Has a glimmer of light ever helped you push past hopelessness? “To be an advocate that serves as ‘the light of the world’ means serving as a beacon of hope and guidance for others,” writes our author in the latest ELCA World Hunger Advocacy Fellow devotional post. Find at https://blogs.elca.org/…/devotional-guidance-when…/
Our advocacy takes many forms with long-term and immediate aims, and ELCA Witness in Society staff are active equipping members, building influential relationships with policy makers, networking strategically with other concerned partners, researching policy pieces and their impacts and inviting our ELCA Advocacy Network to action at impactful moments.
One timely way we can act as ELCA is to sign on with others to offer pointed comments to decision makers when developments demand.
What is a sign-on letter?
A “sign-on letter” is an advocacy tool that acts like a petition to members of Congress or other policy decision makers, often addressing an immediate issue or impending vote. Sign-on letters are drafted and circulated among organizations with similar policy goals to ask other organizations to join, showing support for a policy position or value by adding their name.
The Witness in Society team may recommend listing the ELCA as an organization on a sign-on letter. Some letters are tailored for individual sign-ons, usually by the head of an organization. In the ELCA, most individual sign-ons are done by the ELCA presiding bishop.
Impact of sign-ons
Sign-on letters are frequently used when swift and targeted action will have an impact on decision-makers. The aim is to provide education on an issue, articulate shared organizational values on a subject and urge the recipient to take a specific action or vote. Ecumenical and interfaith sign-on letters summarize broad consensus in the faith community. In addition to receipt by individual members of Congress or Executive Branch officials for example, they may be used in constituent meetings and shared as public statements as well.
Decision process
The ELCA joins sign-on letters following careful analysis by the Witness in Society team, sometimes in consultation with other staff. The Senior Director for Witness in Society makes the final determination for a sign-on. Sign-on letters require a foundation in ELCA social teaching and relevance to ELCA public policy advocacy priorities. Sign-on letters are also evaluated for accuracy of facts and the tone of the statement, seeking language that will educate or persuade, avoiding hyper-partisan or inflammatory language. Witness in Society staff are strategic about the use of sign-on letters, asking if a joint letter is the right approach at this time; how the letter will be disseminated and used to create awareness among members of Congress, the Administration and throughout the ELCA; what the impact of not signing a letter might be; and discerning whether a standalone effort from the ELCA would have greater impact at the given point-in-time or may be preferable to state distinctly the ELCA’s position.
To see an updated list of ELCA sign-on letters, click here.
Share Your Actions Speaking Loudly!
Consider all the ways your church cares for God’s Good Creation.
Celebrate, share, and connect! For each pillar of church life listed below (Worship, Christian Education, Buildings/Grounds, Public Witness, Personal Discipleship) please respond to Lutherans Restoring Creation with what your congregation is doing already, or plans to get started this year. For help getting the conversation started: https://bit.ly/LRCTalks
Your responses below will help the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) know what we are doing now, where we have to grow, and how we can help each other restore a right relationship with God’s good creation (which includes each other). The Good Green News you share will be immediately posted through this site: https://bit.ly/LRCLoudLights (you can filter/sort/download the info without logging into AirTable, just ignore their prompt to sign up).
No personal contact information will be listed online or sold.
For tips and printable resources visit: https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/ccck-action-plan/
Don’t worry if you hit submit and then need to update or make changes. Reach out to info@lutheransrestoringcreation.org for a response within 48 hours.
This social message was adopted on November 12, 2025 by the Church Council of the ELCA.
The ELCA has adopted a groundbreaking social message on “Child Protection,” offering both theological grounding and practical guidance for congregations responding to abuse and neglect. The message emphasizes that protecting children is central to the church’s calling—rooted in Jesus’ care for the vulnerable—and establishes clear expectations, including mandatory reporting of suspected abuse by all church leaders, regardless of state law.
Alongside its theological framework, the message provides concrete policy recommendations, training resources, and tools to help congregations create safer environments. It marks a historic step for the church, equipping leaders to move from uncertainty to faithful action. Read more from Living Lutheran.
The prevalence of child maltreatment in the United States is staggering. At least 1 in 7 children has experienced abuse or neglect in the last year, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though the CDC cautions that abuse and neglect are often unreported.
Recognizing the church’s important role in addressing this, the ELCA Church Council authorized the develop a social message on child protection and maltreatment, as requested by the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Social messages are ELCA teaching documents that draw from existing social teaching but focus direct attention on a particular social issue.
There are four sections in this social message:
I. Understanding Child Maltreatment
II. The Church and Child Protection
III. Elements of a Lutheran Theology of Childhood
IV. Guidance for Protecting Children
This social message was adopted by a more than 2/3 majority of the ELCA Church Council on November 12, 2025.
To read a large-print version of the social message, click here. To order paper copies, please visit the ELCA store. A Spanish translation is coming shortly.
I’ve been watching the fiftieth season of Survivor. I’ve watched this show for years, and if you pay attention from season to season, there’s a pattern that emerges. Again and again, there are immigrants or children of immigrants who talk about who they watch the show with, a grandmother, a dad, or a whole family gathered together.
This season, I’ve been rooting for Kamilia, whose family immigrated from Sri Lanka, and Rizgod, who is from Albania descent. Their stories aren’t just background, they’re part of what makes the show meaningful. They remind us that behind every person is a story of movement, sacrifice, and belonging.
As Hamilton reminds us: “Immigrants—we get the job done.” But it’s more than that. Immigrants don’t just “get the job done.” Their stories are still shaping our country—still shaping us—even in trying times.
This past weekend, I was back in Minneapolis for the first time since this past fall when I was visiting for a friend’s ordination. It was strange to be back in Minneapolis just a couple of months after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good.
As we drove along Hiawatha Avenue, prior to our arrival, we had already heard reports that ICE still had a significant presence in the city. For our own safety, and for the work we do, it felt necessary to stay somewhere more secure.
And as we drove, the city felt different. A place that had once been bustling felt, at moments, like a ghost town. A Friday in downtown Minneapolis—once full of life—felt quiet in a way that was hard to name.
The fear is real. But what lingers even more than the headlines is the trauma.
I thought about an interview I once heard with a pastor. “Pastor Dan”,who said that in Minnesota, people had learned to live with ice. To outsmart it. To outlast it.
But you can’t outlast fear without being shaped by it.
Even if the visible presence has lessened, something deeper remains. The fear is still there. The trauma is still there. People move differently. Gather differently. Trust differently.
And that’s the tension I keep coming back to.
On one screen, I’m watching stories of immigrants—stories of resilience, family, and hope—on a reality show that brings people together.
And in real life, I’m walking through a city where immigrant communities—and those who stand with them—are carrying fear, grief, and uncertainty.
Both are true.
And maybe the question for us, as people of faith, is this:
What does it mean to honor the stories we celebrate…
while also standing with the people who are still living through fear?
Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada 