Serving our neighbors 
Living Faithfully

Serving our neighbors 

Collecting. Preparing. Assembling. Packing. Donating. Signing. These are just a few words that describe how congregations served and loved their neighbors on “God’s work. Our hands” Sunday, the ELCA’s day…

“This has allowed us to go back to church”
Living Faithfully

“This has allowed us to go back to church”

Sara Seifried and her husband were Sunday regulars at their church in St. Petersburg, Fla., but stopped attending for a reason many couples can likely relate to: After becoming parents,…

Light and hope
Living Faithfully

Light and hope

What started as an Epiphany project became a light that is now shining across the country and into Ukraine. Project organizers like to think of it as a faith link….

From closure to welcome
Living Faithfully

From closure to welcome

“Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people.” Many may remember acting out this rhyme by opening their thumbs and wiggling their…

Letters of love
Living Faithfully

Letters of love

Focal verse “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:3). Reflection On the second shelf of a large bookcase in my…

Three as one
Living Faithfully

Three as one

Decades before “teams” were popular in the workplace, a highly unusual one comprising three co-pastors was going strong at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Olympia, Wash. Between 1977…

“Committed to growth”
Living Faithfully

“Committed to growth”

As congregations seek new ways to minister to diverse communities, outdoor ministries are redefining how they welcome campers of all faiths, ethnicities and sexual orientations. One of the ELCA’s 145…

Greetings from the heart
Living Faithfully

Greetings from the heart

You might consider Lona Lee Balduf a one-woman Hallmark store—and a whole lot more. Like Hallmark, she cares enough to send the very best—in her case, handmade greeting cards to…

Perspective: A paradigm for the future church
Mission & Ministry

Perspective: A paradigm for the future church

At the end of Christendom, the church is in crisis. The conditions that allowed the growth of the church until the 1960s have collapsed. While nostalgia for that era continues,…

A “lifeline” to the community
Living Faithfully

A “lifeline” to the community

When William Siong came to the United States in the late 1980s as a 15-year-old Hmong refugee, he was seeking a better life, having lost both his parents during the…