CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) adopted a social message on gender-based violence and adopted an accompanying foundational document designed for in-depth study and analysis when it met here Nov. 12-15. The council, which serves as the ELCA’s board of directors, also took action on a variety of matters designed to help move forward the church’s mission and ministries.

The council authorized the work of the social message two years ago in response to a request from the ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice: One in Christ, which received concerns from across this church on the growing level of gender-based violence in the United States. Since 2012, the task force has been engaged in study toward a proposed social statement on women and justice to come to the Church Council in April 2019 and for possible consideration by the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly – the largest legislative body of the church. The text of the message is available at http://www.elca.org/Faith/Faith-and-Society/Current-Social-Writing-Projects/Gender-Violence.

Social messages draw attention to timely and pressing matters of social concern to the church. There are now 13 ELCA social messages. Social statements are teaching and policy documents that provide broad frameworks for Lutherans to discuss social issues in the context of faith and life.

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