Mission & Ministry

Mission & Ministry

To prepare our kids

In 1987 the daughter of ELCA pastor Alvin Erickson and his wife, Ina, was a victim of sex trafficking. All the preconditioning factors were there, her father said. After serving…

Mission & Ministry

Inside the commission that could restructure the ELCA

When the 2022 Churchwide Assembly voted last summer to form the Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church (CRLC), which will recommend how to restructure the ELCA’s governing process, it reached…

Mission & Ministry

[Video] Future Church: God’s Love Made Real

The gift of God’s son is for the world, not just our church buildings. The Future Church vision focuses on the world experiencing the difference God’s grace and love in…

Mission & Ministry

Camp hospitality

The ELCA has long presented itself as an inclusive church—especially Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, which is leading the way in welcoming all religions, ethnicities, races and sexual orientations. Several outdoor ministries…

Mission & Ministry

Our medieval hymns: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”

Author’s note: Lutherans and other hymn lovers may be surprised to learn how many of their favorite hymns come from medieval texts. Can anything good come out of the “Dark…

Mission & Ministry

Study guide for “Room at the inn”

Through the highly respected Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and other ministries, Lutherans in the United States have long been in the lead when it comes to helping settle immigrants,…

Mission & Ministry

The people no one wants

“We just want to go home.” That is the sentiment of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. For generations the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, lived in Myanmar’s…

Mission & Ministry

Our medieval hymns: “Come, Creator Spirit”

Author’s note: Lutherans and other hymn lovers may be surprised to learn how many of their favorite hymns come from medieval texts. Can anything good come out of the “Dark…

Mission & Ministry

“God will make a way”

In January the ordination of Sally Azar as the first female pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) was celebrated worldwide. This historic moment…

Mission & Ministry

A global church responds

When COVID-19 first struck, many saw it as a crisis driven by such basic questions as how to get people vaccines, protective gear and food. But groups such as the…

Mission & Ministry

100 years of men in mission

Passing the Sunday-morning offering plate has traditionally been a visible role for church men. But it was the passing of a much bigger offering plate that cemented the legacy of…

Mission & Ministry

Future leaders make an impact

Rachel Wyffels isn’t the only future leader in the ELCA who’s passionate about the multiple, entwined facets of social justice, but she’s certainly among the busiest and most-connected. “I find…