EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA HQ

Lutheran Disaster Response shares God's hope, healing and renewal with people whose lives have been disrupted by disasters in the United States and around the world. When the dust settles and the headlines change, we stay to provide ongoing assistance to those in need.

We are a church that is a catalyst, convener and bridge builder. Lutheran Disaster Response collaborates with other disaster response organizations and religious entities in the United States and around the world. This enables the greatest stewardship of resources and maximum impact of response. We are a welcome partner because we respect the perspectives and strengths of others.

We believe every response needs to be rooted in the community; we work to accompany that community from immediate relief through long-term recovery. We partner internationally with companion churches and other Lutheran and ecumenical relief agencies, and domstically with a vast network of affiliates and partners.

The ELCA Fund for Leaders scholarship program supports students attending ELCA seminaries. By making seminary more affordable, the ELCA Fund for Leaders enables more future ministers to go to seminary and helps them graduate with less debt, empowering those whom God calls into ministry to go and serve as the church needs and the Holy Spirit leads.

The ELCA International Leadership Development Program seeks to enhance the capacity of the global church for mission and ministry. The program provides financial awards to support the short- and long-term academic training of established and emerging leaders in global companion churches and institutions. After their studies, students return to their home countries ready to assume important leadership roles — from becoming a bishop to winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

The ELCA believes the time has come for a strong, strategic emphasis on supporting and empowering international women leaders in the life and development of the church and society. Through the International Women Leaders program, we are boldly investing in established and emerging women leaders from our global companion churches.

Over 240 ELCA missionaries serve in more than 40 countries around the world, invited by global church partners to work together hand-in-hand. Mission personnel serve in the spirit of accompaniment, walking alongside global companions in a manner that practices mutuality, interdependence and solidarity. Some are doctors in rural areas. Others teach children where there are few opportunities to go to school, or work in seminaries that prepare pastors and future church leaders. Others support, nurture and preach in some of the fastest growing Lutheran congregations in the world.

And still others are young adults, engaging in a life-changing, year-long experience through the Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM). Every year, young adults ranging in age from 21 to 29 accept a call into a life-changing year of service in communities around the world. During this year, the young adults engage in relationships of mutuality, interdependence, solidarity and trust.