Posts in ELCA
Reducing maternal and infant mortality in Madagascar
Reducing maternal and infant mortality in Madagascar

In Madagascar, the current infant and maternal mortality rate is 353 per 100,000 live births. The Malagasy Lutheran Church (MLC) is helping to work toward the country’s goal of reducing that rate to 70 per 100,000.

In this post, Dr. Rivosoa Nasoloniaina shares the Remafi program, which connects traditional birth attendants in rural areas with hospitals and clinics. Remafi offers trainings, facilitates collaboration and encourages traditional birth attendants to prepare mothers for hospital births.

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ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardELCA World Hunger, Lutheran World FederationComment
Linda Jacobson reflects on 38 years of mission
Linda Jacobson reflects on 38 years of mission

Many years ago, Linda Jacobson changed a tire on a rural road near Arusha, Tanzania. She wasn’t strong enough to turn the lug nuts, but she figured out what to do. “I jumped on the tire wrench to turn it,” she remembered. “The car was full of women, and my daughters recall that, as we drove away, I yelled out the window to the group of men watching, ‘Wanawake wanaweza!’ Women are able!”

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ELCA, Stories of HopeBrian FlatgardLiving Lutheran, Global MissionComment
Bishop Eaton: Supporting Afghanistan
Bishop Eaton: Supporting Afghanistan

For nearly a century, Lutherans have been helping to resettle those fleeing harm. As we pray for Afghanistan, we are called to support those arriving in the U.S. by becoming a part of the long welcome for these families.

Support LIRS’ Neighbors in Need: Afghan Allies fund, which will provide food, housing assistance, clothing, and other basic needs for our Afghan friends as they await the official services available to them by visiting LIRS.org/HelpNow.

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Bishop Eaton, ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardBishop Elizabeth Eaton, Immigration and Refugees, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)Comment
Meet Vanessa Young: 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering
Meet Vanessa Young: 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering

Hey, everyone! My name is Vanessa Young, and I’m excited to serve as the Team Leader for Gathering Synod Coordinators (GSCs) for the 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering in Minneapolis.

Have you met your Gathering Synod Coordinator yet? If you don’t know who they are, you can send them an email on the “Find Your Synod Coordinator” feature on the Gathering website.

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ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardYouth and Young Adult, 2022 ELCA Youth GatheringComment
Angela T. !Khabeb: Sabbath ground
Angela T. !Khabeb: Sabbath ground

This month I chose to write about sabbath-keeping because I thought it could be a therapeutic activity that might even lead to firmer sabbath disciplines in my life.

I considered my sabbath day to be my day off—one that instantly filled with errands, doctor appointments, housework, quality time with family and maybe a true-crime show on TV. My so-called sabbath day was packed with activity. My “day off” from church was actually a “day on” at home.

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ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardLiving LutheranComment
The Gathering’s Role in Lutheran Formation
The Gathering’s Role in Lutheran Formation

The Gathering is an integral part of the ecology of faith formation and call narrative in the ELCA. There are those who question the value of specialized ministries such as the Gathering, especially in a time of declining church attendance and difficult budget cuts. But I am not one of them, especially after fresh research has demonstrated the importance of several crucial ministries in the ELCA. I also know the impacts first-hand.

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ELCA, LettersBrian Flatgard2022 ELCA Youth Gathering, Youth and Young AdultComment
Pay-what-you-can café serves community
Pay-what-you-can café serves community

“This isn’t a soup kitchen where people get in line and are getting whatever we give you,” said chef and kitchen manager Angelique Gilyard. “We give the people the choice in what they have. You can have your sandwich toasted if you want, the whole sandwich or just the bread. If you want to take your meal home, that’s fine.”

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ELCA, Stories of HopeBrian FlatgardLiving Lutheran, Hunger, ELCA World Hunger, Lutheran Disaster ResponseComment
Inherent worth: What the church can learn from people with dementia
Inherent worth: What the church can learn from people with dementia

Ken Carder learned that when people with dementia are isolated from their community, their condition worsens. He recognized that people with dementia weren’t at the center of his own pastoral care efforts.

Seeking to change the status quo and demonstrate how congregations can join in ministry with people who have dementia, Carder created a class at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., where he serves as guest professor, called “Dementia Through a Pastoral Theological Lens.”

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ELCA, ResourcesBrian FlatgardLiving LutheranComment
The spiritual discipline of rest
The spiritual discipline of rest

For many, taking time to rest—whether it’s an extended retreat or simply a pause in a busy workday—can be a challenge.

“So many of our society’s dominant narratives mitigate against rest,” said Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, a professor of theological and social ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. “I really think that the capacity to hear the Spirit and to [flourish] as a person are built partly by having rest.”

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ELCA, ResourcesBrian FlatgardLiving LutheranComment
R. Guy Erwin: On being Osage, Lutheran and gay
R. Guy Erwin: On being Osage, Lutheran and gay

For many years, I gave little thought to the complexity of my being Osage, Lutheran and gay. Growing up in the Osage nation and learning about my Osage ancestors, history and customs; following my path to self-acceptance as a gay man; embracing the Lutheran Christian faith—these seemed to be three quite different aspects of my story. And though they overlapped chronologically, they didn’t always connect.

Now, after years of reflection and with more experience interpreting my own story, I have begun to understand how all this made me who I am.

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ELCA, LettersBrian FlatgardAmerican Indian and Alaska Native, LGBTQIA+, Living Lutheran Comment
Pastoral Guidelines for Inter-Religious Observances of 9/11
Pastoral Guidelines for Inter-Religious Observances of 9/11

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001. That day holds great significance for people in different ways including the families of those who died in the attacks and in rescue efforts; those killed because of the resulting military conflicts; and those who are/were subsequently targeted because of their religious or cultural identity.

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ELCA, ResourcesBrian FlatgardEcumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, Worship ResourcesComment
Ministry with—not for—youth
Ministry with—not for—youth

Elizabeth W. Corrie’s Youth Ministry As Peace Education: Overcoming Silence, Transforming Violence (Fortress Press, 2021) is a rare work, especially in the field of youth ministry (or, in keeping with the book’s message, “ministry with youth”). Incorporating pop culture as well as theological and historical images, Corrie’s approach is both theoretical, stimulating the mind, and eminently practical, offering ideas that can be implemented immediately.

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ELCA, ResourcesBrian FlatgardLiving Lutheran, Youth and Young AdultComment