How the ELCA Establishes Public Policy Decisions

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was formed in 1987 as the merger of three predecessor Lutheran denominations. From its first days the ELCA has committed itself to raising and addressing issues in which it perceives a connection between Christianity and public policy. These issues have often been summarized as pertaining to justice, peace and the care of creation.

The first ELCA Churchwide Assembly, in August of 1989, adopted a number of measures that sought to clarify both why and how the ELCA addresses social concerns. The most important foundational document relating to how the ELCA addresses social issues was, "Social Statements of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--Principles and Procedures." The document established the processes by which the ELCA would speak on social issues. In 1997, in light of tensions related to the development of a proposed social statement on human sexuality, the process for developing social statements was revised. In that year, the Churchwide Assembly adopted, "Policies and Procedures of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for Addressing Social Concerns" (aka "Policies and Procedures"). Policies and Procedures begins with the affirmation:

Faithful participation in society is integral and vital to the mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We as individual members and as a corporate body live out our Christian faith in encounter with the concerns that shape life in God's creation.

The document continues to describe several spheres in which the ELCA works to engage its members in the world:

1. Equipping and Nurturing Members--lifts up the human society and the physical world as appropriate concerns of individual Christians and of the Christian community;
2. Encouraging Learning and Moral Discourse--promotes open-ended deliberation on specific contemporary social concerns without the pressure of community consensus or the adoption of an official position by the ELCA;
3. Development and Enactment of Social Policy--aims at developing ELCA policy positions relating to specific social issues.
4. On-going interpretation and application of the conclusions and commitments made in ELCA social statements.

It is important for the purpose of understanding the work of the Virginia Interfaith Center also to understand the process for the development of ELCA Social Statements, Messages and Resolutions as established by Policies and Procedures:

a. Social Statements are intended to be long-lasting, theologically- grounded documents that articulate a carefully researched and reasoned set of positions on major public policy issues. Social Statements take several years to develop from inception to adoption by a two-thirds majority vote at a Churchwide Assembly. During the process of development, input and feedback is sought from all ELCA members, congregations, synods and institutions. The truth is, however, that a tiny minority of ELCA members, congregations, etc. actually choose to participate in the deliberation process; and therefore influence the eventual outcome. Since 1989 the ELCA has adopted eight Social Statements: Abortion, Church and Society and Capital Punishment (all adopted in 1991); Environmental Stewardship and Race, Ethnicity and Culture (adopted in 1993), Peace (adopted in 1995); Economic Life (adopted in 1999); and Healthcare (adopted in 2003). The ELCA is currently developing proposed Social Statements on Human Sexuality and Education, both of which should be considered by the 2007 Churchwide Assembly. {The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy does not include Human Sexuality as part of its Legislative Agenda.}

b. Messages are approved from time to time by the ELCA Church Council to express the ELCA’s official position on issues that are more narrow and usually more time-sensitive than Social Statements. Messages sometimes express some concrete implications drawn from the broader Social Statements.

c. Resolutions may be adopted by a Churchwide Assembly, the highest decision-making body in the ELCA, or by the ELCA Church Council, which serves as the highest decision-making body between biennial Churchwide Assemblies.

[A complete listing of ELCA Social Statements, Messages and Resolutions can be accessed at www.elca.org/socialstatements/]

It is important to note that ELCA Social Statements, Messages and Resolutions are not considered binding on the hearts and minds of all ELCA members. They are intended to be teaching documents for use in the church.

Social Statements do, however, bind the work of the ELCA itself. So, for instance, the ELCA’s various advocacy offices—including the Lutheran portion of the work of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy--must support policy positions established by ELCA Social Statements, Messages and Resolutions and are not allowed to represent issues as "Lutheran" that have not been addressed by the ELCA as outlined above.

Center Priorities (.pdf)

Bulletin Inserts
Child Support (.pdf)
Environment (.pdf)
Housing Trust (.pdf)
Indigent Defense (.pdf)
Payday Lending (.pdf)
Minimum Wage (.pdf)

Advocacy Resources
Advocacy Guide (.doc)
Advocacy Portal (link)
Lending Info. (.ppt)
Richmond Map (.pdf)

For Small Groups
Eco-Stewardship (link)
Prayers for Creation (link)
Poverty Diet (link)

Policy Briefs
EITC (.doc)
TANF Child Support (.doc)
Payday Loans (.doc)
Healing Creation (.doc)
Child Ombudsman (.doc)
Affordable Housing (.doc)
Indigent Defense (.doc)
Minimum Wage (.doc)
Wage & EITC (.doc)
VA Tribes (.link)

Actions
Lending Petition (link)
Title Petition (link)
Wage Petition (link)

Reports
Budget Analysis (.pdf)
Food Stamps (.doc)
Lottery Study (link)

FAQ's (link)

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