Lutherans Concerned North America

What is Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA), anyway?

Good question! At Lutherans Concerned, we are dedicated to working at the intersection of oppressions, embodying, inspiring, advocating and organizing for the acceptance and full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities within the Lutheran communion and its ecumenical and global partners.

What does that mean?

We’re working alongside our siblings in Christ to be sure that all people, whether bisexual, transgender, lesbian, gay, or straight will be welcome in our Lutheran church and its affiliates. To achieve that goal, we focus on spiritual work, educational work, and advocacy. For example:

• Our Reconciling in Christ program, founded in 1984, recognizes Lutheran communities of faith which adopt a public affirmation of welcome to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The RIC roster now includes at least 447 Lutheran congregations, 26 ELCA and ELCIC Synods, and 28 other Lutheran colleges and organizations including The Lutheran Student Movement USA and the Urban Servants Corps. These churches have made a commitment to maintaining a welcome toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Their commitment helps make the new ELCA social statement on sexuality not only a policy of tolerance, but a practice of radical inclusion.
• Marriage Matters. Lutherans Concerned/North America believes that marriage matters. We believe marriage is about committed couples who want to make a lifelong promise to take care of and be responsible for each other. We are actively working within states like Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina where marriage laws are being voted upon to education citizens about our Lutheran view of marriage.
• Spirituality: We meet the particular spiritual needs of people concerned with sexual orientation issues as well as those of their families and friends. We affirm God's unconditional love and help people reconcile their faith with sexuality issues in an uplifting way. Examples of programs and activities have included: Chapter worship, holding Bible studies, peer support, fellowship, providing spiritual and theological resource materials, referrals for pastoral care.
• Education: We believe that dducating members and other Lutherans at all organizational levels will build greater understanding of spiritual, scriptural and sexual orientation issues. We have provided video resources on the history of the faith movement for full inclusion of LGBT people in the Lutheran church, pamphlets and brochures on our programs, educational information on extending the welcome to bisexual and transgender people as well as gay and lesbian people, toolkits on the Reconciling in Christ process, and guides to respectfully engaging Scripture when walking together toward being a more welcoming community. Many of our resources are also available in Spanish.
• Advocacy: Staff and members promote specific actions or policy changes by individuals, congregations, synods/districts, and national church organizations. These have included successful endorsement of the federal Employment Non Discrimination legislation by the 1997 ELCA Church wide Assembly and the passage of a policy change by the 2009 ELCA Church wide Assembly accepting individuals in publicly accountable lifelong monogamous same gender relationships onto the ELCA roster. Current and future issues include policies and practices on relationships and anti-bullying.
• Anti-Bullying: As our Executive Director Emily Eastwood said, “We must take our message of God's radical and inclusive love into our churches and beyond to our streets and schools. The needless deaths and injury of these young people shall not be tolerated. The gift of their lives shall not be wasted. They were our children. May our grief for these few become outrage which turns us to action for the many more who are already suffering and will suffer. Doing nothing is no longer an option.” LC/NA stands with those who are bullied, their families and their friends and will offer concrete steps congregations, pastors, and individuals can take to make their schools, churches and homes safe for all children.