The first ever annual report for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) is now available.

Read stories about our work as a church and a vision for how we can respond together to the call to be a church In Mission for Others.

Copies of the publication are available at all Synod Convention and National events across the church this year. Individuals and congregations wishing to recieve a hard copy can request one from the National Office (orders@elcic.ca).

A PDF version is available online.

A statement from the heads of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Anglican Church of Canada, and The Episcopal Church, on Friday, May 9, 2014. To find this document in PDF format, click here.

The situation in South Sudan continues to be extremely difficult, and news of it in North American media is minimal. Violence has been fomented and stirred by political leaders for their own ends. Although the mainstream media portrays the conflict as ethnic, its roots, as with any conflict, are varied and complicated. Regardless, there can never be a rationale for the suffering that has been wrought.

Our partners in South Sudan have suffered massive casualties. Their people have been murdered, raped, tortured, and burned out of their homes. Churches and entire villages have been destroyed. In spite of extensive displacement, Anglicans/Episcopalians and Lutherans continue to be active in relief and peace-making efforts through our partners in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan, and the Lutheran World Federation.

We urge you to join in prayer for the people of South Sudan and Sudan, for a lasting and meaningful peace, and for immediate aid and response to the needs of the myriad of displaced persons.

As we celebrate the feast of the Resurrection, we urge you to help make the risen body of Christ evident to those who labor through the valley of the shadow of death.

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

The Most Rev. Fred Hiltz
Primate
Anglican Church of Canada

Bishop Susan Johnson
National Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) members are invited to explore the current reality for congregations in Canada with respect to Word and Sacrament ministry and reflect on how our Lutheran understanding of Word and Sacrament ministry might shape future options for the provision of ministry.

In the fall of 2012, the Faith, Order and Doctrine Committee (FOD) of the ELCIC’s National Church Council (NCC) was asked to consider the question of licensing lay people for sacramental ministry. The underlying concern was for under-served communities desiring more regular access to a full ministry of Word and Sacrament. The FOD terms of reference were later to “the study of Word and Sacrament Ministry in the ELCIC.”

This Word and Sacrament Ministry Study Guide (available online: https://elcic.ca/faithorderdoctrine) is designed specifically for small groups, and church-wide participation is encouraged.

Deadline for responses is Monday, December 15, 2014.

Further information on the work of the Faith, Order and Doctrine Committee – and a copy of the study guide – is available online: https://elcic.ca/faithorderdoctrine/default.cfm.

On the fourth ballot for Synod Bishop, delegates to the Saskatchwan Synod Convention elected Rev. Dr Sidney Haugen to a four-year term.

Bishop-elect Haugen has served as pastor of Our Saviour’s and Central Lutheran Churches, Regina, SK for 18 years. He has also served as chair of the Saskatchewan Synod Council.

The new bishop will take office on August 1, 2014. 

Incumbent Saskatachewan Synod Bishop Cindy Halmarson addressed convention delegates following the announcement.

"Great thanks for all those who have worked with me over the years to lead this synod in ministry. Thank you very much," said Bishop Halmarson. While her plans for the future are opened-ended at this time, Bishop Halmarson says that she and her husband are looking forward to their own time of rest and renewal.

Bishop Halmarson served as Saskatchwan Synod Bishop for 12 years.

The Saskatchewan Synod Convention met May 2-4 in Regina, SK.

ELCIC members and congregations are invited to celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 11, 2014 – as a Day of Prayer for Vocations to Rostered Minstry.

A resource suitable for congregational bulletins to assist in your celebrations can be found here: https://elcic.ca/Leadership/VocationalSunday.cfm

Delegates to the ELCIC’s Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario (MNO) Synod Convention re-elected Rev. Elaine Sauer as Synod Bishop to a third term.

The MNO Synod met in convention April 24-26 at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Winnipeg.

The agenda for the business session of convention included the election of a Synod Bishop.

Bishop Elaine Sauer, elected to a four-year term in 2006 and re-elected in 2010, was re-elected to a third term on the second ballot.

National Bishop Susan C. Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), offer a joint Earth Day message to the two churches.

The text of the message follows:
 
“This fragile Earth, our island home”

At your command all things came to be:
The vast expanse of interstellar space,
Galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home;
By your will they were created and have their being.
Glory to you forever and ever.

This year’s observance of Earth Day follows immediately on the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  In them we see movements from enmity to reconciliation, suffering to hope, and death to new life. They speak not only to humanity but also to the interconnectedness of all of creation.

The Scriptures tell us that our first vocation as human beings is to tend God’s creation.  An honest assessment of our diligence in that call inevitably leads us to confess “our waste and pollution of creation and our lack of concern for those who come after us.” ( Ash Wednesday Liturgy) 

Reports on the state of the environment as documented by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are increasingly alarming.  Of particular concern is the global collapse of oceans and the serious consequences already borne by the poorest nations.  At a climate conference in Warsaw last November, there was an emotional outpouring from countries that face existential threats, among them Bangladesh, which produces just 0.3 per cent of the emissions driving climate change.

In the face of increasing concern and vulnerability in the world voiced especially by the poor and the young, what word does the church speak? What action do we take?

We learn from global partners.  A call from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network to a deeper commitment to the fifth Mark of Mission shared by Anglicans worldwide influenced the Anglican church’s recent decision to have candidates for baptism make an additional vow “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and respect, sustain, and renew the life of the earth.” (An Act of General Synod, 2013). A call from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) delegation to COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland (November 11-22, 2013), which included seven young adults, led the Lutheran church to join a global monthly fast in prayerful solidarity with people affected by climate change (#fastfortheclimate). 

We raise awareness. Anglican and Lutheran Youth have taken up the challenge of raising awareness of the “Right to Water” through a joint National Youth Project.  Our churches commend the UN effort to reach a global treaty in 2015 to secure a global agreement on a net zero emissions goal. Canada, with the second highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity per capita of the G8 countries, is expected to announce an emission-reduction target for 2030 that would be significantly lower than 2020 levels. While progress is being made, without new measures, absolute emissions in 2030 would be projected to reach 815 megatonnes — 81 megatonnes more than projected for 2020.

We act. As Full Communion partners, our churches are committed to learn about issues of resource extraction and the effects on environment, health, Indigenous peoples, communities and economies and to raise awareness within our communities and with policy shapers and decision makers.  We support our partners in defining their own development goals, including supporting Indigenous communities in Canada and elsewhere in exercising their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent; and act to embed enforceable legal obligations based on FPIC in Canadian policies and practices with respect to resource extraction.  We advocate for responsible and ethical investment and actions by individuals, faith communities, corporations, and governments both in Canada and around the world.  And, we pray for the humility and discipline to use Earth’s resources wisely and responsibly.  These are commitments we are working to put into action.

With our ecumenical and interfaith partners – KAIROS; the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Canadian Council of Churches; the Canadian Interfaith Conversation — we are committed to act from “our faith traditions and sacred texts … to consider the spiritual dimensions of the crisis of ocean and climate change; to take stock of our collective behaviour; to transform cultures of consumerism and waste into cultures of sustainability; and to respect the balance between economic activity and environmental stewardship.” (Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change, 2011)

We encourage each other to act.  We invite individuals, parishes, congregations, dioceses and synods to increase their “stewardship of creation” through  green audits, greening strategies and practices that show how much “creation matters.” 

We pray. Good Friday reminds us that we have a Saviour who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and the suffering of creation. Easter Sunday reminds us that we are witnesses of all God does for us, and that we begin each day forgiven and free. 

On this Earth Day, our hope is that we will rise up more conscious than ever of our first vocation as human beings caring for the Earth with the utmost respect for the Creator and the utmost regard for the generations of all those who come after us. 

From the primal elements
You brought forth the human race,
And blessed us with memory, reason, and skill;
You made us the stewards of creation.

Glory to you for ever and ever.

A pdf version of the joint message can be viewed here: https://www.elcic.ca/Documents/2014April-EarthDayMessage.pdf

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 145,376 baptized members in 594 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop Blank, Director of Communications
600-177 Lombard Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 0W5
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

In a new online video, National Bishop Susan C. Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), offer a joint Holy Week and Easter message to the two churches.

The two leaders share their reflections as they attend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Alberta National Event, March 2014.

The TRC gives survivors of the residential schools an opportunity to share their stories. Most of these stories are of pain, loneliness, and years of lost love.

The TRC also provides an opportunity for the churches and others to offer an expression of reconciliation and a commitment to healing and reconciliation. “We enter this Truth and Reconciliation work with heavy hearts but there certainly are indications that change is about to happen,” says Archbishop Hiltz.

“Holy Week is all about reconciliation,” continues Archbishop Hiltz. “As we make that journey to Good Friday and we see our Lord with arms outstretched on the cross, those are arms of reconciling love, bringing us all into relationship with one another in God who loves each and every one of us.”

Bishop Johnson notes that this year the two leaders will be especially mindful entering into Holy Week and journeying on to Easter because of the stories they experienced at the TRC. “As we celebrate our Lord’s passion and remember his death, we will hear the cries of pain and loss that we have heard these few days,” she says.

“As we prepare to celebrate the joyful celebration of Easter [we will] count on our Lord to bring us a new dawn, a new hope of a future that will take away this pain and lead us into right relationships,” says Bishop Johnson.

The ACC and ELCIC have enjoyed a full communion partnership since 2001. This relationship is lived out in many ways, including using each other’s liturgies and serving as clergy in each other’s churches. Several joint Anglican-Lutheran parishes and cooperative ministries have sprung up across Canada.

In July 2013, the ELCIC and ACC gathered together at a Joint Assembly of the ELCIC National Convention and the ACC General Synod in Ottawa, Ont.

This year, Lutherans and Anglicans will host a joint National Worship Conference (www.nationalworshipconference.org) and Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth (CLAY) gathering (www.claygathering.ca).

The video can be viewed from the National Bishop’s page: https://elcic.ca/From-the-Bishop/default.cfm
Download a copy of the video here: http://youtu.be/JvYGyGU3E84

—————————————————————–
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 145,376 baptized members in 594 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Director of Communications
600-177 Lombard Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 0W5
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

Representatives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and its ecumenical partners were among thousands gathered to hear survivor testimonies, celebrate Indigenous culture and resilience and work towards reconciliation at the Truth and Reconciliation national event, March 27-30 in Edmonton, Alberta.

ELCIC National Bishop Susan C. Johnson presented an Expression of Reconciliation on behalf of the ELCIC at the gathering.

The ELCIC offered a copy of the 2011 ELCIC Resolution on Right Relationships with Indigenous Peoples and a clay pot as a symbol of, "all that we must give up for the sake of reconciliation."

View the text of Bishop Johnson’s presentation here.

Videos and other news from the TRC will be made available at www.trc.ca.