“God’s Work. Our Hands. That is the phrase we will use to say who we are to the world,” said Pastor Craig Settlage, ELCA Director for Mission Support/Synodical Relations. “It’s our church, congregations, synods, and churchwide expressions together.”

“It all begins with God’s work,” he said. “What we are really talking about is God working (among us).”

He invited us to reflect upon the baptismal font where it all began for most of us and to reflect upon all of the hands who nurtured us. We are given the same privilege of being those hands every time we welcome others into the fellowship of the church.

One way the ELCA is at work is through the Book of Faith initiative to become a church committed to become more fluent in the first language of faith, the language of scripture. When we engage scripture our story and God’s story are connected and we are transformed by that relationship.

Settlage shared that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer several months ago. He has since realized more deeply how important it is to reach out to one another in Christ’s love. We have so many gifts of people, agencies and a whole range of service endeavors in our church.

“The question is through our giving can we grow our capacity for mission and ministry in the world?” he said.