Civic Engagement Resources

Our faith is integral to how we, as Christians, attend to the world. Our beliefs and actions are shaped by our relationships with God and one another.

“As with Jesus, the call to love the neighbor and do justice pushes us into engagement with society rather than out of it. Only with appropriate attention to the political can we exercise neighbor love and serve neighbor justice to hold government accountable, oppose social oppression, seek various kinds of liberation, and work toward the common good. Political engagement in this sense is a means of channeling God’s love through civic participation,” states the Faith and Civic Life ELCA social statement.

Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the knowledge, skills, values and motivation needed to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community through both political and nonpolitical processes. 

Here are some resources from our partners:

• The NW Washington Synod Council approves support of No Hate in Washington State 
• ELCA Prepared to Vote Checklist
• ELCA Civic Engagement Toolkit
• Cultivating Relationships with Local Election Officials
• Being a Public Church in the Election Process
• Learn more about ELCA Civic Engagement
• Resources from Faith Action Network
• ELCA Young Adult - Faithful Engagement 
• ELCA Social Statements & Messages:
  • ELCA Social Statement - Faith & Civic Life
  • ELCA Social Statement - Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective
  • ELCA Social Message - Government and Civic Engagement in the United States: Discipleship in a Democracy
• ELCA Worship Resources for a National Election

• Send letters of gratitude & appreciation - As elections approach this fall, consider sending a note of support and encouragement to those in your county who will receive and count ballots. Ballots are scheduled to arrive in mid-October, and election workers begin as soon as ballots arrive in county offices. Your congregation can write notes of gratitude and appreciation as this busy and stressful season begins, for those whose hard work often goes unnoticed. Find your county election office’s address HERE.