This coming August voting members of the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly will vote on “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Lutheran Call to Action,” a proposed Social Statement on Women and Justice.
In response to memorials from several synods, the 2009 Churchwide Assembly authorized development of a social statement on Women and Justice.
In accordance with ELCA processes, a task force was created to study the issues, provide resource material, create a draft, and offer a proposed social statement to be considered by the 2019 Churchwide Assembly.
The following is a timeline of how the Study came about:
2013
Beginning in 2013 through 2017, several “Listening Events” were held to get input from ELCA members about what issues they would like the study to address.
2015
From these listening events it became clear that the problem of abuse and violence was a concern that needed to be addressed sooner than the timeline for the development of a Social Statement would allow. In 2015 an ELCA Social Message, “Gender-based Violence” was adopted by the Church Council.
2016
“Faith, Sexism, Justice: Conversations toward a Social Statement,” a study document was released which ELCA members were invited to study and send in their responses.
2017
The Draft Social Statement on Women and Justice was published in November and mailed to each congregation. Hearings to solicit feedback were held.
2018
Sept 30, 2018 was the end of the comment period.
2019
The final proposed statement “”Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Lutheran Call to Action” was completed. In February and March it was reviewed by the Church Council and Conference of Bishops. In April the ELCA Church Council recommended the statement.
The Rev. Dr. Kit Kleinhans was on the Task Force and will be leading a workshop at the 2019 Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly on the Statement.
For more information:
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Download Proposed Statement: Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Lutheran Call to Action
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Accompanying Cover Letter
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Frequently Asked Questions about Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Lutheran Call to Action
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Report on Responses to Draft Statement on Women and Justice
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Biographies of the ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice