Goals and Directions for Global Mission

To participate in the life-giving mission of the Triune God and to be in mission shaped by the cross, ELCA Global Mission will do the following:

1. Develop and support health care ministries for the most vulnerable.
2. Support integrated community development programs.
3. Facilitate education programs with churches in countries with special educational needs.
4. Inspire ELCA members to participate in public and prophetic advocacy in cooperation with the Division for Church in Society.
5. Support ministries of reconciliation emphasizing peace and justice.
6. Engage ELCA members and cooperate with ecumenical companions in response to international disasters.
   

1. Assist with leadership development within churches and especially among women.
2. Facilitate South-South exchanges of personnel, mutual consultation and sharing.
3. Develop mechanisms for participating in ELCA Global Mission decision-making by those affected by those decisions.
4. Give priority to ecumenical avenues of cooperating in mission.
5. Engage ELCA members who are African Americans, Asian, Latino/a, American Indian-Alaska Native, Arabic-Middle Eastern in international relationships and mission service.
   

4. Receive
Work with the ELCA in developing our gifts as a church and embracing the gifts of others as we walk together in global mission.

1. Provide education for mission that inspires and motivates ELCA members to receive the witness of the global mission community.
2. Foster relationships and encounters between global companions and ELCA synods, congregations and members.
3. Build a vision of stewardship that enables ELCA members to generously share their resources for God's mission and to receive the gifts of global companions.
4. Inspire ELCA members to a renewed and active prayer life for God's mission in today's world.

We are committed to participating in God's life-giving mission of restoring the dignity of humanity and all of creation.

We are committed to proclaiming Jesus Christ, through whom God gives life, and who embodies the life God intends for all creation. We rejoice in the coming salvation and liberation of humanity and all creation from the powers of sin, sickness, alienation and death.

We are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the world, and honor the new community the Spirit creates and endows with a wide diversity of gifts. We are workers whose mission vocations in the world point to God as the Giver of Life.

Mission in the mind of Christ Jesus is a journey into costly discipleship, formed by the way of the cross and transformed by the risen crucified Christ.

We pray that the Holy Spirit empty us of cultural arrogance, political domination, and economic exploitation. We walk in a spirit of respect and vulnerability among our companions.

As Christian disciples we take up our cross and follow Jesus in solidarity with those who are broken and oppressed, participating in God's movement for life and justice for all people.

We enter these relationships seeking to engage in conversations about each of our faiths. We recognize God's presence and wisdom as it is expressed in our neighbor's faith. We are open to understanding and respecting the faith of our neighbor, even as we witness to salvation in Jesus Christ.

We enter these relationships not knowing where they will go but sustained by the hope that, in the end, by the power of Holy Spirit "every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11 - NRSV).

We are committed to overcoming attitudes, behaviors and systems that exclude or marginalize women and persons of certain cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

We are committed to justice in all relationships and programs, assisting women and other excluded persons to develop their gifts and leadership skills.

We are open to receiving the gifts of all members of the Body of Christ, gifts for the building up of the whole Body and for God's mission in the world.