Human Sexuality - Gift and Trust Study Process

About

After a seven-year process of discernment and dialogue across the ELCA, the 2009 Churchwide Assembly voted to adopt Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust as a social statement of the ELCA. In 2022, the Churchwide Assembly authorized two reconsiderations (see pages 4-5 and 11) of the social statement:

• A review of specific text references that “would consider the import that marriage legally is now a covenant between individuals;” review specific wording “in light of public acceptance of marriage of same-gender and gender-non-conforming couples;” and “consider references to diversity of family configurations;” and
• A possible revision that reconsiders the “church’s current concept of the four positions of bound conscience” found on pages 19-21 of Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.

In response to these actions, a task force will begin working in 2024 on both reconsiderations. Throughout the process, the task force will be listening deeply and working closely with people across the ELCA. More information about the process and specific opportunities for joining the conversation will be shared as soon as possible.

The first step in this process is to gather a task force from across the church. This task force is intended to represent the diverse perspectives, identities, backgrounds, and contexts of ELCA members, including the diversity reflected in the four conscience-bound positions of the current social statement. To learn more about these positions, follow the link to the full text of Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust. Below is a link to a description of the responsibilities and expectations of task members. If you are interested in applying to be part of the task force, a link is provided below. The application will be open until January 31, 2024. You can also use the link below to nominate someone else for the task force.

To learn more about what it means to be a member of a task force, please click here.

To apply to join the Human Sexuality Reconsiderations task force, please click here.

To nominate someone for the Human Sexuality Reconsiderations task force, please click here.

To read an FAQ about the reconsideration process, please click here.