FAQs (or Frequently Asked Questions) about the ELCA Continued

This month, I am continuing my presentation of and comments five FAQs about our church—the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—that are posted at the very bottom of the homepage of our church:  https://www.elca.org/  Welcome to the ELCA

Each of the FAQs are listed in response to the question posed by someone seeking to understand the beliefs and practices of our Lutheran Church—someone who might ask this question: “I’m new here. I have questions about God, church and faith.”

Here is the third FAQ on our church’s webpage:

How does someone become Lutheran?

People who identify as Lutherans are those who actively practice their faith in the Lutheran tradition or who have joined a Lutheran congregation through membership. Becoming a member is a way of expressing one’s long-term commitment to the life and work of the church. It also expresses a commitment of resources to sustain the work of the congregation, as well as the national and global church.

Most of us are familiar with the fact that being a Lutheran in the ELCA means belonging to a congregation.  The citation above also informs us that being a Lutheran in the ELCA also means being a member of the ELCA itself and that the ELCA, in turn, is part of a “Global” Lutheran Church—The Lutheran World Federation (The LWF).

Here’s snippet of how the LWF describes itself:

We are a global communion of churches in the Lutheran tradition, living and working together for a just, peaceful, and reconciled world.

We strive to put our Christian faith into action through humanitarian and development work, advocacy, shared witness, and dialogue

https://lutheranworld.org/who-we-are

Former Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, has offered this simple description of the LWF:

With member churches on every continent, except Antarctica, the Lutheran World Federation is a Lutheran movement that proclaims the grace and freedom we have in Christ in hundreds of languages, and even the smallest LWF member church participates in life-changing relief work and advocacy. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as an LWF member church, is a part of that transformative work.

https://lutheranworld.org/news/usa-we-are-connected-larger-growing-lutheran-family

Let us all rejoice that the members of congregations of Augustana Lutheran, First Lutheran, and Saint John’s Lutheran are members of a church with members all over the world!

Pastor Leonard Hummel