Big look at Small Catechism
A MONTHLY MESSAGE FROM THE ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP Several years ago my husband’s bishop tried initiating a diocese-wide call to the catechumenate to engage those preparing for confirmation in a period of study and formation. We call it confirmation class...
Church intern without a tabbed collar
A chat about summer plans between Roanoke College student Jamie Donahue and the Rev. Jeff Wilson of her home congregation, Bethel Lutheran Church in Manassas, Virginia, shaped into a creative and mutually beneficial arrangement. Intern Jamie...
ELCA resource and local expert guide criminal justice study
Contributed by the Rev. Carmelo Santos “We have put a lot of people in prison who need other services and not cages,” said an instructor of a study series for adults at Hope Lutheran Church in Annandale, Virginia. “There is...
How will people know?
A MONTHLY MESSAGE FROM THE ELCA PRESIDING BISHOPA MONTHLY MESSAGE FROM THE ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP On Wednesday, Aug. 10, the voting members of the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly received the document “Declaration on the Way.” More than 99 percent of...
Active local woman becomes YAGM
Service is not new to Rachel Carle. She used her voice to highlight a youth perspective on the Metro D.C. Synod Council (2010-2012), and now she’s taken an opportunity to grow in faith and work hand-in-hand with brothers and sisters...
8G is more than digits
Sketch the embodiment of the ELCA at the recent ELCA Churchwide Assembly (CWA), and you'll see several members of the Metro D.C. Synod (designated "8G" in the region) in the faithful crowd. Voting Members from our...
Our ELCA when it met in NOLA
by the Rev. Gordon Lathrop and Gail Ramshaw This bird’s eye view of meaningful business and evocative worship during the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly was shared by members of Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington, Virginia upon their return from...
A proclivity for paradox
A MONTHLY MESSAGE FROM THE ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all (Martin Luther in Freedom of...
What it means to be Lutheran
A MONTHLY MESSAGE FROM THE ELCA PRESIDING BISHOP Lutherans don’t often garner much media attention. In this country we don’t make up a big segment of the population. When groups of Lutherans began arriving on these shores in the 18th...
Standing with brothers and sisters in Orlando
“We are killing ourselves. All are created in God's image. We are LGBTQ. We are Muslims whose faith has been cooped by hate. God have mercy,” tweeted the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop, on June 12, 2016 following the...