

Both ministries offer examples of communities restoring traditions, relationships and cultural practices that boarding schools and colonization worked to suppress.

Continuing the work

MDCC Indigenous Ministries has developed the “ELCA Truth-seeking and Truth-telling Initiative on Indian Boarding Schools Learning Toolkit” and other resources to help congregations, synods, educational institutions and organizations participate in the work.

Resources include a prayer service honoring children who were taken to boarding schools, workshop materials, educational handouts, and tools for congregational and organizational learning. The initiative also welcomes people interested in research, data collection, education, organizing and leadership to participate in gatherings, educational opportunities and research projects.

For the ELCA, the National Day of Remembrance offers an annual opportunity to remember. The initiative and the work of Indigenous ministries across the ELCA also demonstrate ways that remembrance can continue through education, research, truth telling, cultural restoration, healing and repair throughout the year.

For more information, see elca.org/indianboardingschools.

ELCA Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations is a program team of ELCA Ministries of Diverse Cultures and Communities, which focuses on fostering relationships rooted in mutual respect, spiritual solidarity and cultural understanding. For November, the team is asking the church, its congregations, its members and its affiliated ministries to seek ways in which to observe Native American Heritage Month. Here are two possible ways that you might participate.

Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium | Nov. 10-12

Hosted by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) in partnership with Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, the annual Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium honors the renowned Indigenous scholar, activist, theologian and LSTC alum, who died in 2005 at age 72. For the 15th annual symposium, community leaders, students and faith leaders will gather to discuss Indigenous justice, theology and decolonization under this year’s theme, “Challenged and Transformed: A Vision for the Church.”

Throughout his life, Deloria routinely challenged systems of power—the church, the U.S. government, anthropological scientists—to acknowledge the validity of (and pursue justice for) all Indigenous peoples. He tirelessly advocated for Indigenous representation, access, acknowledgement and acceptance. This year’s educational celebration of his legacy will begin with a lecture by Robert Two Bulls, an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Oyate who serves the Episcopal Church as missioner for the Department of Indian Work.

Manuel Retamoza, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a pastor of both St. Andrew Lutheran Church and the Border Church in San Diego, serves as a planning team member for the symposium. Retamoza, who has previously preached and presented at the symposium, was asked what his hopes are for attendees of this annual event. “I want the attendees to hear how Vine’s words continue to resonate in our culture and within the Christian Church,” he said. “I hope that attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the complex intersections between the Christian faith, justice and Indigenous rights. I pray that the discussions will inspire a renewed commitment to solidarity, advocacy and action. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors and seek justice; I hope that this symposium will challenge attendees to consider how they can live out these values in their own lives and communities.”

All are welcome to attend the symposium, which will include a lecture, two panel presentations and a special chapel service, either online or in person. No registration is required. Visit the official event webpage on the LSTC website for more information and links to the Zoom sessions.

National Day of Mourning | Nov. 27

The National Day of Mourning started as a protest demonstration in 1970, in Patuxet (currently known as Plymouth, Mass.), after Wamsutta Frank James of the Wampanoag people, who had been invited to speak at a Thanksgiving celebration, was prohibited from speaking on the continued effects of colonial settlement. Today groups such as United American Indians of New England (UAINE) commemorate that incident by hosting events, activities and demonstrations every fourth Thursday in November to call attention to the ongoing oppression, genocide and struggles faced by Indigenous peoples. The National Day of Mourning offers an alternative Thanksgiving story rooted in truth and shared annually for the sake of increased public education, sustainable remembrance and continuing demands for justice.

On Nov. 27, all are invited to join Jennifer De Leon, ELCA director for racial justice, and other ELCA leaders on Cole’s Hill in Patuxet for a public demonstration. De Leon, in partnership with ELCA Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, has spearheaded many November trips to the National Day of Mourning events hosted by UAINE, which have included participation by synodical bishops, ELCA staff, leaders of affiliate ministries and members of local congregations. In a recent interview with Justice Nichols, program coordinator for Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, De Leon said: “While the focus is on lifting up the ongoing impact of colonization and the theft of Native land on Native peoples today, all forms of oppression were acknowledged—such as the attacks on immigrants and the war on Gaza.”

Nichols also spoke with Phoebe Morad, executive director for Lutherans Restoring Creation. Morad grew up near Patuxet and learned from her Indigenous neighbors that she could show up to National Day of Mourning events and provide support as an uninvited Christian. Morad emphasized the importance of taking accountability through participating in the events every year and actively listening to every speaker. She recounted being present when the granddaughter of Aquinnah Wampanoag activist Wamsutta Frank James read the letter he had attempted to share on that first Day of Mourning. She was also present to witness another young woman, a Palestinian American, “as she conveyed the violent assault on the Indigenous people of her home country,” reminding those gathered that colonialism continues to wreak havoc on the world.

Morad stressed the importance of demonstrating publicly on behalf of the most vulnerable when overindulgence is standard practice and not even your employer expects you to show up. She knows how much showing up over the years helped her to grow as a person, especially in the month of November. “To reflect on these truths on any other, more convenient day, I believe, misses the point,” she said. “The dissonance made every word, every step of the subsequent march together more impactful … especially when I connected later with my extended family around the dining room table.”

To stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and further support the Truth and Healing Movement efforts of the Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations team, join De Leon, Morad and other ELCA members on Nov. 27 in Patuxet for the annual demonstration.

Learn more

Details for both of these events will be shared on the ELCA’s Truth and Healing Movement webpage. For more information, please contact Vance Blackfox (vance.blackfox@elca.org), director of ELCA Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations.