Graceful Engagement IS:
- --living together in relationship and empathy
- --agreeing to disagree
- --valuing fully other people and their beliefs, even when they differ from your own
- --listening more than speaking
- --meeting people where they are, not where you want them to be
- The power to do this is in Christ and in us through him.
Graceful engagement leaves room for the Holy Spirit!
Lutherans Concern/North America has instituted a new program that helps us live into graceful engagement in a way that carries forward the will of the Churchwide Assembly. You can find more information on LC/NA's "First Resolved" program here.
Voices supporting recent change in the ELCA:
Lutherans Concerned/North America
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
Lutheran Network for Inclusive Vision
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church/Wingspan
Joint Synod Committee for Inclusivity
Voices opposing recent changes in the ELCA:
Lutheran CORE/Coalition for Renewal
Fellowship of Confessional Lutherans (FOCL)
LCMC--Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
Graceful Engagement is NOT:
--forcing opinions on other people
--leaving the church to find a place where everyone agrees (this is not our vision of the Body of Christ)
--condemning people with whom you do not agree
-- changing other people through argument