The last Monday of each month we will be working our way through the ELCA social statements. 

As the ELCA website describes:
"ELCA social statements are teaching and policy documents that provide broad frameworks to assist us in thinking about and discussing social issues in the context of faith and life. They are meant to help communities and individuals with moral formation, discernment and thoughtful engagement with current social issues as we participate in God’s work in the world. Social statements also set policy for the ELCA and guide its advocacy and work as a publicly engaged church. They result from an extensive process of participation and deliberation and are adopted by a two-thirds vote of an ELCA churchwide assembly." (source)

For our May 23 meeting (we will not meet on Memorial Day, May 30), you are encouraged to read the ELCA statements on Church in Society and Abortion.

The Church in Society social statement (which can be found here) explains why the ELCA has these things called "social statements" to begin with and "articulates the teaching of the ELCA on the church's relation to society and its public presence and responsibilities."

We will also take a look at the statement on Abortion (which can be found here) given the presence of abortion in the news of late. Recognizing that this is a potentially hot-button issue for folks, the conversation will be carefully moderated to encourage us to focus on the social statement itself.

As always, if you cannot attend the zoom itself but would like more information or to discuss the topic in another setting, please feel encouraged to reach out to Pastor Amanda.

This week we took a 30,000 ft view of Christian history from 70AD to now.

The presentation (below) drew from two main sources:
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/church-history-in-brief
https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/are-we-in-a-500-year-religious-revolution?s=r

Next week, we'll take a 10,000ft view of the Lutheran Reformation!

In our first session, we looked a variety of "family trees" of global faith traditions, as well as the lineage of various American denominations and religions. 

Learn more by exploring the trees at this site: ​https://www.thearda.com/denoms/families/trees/