September 2025

“O Jerusalem, I have posted guardians on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually.”  (Isaiah 62: 6)

 

Dear Friends:

I am very grateful for all the people who are praying regularly for Lutheran CORE and for our work of alerting people to what is happening in the ELCA.  You are like the guardians in Isaiah 62: 6, who pray continually.

I am also very grateful for all the words of encouragement, support, and appreciation which I have received in response to my recent Review and Analysis of the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  As I said, it was bad, but it could have been worse.  And I believe the 2028 ELCA Churchwide Assembly will be worse.

Here are some of the responses I have received, which I experienced as uplifting and sustaining.

• “Thanks for the Summary and Analysis of the CWA.  It was great, and yet troubling.”
• “Thank you for sharing your detailed review and firsthand account of the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  I truly valued your insights, especially since my experience attending online was no    substitute for being present in the room.  Your reflections captured dimensions and moods that simply don’t come through the virtual platform.”
• “Thank you for your articulate, insightful & spot-on eyewitness account of CWA ’25.”  
• “Thank you for the long and interesting report from the ELCA national gathering.  You went so we didn’t have to.”

Those who are determined to make dismantling racism and promoting DEIA as the heart of who the ELCA is and what the ELCA does have yet to fully accomplish their goals, but they are well on their way.  They have made major strides forward.  During the assembly we saw clearly that there are powerful and powerfully positioned people who will not stop until ELCA governance and structure are changed so that their agenda can be made mandatory at all levels of the ELCA.  And those who are determined to eliminate bound conscience will be working tirelessly through the task force that is reconsidering the 2009 human sexuality social statement.  They are determined that the newly revised social statement will have no room for traditional views and those who hold them.  As I mentioned in my article, I believe we saw a preview of what is to come in the vote that was taken towards the end of the 2025 assembly to eliminate the words “between a man and a woman” in the social statement’s description of the church’s historical view of marriage.  The argument was that the words “between a man and a woman” are hurtful and harmful to the LGBTQ+ community.  Therefore, they must be removed.  If the ELCA will not even tolerate an accurate description of the historical view of marriage because some people experience that description as harmful and hurtful, how do we think that bound conscience has any chance to survive?  The major question is, Why will it take a full three years for the task force to eliminate bound conscience?   

And we have yet to see how all this will be impacted by the election of a new Presiding Bishop and Secretary. 

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement, which give us strength and spiritual protection as we continue our work.  And thank you for your faithful and generous financial support so that we can continue to provide the following –   

• Resources on our website, including daily devotions, worship aids, lectionary-based Bible studies and children’s messages, and videos on books and topics of interest and importance 
• Financial support for several seminarians  
• Sponsorship of the local and cross-country, intergenerational, multi-denominational mission trips organized and held by River’s Edge Ministries in Mt. Airy, Maryland 
• Support and guidance for congregations that are between pastors or will soon be losing their pastor, as well as for smaller and/or more remote congregations that are facing the real possibility that there might not be a seminary-trained pastor available for them 

Please find below a Printable Response Form or other links which you can use to give a gift towards our operating expenses.  Please also let us know how we can be praying for you.  Your prayers are especially important for us during the next three years as we continue to monitor and alert you to the relentless efforts being made to take the ELCA further and further away from the historic Christian faith.        

As a guardian with you on the wall,

 

Dennis D. Nelson
Executive Director of Lutheran CORE
P.O. Box 1741
Wausau WI 54402-1741

“Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened” (Matthew 28:11).

There are always those who are opposed to what the Lord is doing.  Count on it.  Some seed falls on rocky soil.  Go ahead anyway and share what the Lord has given you.  The only One to fear is the Lord.  Though some may seek to take Your life, they can never take what Jesus has given you, for you have the promise of the resurrection, having been eternally connected with Jesus.

Lord, You know that I do fear in this age. I fear those who can destroy my body.  I also know that this body will wear out.  Lead me so that I do not fear what may come.  Grant me prudence to not be reckless, but help me so that I remain bold in the faith You have given me.  Others will report all kinds of things, but You have shown me the truth and spoken the words of eternal life.

Guide me, Lord Jesus, in the steps that are needed.  As You instructed the first witnesses to share love with others, help me to love those around me.  Grant that I not fear those who give other messages in this world who mean You harm.  Lead me where You would have me share the good news.  Guard my mouth and actions so that I am consistent in the message You would have me give.  Grant me boldness to be firm in conviction.  Amen.