ELCA Social Statements
ELCA social statements are teaching documents that assist members in their thinking about social issues. They are meant to aid in communal and individual moral formation and deliberation. Social statements also set policy for this church and guide its advocacy and work in the public arena. They result from an extensive process of
participation and deliberation and are adopted by a two-thirds vote of a
Churchwide Assembly. The development and adoption of social statements are guided by the document “Policies and Procedures of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for Addressing Social Concerns,” adopted by the 1997 Churchwide Assembly and revised by the Church Council periodically.
| Proposed Social Statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
Note: Proposed social statements do not represent the position of the ELCA and remain subject to change until the final approval of the Churchwide Assembly.
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| Criminal Justice (2013) |
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This church shall develop social statements...that will guide the life of this church as an institution and inform the conscience of its members in the spirit of Christian liberty.
The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective, p. 9