Farm bill brings Lutherans together
Mission & Ministry

Farm bill brings Lutherans together

Since 1938 the U.S. government has approved a farm bill every five years. First created to assist farmers during the Great Depression, the farm bill today is expansive legislation reaching…

Camp for all
Mission & Ministry

Camp for all

A couple of years ago, transgender students at Black Hills State University in South Dakota were threatened on social media. “They were friends of some of our students and we…

Let the little children come
Faith in Action

Let the little children come

Instead of wrestling with their parents in the back pews during worship, toddlers at Grace Lutheran Church, Apple Valley, Minn., sit up front in the sanctuary. They’re stationed a few…

Rewriting the narrative
Faith in Action

Rewriting the narrative

“There is a public narrative that African-American congregations are only recipients [of assistance]. We wanted our church (the ELCA) to see us differently. Rewriting the narrative is saying we also…

Placeholder image
Faith in Action

Our first calling

“What if I choose the wrong path? What if I go in one direction and find out later I was supposed to go in another?” As graduation season looms, students…

Placeholder image
Faith in Action

Spring to-do list for little Lutherans

It’s spring, the season of fresh-smelling grass, birds chirping, daffodils blooming, blue skies, rain showers and warmer temperatures. For some in the United States, spring seems to be taking its…

Placeholder image
Faith in Action

Rules for church

Parents of small children are likely to have a long do and don’t list for worshiping as a family: Don’t tear the pages out of the hymnal. Don’t climb under…

A barbershop blessing
Faith in Action

A barbershop blessing

Sometimes planning for the future can spur big changes in the present. That was the case for Elaine T. Jones and her daughter, Chanda Jones. Elaine, a retired teacher and…

Placeholder image
Mission & Ministry

Waves of faith

Rolling, sun-kissed waves on the Pacific Ocean provide Jerry Phillips, a fourth-year undergraduate at the University of California–Santa Barbara (UCSB) more than a stage on which to improve his surfing…

The “e” word
Mission & Ministry

The “e” word

The Bible-Belt funeral director didn’t know about the ELCA. All he knew was that an Evangelical Lutheran pastor would officiate at his client’s service in Nashville, Tenn. Surprised when Kevin…