Anyone driving along Oak Street in Lexington, S.C., this spring may notice about a half dozen construction workers—and a few volunteers—attaching boards to a wood-frame skeleton with a prominent arch…
A Twin Cities-area congregation has used a powerful financial lever to improve the lives of hundreds of families while drawing attention to a societal problem: the crushing weight of hospital…
With his small hand reaching out to be held and his blue eyes looking up, he asks, “I go with, Mama?” I’m standing at our front door, bag in hand,…
Focal verse “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Reflection Once a month (pre-pandemic), the church we attend…
For a long time I was pleasantly indifferent to the ubiquitous metaphor of God as our parent (usually as father). I was raised by two loving parents who did not…
For more than 13 years, Miriam Vargas has lived in Columbus, Ohio. While there, she had two children, held a job, paid taxes—and has been an undocumented immigrant. Vargas and…
St. Mark Lutheran Church in Van Wert, Ohio, is digging deep in its community outreach. The congregation has partnered with the local juvenile court to have junior high and high…
Ministering to some 700 National Guard and Army troops during New York City’s severe COVID-19 outbreak might seem daunting. But not to Anthony Stephens, an ELCA pastor and an Army…
By the time asylum-seekers reach the Welcome and Respite center in Phoenix, they’ve migrated hundreds or thousands of miles to safety. The majority come from Central America, with a growing…
For years Marsha Harris worked at various congregations—first as a layperson and then while waiting for her first call—before a class attended by only a handful of people made her…
Focal verse I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the…
A centuries-old Christian tradition and its powerful celebration of baptism are making a slow but steady comeback in the ELCA. Pastors across the church are infusing their congregations with the…
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