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.
Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981.
Lutheran Summer Music 2025
Valparaiso University,Valparaiso, Ind.
June 22–July 20
Grades 8-12 | Learn more:
LAST CALL for LSM 2025! Enrollment for this summer is over 80% full, but there’s still time for young musicians to apply and for you to nominate students. Lutheran Summer Music is the nation’s premier faith-based music academy for high school musicians. Students come together from around the country for a joyful summer of music-making through large ensembles (band, choir, orchestra), chamber music, private lessons and elective classes (conducting, composition, jazz, musical theater, handbells, pipe organ) and use their musical gifts in performance, and in worship.
Rooted in Christian contemplative and activist traditions, Music That Makes Community envisions a liberative culture that empowers individuals and communities to claim and use the power of singing to heal our spirits, nurture our common lives, and work for justice. We offer resources, training, and encouragement to individuals, organizations, and communities in the dynamic power of singing to connect others and ourselves.
Training Events — Join us for the following events for continuing education, community building, professional development, and celebrating this practice of paperless communal song-sharing.
More in-person events near Kansas City, Detroit, Lexington, Ky., Raleigh, N.C., and Atlanta. Please stay tuned!
Monday Morning Grounding — This weekly online touchstone continues to offer song, silence, sacred text and community connection, Mondays at 10 a.m. Eastern / 7 a.m. Pacific until April 7. Register for the Zoom link here.
Resources – Read the MMC blog for articles a variety of topics.
There are also new Job Postings (including one ELCA) on our website.
Please join our monthly newsletter for regular updates and we’ll see you at an event soon!
An ecumenical conference on liturgical renewal for the church today.
Rites of Passage: Engaging Occasional Practitioners in a Secular Age
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind.
April 28–30, 2025
There is still time to register!
The American religious landscape is characterized by declining participation in religious institutions, increasing uncertainty about matters of faith, and a growing population identifying as non-religious. Nevertheless, many people continue to turn to churches at some of the most significant moments in their lives—such as the birth of a child or the loss of a loved one—and many others show up to support them.
Most of our planning resources are directed at the Sunday assembly. Yet, baptisms, weddings, and funerals are liturgical events rich in their potential for service and outreach. How might we more fully consider the possibilities of these occasions to be better prepared to serve a decreasingly churched culture?
ALCM nurtures and equips musicians to serve and lead the church’s song.
ALCM Conference 2025
Aug. 4-8
Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
The conference theme, For all that is to be, describes our effort to equip people in all stages of their love for music of the church. Whether you are a volunteer, part-time or full-time employed, a student, newly employed, or retired, this conference will nurture your passion for the many ways in which we continue to share the gospel message.
Registration is still available – visit the conference website to register now. We look forward to seeing you in Raleigh!
Hearts • Hands • Voices are local half- or full-day skills-based workshops organized and hosted by ALCM members. These events are opportunities to learn new skills, share best practices, build relationships and support systems among musicians in your area, and introduce others to the ALCM community.
Events are now being scheduled for 2025. If you are interested in hosting one of these events or would like more information, contact Adam Lefever Hughes at education@alcm.org.
NOTE: Additional events will be added throughout the year, so check this page regularly to see if an event has been scheduled in your area. Check out the table below to view events sorted by date or state or check the Calendar of Events to find events scheduled near you.
The Center for Church Music is a place where one can tap into an expansive library of resources and perspectives on the music and art of the church, with a focus on a Lutheran context.
“Profiles in American Lutheran Church Music” presents video conversations with prominent church musicians The Life and Career of Richard Proulx, a conversation with Bob Batastini and Michael Silhavy, editors at GIA and The Current Scene, a conversation with Nancy Raabe, president of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, March 2023.
An ecumenical community seeks to support seekers and those who accompany them. The process is an enlivened journey of spiritual formation for those either exploring Christianity or seeking to renew their faith.
The board of Journey to Baptismal Living, formerly North American Association for the Catechumenate, has been very busy, during and since the pandemic, working on producing updated catechetical and liturgical resources as well as updating our website.
Now we would like to connect with parishes interested in the catechumenal process. If you already have a process, we would like to discuss our new resources and also learn from you about your experiences. If you are interested but not active, we are available to do online training. Our new website can provide you with information about who we are and what we do. Or contact us for further information.
The mission of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada is to encourage, promote, and enliven congregational singing. The Center for Congregational Song is the resource and programmatic arm of The Hymn Society, connecting resources, leading deep and vital conversations about the church’s song, and collaborating with our partners.
Back in 2020, The Center for Congregational Song hosted a 12-hour broadcast of music and pastoral moments on Election Day in an effort to provide a space for peace in a time of great anxiety. Four years later, the political discourse in the United States is not all that different, and, in some ways, even more charged than it was before. If you find yourself in need of a break from the news, we invite you to recharge by watching our broadcast from four years ago.
Augsburg Fortress is the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Music Sourcebook for Life Passages: Healing, Funeral, and Marriage
Once the life of faith is begun through the waters of baptism, no subsequent passage is made alone. The resource assists in planning for services of life passage including marriage, funerals, and healing services. It contains music originating in different cultures, varying accompaniment styles, and includes reproducible pages, an appendix of additional resources, and a CD-ROM of files to assist in the creation of service folders.
Using Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Vol 1: The Sunday Assembly
Addresses the general principles that have guided the shaping of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, considering that central liturgy of Christian worship, Holy Communion. This text examines how worship interacts with environment, music, and the preached word, and features useful and practical suggestions for all those who lead the assembly in communion.
Join us this summer for our annual music clinics. This year’s phenomenal clinicians are Jennaya Robison (choral) and Jan Kraybill (organ). Check out our website to read more about these talented practitioners, explore the daily schedule, and register for a clinic in your area!
- July 18–19, Columbia, S.C.
- July 21–22, Columbus, Ohio
- July 24–25, Philadelphia, Pa.
- August 11–12, Twin Cities, Minn.
- August 14–15, Chicago, Ill.
“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here.
