Craftivism as Advocacy: A Creative Way to Practice Faithful Civic Engagement

ELCA Advocacy has introduced a new resource on craftivism — a form of activism that uses traditional crafts as a medium for social and political change. Craftivism brings together the personal and communal practices of making, stitching, quilting, knitting, drawing, or assembling with the public work of advocacy, conversation, and witness.

The resource grew out of the 2026 Women of the ELCA Triennial activity, “Quilting God’s Dream for Our Nation,” hosted by ELCA Witness in Society. Participants were invited to imagine less anxious and divided times through creative expression. Instead of responding to public life only with argument or frustration, they used color, texture, words, images, and shared creativity to express a faithful vision for the common good.

For Lutherans, this kind of public witness makes sense. Advocacy is not only testimony at the Capitol or letters to lawmakers, though those things matter. Advocacy can also be prayerful, calming, nonviolent, community-building, awareness-raising, conversation-starting, and loving action. A quilt square, banner, prayer stitch, or handmade sign can become a gentle but powerful invitation to ask: What does faithful love look like in anxious and divided times?

This is especially meaningful in an election season. People of faith can be trusted community messengers, helping pull neighbors away from fear and division and toward the common good. Nonpartisan civic engagement is one way Christians live out our baptismal vocation in service to the world. Elections shape policies, leadership, and public decisions that affect neighbors for years to come — especially neighbors whose voices are too often pushed to the margins.

The resource offers practical steps for starting a craftivism project: identify your message, plan the project, gather supplies, invite others to join, craft, and display the finished work. Congregations might create paper or fabric quilt squares, host a crafting event, bless the finished piece during worship or prayer, share photos in a newsletter or on social media, or use the artwork to thank election officials and encourage faithful civic participation.

This resource is a reminder that craftivism can support a welcoming, celebratory, nonpartisan presence around elections so that every voter feels safe, confident, and supported. A congregation does not need to become partisan to be a faithful public presence. We can create spaces of prayer, beauty, conversation, and courage while helping our neighbors participate in civic life with dignity.

In Arizona, a craftivism project could connect naturally with voter education, Election Protection, postcard-writing, LAMA advocacy alerts, or a congregation’s public ministry. A quilt of prayers for our state, a wall of hopes for our communities, or handmade thank-you notes for poll workers could all become small signs of God’s dream for our common life.

In a season when public life can feel anxious and divided, craftivism offers another way to practice faithful love: with hands busy, spirits grounded, neighbors gathered, and a vision of healing stitched into view.