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2025 Assembly Highlights
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February 6, 2024
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” -Matthew 22:37-39
On Sunday, February 2, General Mike Flynn shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) that claimed money was being laundered through religious organizations and specifically named the “Lutheran” faith. The post contained a picture of a spreadsheet showing payments from the Department of Health and Human Services to Global Refuge (formerly LIRS) and to a number of Lutheran Social Service organizations across the country. Elon Musk commented “The @DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
The claims that these federal grants are illegal or that these federal grants are connected in any way to money laundering are complete lies. The falsehoods strike at the heart of our caring institutions and cast doubt on every Lutheran’s integrity.
Shutting down federal grant payments puts Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) employees and their families at risk along with the clients and families that rely on the array of services provided including early childhood education and parental support, mental health counseling, behavioral health interventions for adolescents, services for people living with disabilities, foster care and adoption services and resettlement accompaniment and services for legally present immigrants and refugees. Currently, there are 190 legally documented people being resettled in Iowa and 108 of them are children. We must stand by our promise of support to these children and adults as they flee from their own countries.
Lutherans have been providing care for our neighbors in need through these agencies for generations. LSI has been serving Iowans for 160 years! We read about LSI’s great work in many of our church newsletters every month. We have a long tradition of supporting their work through generous donations of cash and in-kind gifts. We are right to be grateful and even proud of the work we do together with these agencies here in Iowa and across the country. Please don’t let one false and misleading post cast doubt on what you know from personal experience.
Global Refuge and Lutheran Social Services (like LSI here in Iowa) bid on government contracts to help resettle legal immigrants in our country and in our state. LSI, also, bids on state and federal grants to sustain the other important programs that support Iowans. Contracts are awarded by the government and regularly audited. This work has taken place through administration after administration, no matter which political party holds power in our federal government. There is nothing illegal or unethical about this work. We expect our government to honor its contracts and pay people for honest work done in service to our country and our neighbors.
As ELCA Bishops serving the three Synods in Iowa, and as members of the LSI Board of Directors, we want you to be confident in the exemplary work and ministry of LSI and Global Refuge. We support the hard-working employees of these agencies especially during these unwarranted attacks and false assertions. We remain grateful for the many ways Lutherans in Iowa love the Lord our God and love our neighbors in tangible, caring, and helpful ways.
The ELCA remains committed to our core mission of feeding people who are hungry, caring for those who are sick, and advocating for justice, peace, and the dignity of all people. This has been the calling of the church for over 2,000 years, and that will not change.
Please tell the true stories about the work and impact of Lutheran Service in Iowa, Lutheran Services in America, and Global Refuge, so that together, we can spread the truth about the mission of caring in the name of Jesus Christ through these organizations and many others like them.
Bishop Kevin Jones, Northeastern Iowa Synod, ELCA
Bishop Amy Current, Southeastern Iowa Synod, ELCA
Bishop Lorna Halaas, Western Iowa Synod, ELCA
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's Video Message
Please share this letter with congregations, friends, colleagues, put on Facebook and other social media platforms.
Bishop Eaton's Response
Dear church,
On Monday, our nation witnessed the peaceful transfer of power central to our democracy, followed by sweeping actions by the incoming Trump administration. Facing such changes, we receive guidance through Martin Luther's words in the Large Catechism.
In the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, where we pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” Luther writes about the importance of praying for our leaders, asking God to grant them wisdom and strength. He also speaks to the responsibility of leaders to provide stability, sufficiency and equity, saying, “[I]t would be very proper to place in the coat-of-arms of every pious prince a loaf of bread instead of a lion, or a wreath of rue, or to stamp it upon the coin, to remind both them and their subjects that by their office we have protection and peace, and that without them we could not eat and retain our daily bread.”[1]
This past week has been one of rapid and cascading change, from the inauguration of a new president and vice president to the flurry of activity in government orders and regulations. The policies and decisions reflected in this week's executive orders and regulatory changes have the potential to profoundly impact our lives, the well-being of our neighbors and the future of the planet. Therefore, I am concerned about the ways that many of the executive actions have created uncertainty and fear in our communities among neighbors struggling to survive, neighbors struggling to provide for their children, and neighbors struggling to be seen.
As a church, we are called to speak up when the government distorts or denies the image of God in each person by endangering access to protection, peace and daily bread. Where harm or inequity occur, we are called by God to respond with love and advocacy.
Luther also writes that in asking for daily bread, we are to pray for our leaders. We should pray that they act wisely and justly, protect all people and not cause harm.
Prayer is not passive; it's an act of hope. Prayer reminds us to ground ourselves in God's promise. We pray for strength, to love unconditionally and to serve one another. As we lift up our petitions, we must also act—advocating for policies that affirm the dignity of every person and standing against actions that demean or exclude.
This church is committed to upholding the humanity of everyone, regardless of who we are or where we come from. We are a church called to love our neighbors and accompany all people in their joys and struggles. We must remain steadfast in this calling. As the ELCA, we will continue to proclaim the radical inclusivity of Christ's love. And we will deepen our local and global partnerships with those working to build a just and compassionate society, especially through our ecumenical and interreligious networks.
I commend to you the social message “Government and Civic Engagement in the United States: Discipleship in a Democracy,” which states on page 7: “To evaluate how well agencies of government are doing their proper work of providing for the safety and well-being of those within their borders and/or jurisdiction, Lutherans ask one simple but all-encompassing question: Is the neighbor being served?”
I encourage our congregations to use the resources of the ELCA Witness in Society Team with advocacy networks on the state and federal level. And get involved with AMMPARO, the ELCA’s strategy toward just and humane policies affecting migrants.
As we move forward, let us hold fast to our faith and to one another. Let us be bold in our witness to the gospel, steadfast in our prayers for those in authority and tireless in our efforts to seek justice for all.
May God grant us courage, wisdom and peace in these days.
In Christ,
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
[1]The Book of Concord, Kold and Wengert, eds., page 450.
SAMs, First Call, Rostered leaders, and those helping teach confirmation classes are encouraged to attend. Lunch is provided. Registration is required.
Date: Feb. 7
Time: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: St. Mark Lutheran Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., Sioux City
Cost: $15
Registration closes Monday, Feb. 3 at noon.
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Flood Relief Efforts
Thank You!
THANK YOU to the people, leaders, congregations, friends and staff of the Western Iowa Synod for continued generous response in these days. Thanks also to Lutheran Disaster Response and our neighbors in the Northeastern Iowa Synod, ELCA and Nebraska Synod, ELCA. The NEED continues to be great and your prayers and financial gifts will support recovery efforts.
-Bishop Lorna
I can't say how powerful the last few days have been. So much of Western Iowa is hurting, so much devastation With generosity from Northeastern Iowa Synod ELCA and a donated 200 flood buckets yesterday. Today they are at work in Sioux City, Hawarden, Sioux Rapids and Humboldt. Tomorrow more go to Emmetsberg. We took box fans, buckets, and gift cards. Please check the Western Iowa Synod ELCA Facebook page for more ways to give! Thank you to all of those that have given supplies to support to our neighbors. Gifts of money can be made on the website. www.wisynod.org/give now Lutheran Disaster Relief. These funds will be put to work here in Western Iowa. Blessing and prayers are with all affected by the flooding all around us.
-Kay Broich
News
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