News

Traveling from as far away as Hawaii and Germany, 70 chaplains from the ELCA convened in Chicago for the annual Chaplain Education and Training Event July 26-30. The chaplains, some of whom have recently returned from deployments in Afghanistan, Colombia and Djibouti, serve in the U.S. military, Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and federal prisons.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the full communion agreement between the ELCA and the Moravian Church in America.

In an effort to continue understanding the complexity and implications of racism, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton invites the 3.8 million member church to participate in a live webcast Aug. 6 at 8 p.m. (CDT).

Participants of the ELCA Youth Gathering held in Detroit July 15-19 responded to the event’s theme “Rise Up Together” by taking part in neighborhood service projects throughout the Detroit metro area.

Life-changing, amazing, unimaginable, and impactful are some of the words members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) used to describe their experience during the ELCA Youth Gathering meeting here July 15-19.

Gathering under the theme “Called to be a Living Voice,” members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will meet in Atlanta July 19-23 for the ELCA Worship Jubilee and the biennial conference of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.

Wearing their orange T-shirts and dancing to live music, which reverberated in the streets of downtown Detroit, thousands of youth and adult participants of the ELCA Youth Gathering gathered July 16 at Hart Plaza. They gathered here before boarding buses lined-up for a mile-long, stretching from the Cobo Center to the Joe Louis Arena, to depart for their service work further into the city.

ELCA and Global Refuge leaders expressed gratitude for a move by the Obama administration has begun releasing some detained mothers and children seeking asylum in the United States.

One message that was heard loud and clear among teenage-age youth of the ELCA is that "Love Does" bind. About 500 youth from across this church gathered here July 12-15 at Wayne State University for the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE) – an event designed to empower young people of color and/or whose primary language is other than English.

The ELCA was granted a federal charter July 7 to create the ELCA Federal Credit Union. The new credit union will provide products and services to the denomination's 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations and employees of the ELCA's 65 synods and churchwide organization. The credit union joins the three existing financial services ministries of the ELCA.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offered a pastoral letter June 30 to the 3.8 million members of the denomination in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples may now exercise the right to marry.

In their commitment to help end malaria-related deaths in Africa, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have contributed $14.5 million to the ELCA Malaria Campaign, $500,000 shy of the campaign goal of $15 million by the end of 2015. Through the campaign, ELCA members and others have joined with companion Lutheran churches and partners in 13 African countries to prevent and treat malaria and educate communities about the disease.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton will attend the June 26 funeral of the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, who was among the nine people killed June 17 at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. Local authorities called the killings racially motivated.

In a public statement following a shooting that claimed the lives of nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton called for a "day of repentance and mourning." Local authorities called the killing racially motivated.

For thousands of people, including a growing number of women and children migrating from Central America to the United States, their final stop before crossing the Suchiate River into southern Mexico is the Casa de Migrante (House of Migrants) in Tecún Umán, Guatemala, said Stephen Deal of the ELCA.

In affirmation of their baptismal promise to “serve others and follow the example of Jesus,” almost 30,000 youth, adult leaders and others from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will participate in the ELCA Youth Gathering July 15-19 in Detroit. Meeting under the theme “Rise Up Together,” the Gathering will offer youth an opportunity to strengthen their faith and discover their call to serve the world – at home and abroad.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton released a statement June 18 in response to a shooting where nine people were killed at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C. Local authorities are calling the killing racially motivated.

ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton released a statement June 18 on behalf of this church in response to Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change and the deteriorating global environment.

In a June 11 letter to President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other religious leaders, asked that action be taken to modernize the Columbia River Treaty – a 1964 agreement between the United States and Canada to govern together water resources to promote economic growth, wealth and happiness for citizens of the two nations.

Expanding ministries among youth and young adults is an ELCA priority. To help cultivate young leaders, embrace a culture of diversity and inclusion and build a robust network of support, a new grant process is now available to support this church's priority.