Day 2 of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is in the books.
It was a day filled with reports from the Vice President of the ELCA, Mr. Imran Siddiqui, and Treasurer Lori Fedyk.
We received a final report on the Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church (CRLC).
Received an introduction to the Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith, and an Introduction to the proposed edits to the 2009 Social Statement Human Sexuality Gift and Trust.
We took the 2nd vote for Presiding Bishop and the list has narrowed down to 7 people.
We also had the first report of the Memorials committee, most of the memorials were voted En Bloc, meaning as a whole. Synod Assemblies throughout this church sent 87 memorials to the Churchwide Assembly.
The first Memorial discussed was on the Indian Boarding Schools. Northern Illinois 2025 Synod Assembly memorial was a part of this group. Many people across the Church are learning about the horrors of Indian Boarding Schools and how families still have no records of their loved ones. Check out the ELCA Truth and Healing Movement.
To end the night, we saw an Exhibition Powwow of Native Americans.
On this second day, I am amazed at the wonderful people this whole church has, and how passionate people become about certain issues.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 30th), the Assembly will elect a new Presiding Bishop by evening. We will also hopefully have a discussion on another memorial on updating the Abortion Social Statement from 1991. By the way, the Northern Illinois Synod put that Memorial forward in 2023.
Stay tuned to the Livestream at elca.org/CWA.
-Brandon Graves, Salem Sycamore
