Many ELCA congregations, synods and households reflect on how their budgets reveal their values and priorities. As the U.S. federal budget is finalized for fiscal year 2026, it, too, reflects values and priorities. Through the ELCA Action Center, ELCA members can use action alerts to contact their elected representatives, offering perspectives on these decisions that have been shaped by their faith.
ELCA advocacy action alerts offer information about issues and legislation currently before federal elected officials, along with reflections from ELCA social teaching and our siblings in Christ that explain the church’s priorities on issues. You can take next steps with your own advocacy by writing directly to your elected officials.
Sending a message can feel like a drop in the bucket. But research and personal feedback during visits to Capitol Hill have taught ELCA advocacy staff that your voice makes a difference.
If you send your message using the starter language offered in an action alert, congressional staff members may only check a box to note your opinion—but that check mark will be added to others’, which can have a cumulative influence. If you improve that message with your own words, experiences and values, it can break through further to shape a decision-maker’s understanding of what an issue entails, and may even challenge their assumptions or reveal unconsidered perspectives.
The ELCA Action Center offers opportunities for you to speak to such issues as proposed cuts to Medicaid, funding of disaster relief, support for energy and environmental initiatives, and the freeze on funding foreign assistance.
The ELCA commits to sustaining and supporting its members in their baptismal vocation to serve God and neighbor in daily life (for more, see the ELCA’s 1991 social statement “The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective”).
