In a time when it seems fragmentation and rancor are the world’s orders of the day, ELCA Lutherans and three denominations of the Reformed tradition—the United Church of Christ, the…
We share a world with people who hold beliefs that are different from ours. This simple truth has been apparent from the beginning of history, and yet humanity has never…
The ELCA’s 1993 social statement “Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture” reminds us that when it was formed in 1988, the denomination established a goal to grow its membership…
Death and transition are universal human experiences. Acknowledging our common mortality, some anonymous plainspoken philosopher coined the phrase: “Nobody gets out alive.” But that realization doesn’t lesson the pain that…
Residents of Shishmaref, Alaska, may be our country’s first “climate refugees”—people forced to leave their homes because of rising seas attributed to climate change. But they probably won’t be the…
At 28.1 percent, churches in rural settings make up the largest single demographic block among the ELCA’s nearly 10,000 congregations. Every ministry context has its challenges and opportunities, but ministry…
Lent is the season when we seek to draw closer to Jesus by taking on simple disciplines for the 40 days (not including Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday….
Missionaries have been part of our Christian faith since the resurrected Jesus gathered with his followers on a mountaintop in Galilee to give them the Great Commission. But the work…
Our world is full of broken people and individuals who are flawed, right? And aren’t we all right there among them? Some of our brothers and sisters are suffering from…
For centuries in Europe, and since 1826 in the Americas, Lutheran ministers and thinkers have found that seminaries are the place to learn and grow into church leaders. As the…
Many of our congregations are struggling with the same three interrelated difficulties: a smaller pool of members, a shrinking financial base, and fixed costs from an older building that may…
We stand at the threshold of another year—365 breathtakingly wonderful days in which to begin new projects, complete old ones, improve ourselves and live our lives differently. But as we…
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