2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly Land Acknowledgement

2022 Churchwide Assembly Land Acknowledgement

The 2022 Churchwide Assembly will be held on the original and ancestral homelands of the Shawnee, Miami, and Kaskaskia peoples, and we give thanks for their presence here since time immemorial. We also wish to recognize and honor all our Indigenous siblings who have and continue to call this land their home.

We respect the rich history and ongoing relationship Native peoples have with this land and the many contributions of Indigenous peoples to this place. We honor their distinctive cultural heritage by working to fulfill our commitments stated in "A Declaration of the ELCA to American Indian and Alaska Native People."

When we gather for the Churchwide Assembly this August, let us remember the Indigenous peoples and tribal nations who were the first to love, pray, grow, celebrate, cry, drum, and sing upon the lands where we will be assembled.

As we consider our place in the story of colonization and of undoing its legacy, here are ways you can give of your time and energy to seek out information, to learn more, to do more, and to remain faithful to our shared journeys toward truth and healing:

• Engage a study group using the study guide: "Beyond a Resolution" to go deeper into understanding what it means for this church to actively repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery
• Live into the commitments stated in "A Declaration of the ELCA to American Indian and Alaska Native People"
• Learn more about the history of Indigenous peoples by reading books such as the Rev. Dr. George Tinker's book, Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide  and from Native Reads
• Begin the practice of land acknowledgements in your congregation. There is a guide to accompany you in this journey.

• View this video produced by the ELCA and presented by the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission and the National Council of Churches, Native Nations – Standing Together for Civil Rights