ELCA Social Message on Government and Civic Engagement

As adopted unanimously by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on June 24, 2020.

Lutherans care about government because it is a gift from God intended for the safety and flourishing of human life. Yet too often and in too many ways, this gift has been abused. There is a spirit of broad dissatisfaction, mistrust, protest, and even contempt of government in the United States.

ELCA social teaching holds that all residents of the United States have a responsibility to make government function well—not to abandon our democracy but to engage it in a spirit of robust civic duty. For Lutherans, this responsibility is lived out as a calling from God, expressed in the discipleship described in our baptismal promises. It is based on our understanding of how God governs human society.