ProtestantBeliefs.com

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what all of history is contingent upon. All that we experience, linearly, has a ground behind, underneath, and after it that is in fact the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without that centraldogma there is no history; there is no nothing. I think we, especially as Christians of all people, really need to get our heads around this reality. When we do we start living as those who have the hope of Christ in us, the purifying hope. We have a critical valence to look at the world from that is not purely conditioned by…

“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here. Prayer prompts: For justice and peace among nations where war and violence rage, especially Palestine and Israel, Iran, Myanmar, Iraq,…

Issue 94 of Administration Matters How to Create a Mission Endowment Fund: A Guide for Congregations The ELCA Foundation has created a tool to help congregations that are considering an endowment. “How to Create a Mission Endowment Fund: A Guide for Congregations” provides a systematic approach to establishing a mission endowment fund, which enables congregations to be thoughtful stewards of bequests and planned gifts. You can find an electronic copy of the guide here. To learn more, you may also contact the ELCA Foundation at 800-638-3522 or email elcafoundation@elca.org. Information needed when filing an insurance claim for embezzlement Each situation…

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21     In his name the nations will put their hope.” –Mathew 12.18-21 If, ten years ago, you had told me that I would live to see literate evangelicals, some with…

“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here. Prayer prompts: For justice and peace among nations where war and violence rage, especially Palestine and Israel, Iran, Myanmar, Iraq,…

What if Christ had never come? A rather counterfactual thought experiment, given the fact that He did. And yet Pierre Maury runs with this line for a moment in a Christmas sermon he gave in 1952 in his home country of France. Thinking of our odd habit of making a distinction between the things we may have with Jesus Christ and in him, and the things we think we can think we can have without him, it occurred to me to imagine a world without Christmas, a world into which Jesus Christ had never and would never come, where we…

Each month ELCA Worship highlights resources and events from other organizations and institutions. These Lutheran and ecumenical partner organizations work alongside the ELCA to support worship leaders, worship planners, musicians, and all who care about the worship of the church. Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival Transforming and connecting lives through faith and music since 1981. Lutheran Summer Music invites you to livestream over 30 inspiring concerts, recitals, and worship services throughout the entire month of July. Performances and services are shared by over 250 students, faculty, fellows, worship staff, and guest artists who come together to create a vibrant…

Following are updates shared from submissions of the Lutheran Office for World Community and state public policy offices (sppos) in the ELCA Advocacy Network last month. Full list and map of sppos available.  U.N. | COLORADO| PENNSYLVANIA| TEXAS| WASHINGTON |WISCONSIN New York Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), U.N. – ELCA.org/lowc Christine Mangale, Director From May 9-10, LOWC staff participated in the UN Civil Society conference in Nairobi, Kenya. 2,158 participants—representing 115 nationalities, from 1,424 organizations, and headquartered in 99 countries—were in attendance. The conference focused on increasing awareness, ambition and accountability for the Summit of the Future happening in September. It also worked to build multi-stakeholder ImPACT…

Pierre Maury was Karl Barth’s ‘French connection’ and friend. Without Maury’s thinking and writing on a reformulated Reformed doctrine of predestination, Barth’s turn, and own treatment of predestination (as exemplified in his Church Dogmatics II/2) may never have happened; at least not in the shape that it did. Here is Maury on a critique of the classical Augustinian inspired doctrine of election/reprobation (especially as that developed within what came to be called Post Reformed orthodox Dogmatics in the 16th and 17th centuries, respectively): Before we proceed further, there is an important point which must be made clear. If what we…

“For what shall we pray?” is a weekly post inviting individuals, groups, and congregations to lift up our world in prayer. This resource is prepared by a variety of leaders in the ELCA and includes prayer prompts, upcoming events and observances, and prayer suggestions from existing denominational worship materials. You are encouraged to use these resources as a starting point, and to adapt and add other concerns from your local context. More information about this resource can be found here. Prayer prompts: For justice and peace among nations where war and violence rage, especially Palestine and Israel, Iran, Myanmar, Iraq,…