Faith in action: The social teachings of this church

Article by the Rev. Kristin Johnston Largen peprinted from Living Lutheran, September 23, 2025

Deeper understandings – September 2025

Series editor’s note: In 2025, “Deeper understandings” is focusing on the ELCA social statements. We hope to reintroduce them to readers as a means of provoking fruitful, enriching conversation between Christians with different understandings and convictions, and as a springboard for active discipleship in the world. Each article will introduce a particular statement and its Lutheran theological underpinnings, then suggest ways in which it can spark faithful conversation and action in the service of your baptismal vocation.

My hope is that you will find this series relevant to your current context and that it will help you express your Lutheran faith in your daily interaction with family, friends, neighbors and co-workers—for the sake of the flourishing of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world and the life abundant of the neighbor and stranger.
—Kristin Johnston Largen, president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, on behalf of the ELCA’s seminaries

ELCA social statements have the highest teaching authority in our church: each statement is created through a comprehensive and inclusive study process, and then must be approved with a two-thirds vote at a churchwide assembly, the largest, most representative gathering of ELCA members. Not every person who calls themself an ELCA Lutheran agrees with every statement, but they represent the ethical and moral stance of the ELCA as a whole on specific social issues, based on Lutheran biblical and theological commitments.

Social statements are not responses to current sociological or political trends; instead they describe practical ramifications of the Lutheran faith in one’s daily life. They are often quite countercultural in that they resist prevailing secular norms and ways of thinking. In this way, they are a gift to the church.

Our life with Christ is manifested in our life in the world, in all aspects.

Have you ever wondered why the ELCA bothers to create these statements? Some may think of this work as an add-on, an indulgence or even a distraction from the main activities of our church. Nothing could be further from the truth. Social statements reflect a reality that stands at the heart of the Lutheran faith.

Lutherans teach and believe that faith isn’t just about us and Jesus. Instead our belief in Jesus Christ and the way we relate to him as our savior directly relates to how we view and treat our neighbor. Our life with Christ is manifested in our life in the world, in all aspects—a relationship with Christ cannot exist apart from the relationships we have with all those in God’s family, and all of God’s creation.

Lutherans don’t go to church to escape from the world. We go to be fed and formed for life in the world, to be the hands of Christ in the Spirit’s work of transforming the world, turning swords into plowshares and weeping into joy. The social statements reflect that work and inform how we engage in it.

The church and criminal justice

With this in mind, let’s turn to a specific social statement: “The Church and Criminal Justice: Hearing the Cries,” which was adopted in 2013. (A summary of key points begins on page 3 of the statement, and the document closes with 11 implementing resolutions that offer practical ways of living into its commitments.)

Thoroughly grounded in Scripture and the Christian tradition, this statement offers multiple concrete suggestions, which include recognizing how institutional racism has led to the disproportionate incarceration of African-descent men, and advocating for more just and equitable laws and policies. However, I believe that the statement’s most important point—and the one that best represents the Lutheran convictions undergirding it—is its call for a change in mindset.

The social statement describes this change as “a transformed mindset, one that counteracts the logic equating more punitive measures with more just ones.” This mindset “challenges current undertones of vengeance, violence and racism and permits everyone in the criminal justice system to be seen as members of human communities, created in the image of God and worthy of appropriate and compassionate response.”

As faithful Christians, we want to create systems that treat people with human dignity even while holding them accountable for their crimes.

As Lutherans, we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the grace of God: all of us are sinners and unworthy on our own of God’s grace and mercy. At the same time, all of us are created good by God—beloved children of God who have infinite worth in God’s sight. This means that, as faithful Christians, we want to create systems that treat people with human dignity even while holding them accountable for their crimes. As faithful Christians, we want the families of those who are incarcerated to be cared for and supported. As faithful Christians, we want those responsible for enforcing the law to be safe and respected.

The more we move away from systems steeped in violence, vengeance and vitriol, the more we can live into the kind of community God is calling us to embody, that the Spirit is creating among us even now.

ELCA members have varied experiences with the criminal justice system. You may be the victim of a crime or the perpetrator; you may be a lawyer or a prison guard; you may be a victims’ advocate or a law enforcement officer; or you may have someone in your family or congregation who fits one of those categories.

Regardless, “The Church and Criminal Justice” calls upon all members of this church, “through steadfast prayer, discernment, Christian education, ministry efforts and public action to share the gospel of God’s love in Jesus Christ as they hear the cries, offer hospitality, accompany and advocate on behalf of those whose lives are caught up in or committed in service to the criminal justice system.” We do this not because we support one political party or another, or because this or that pundit tells us to, but because we believe in Jesus Christ and our faith in him calls us to witness to God’s grace, love and mercy for all, no exceptions.

Kristin Johnston Largen. Kristin Johnston Largen is the president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. She is an ordained pastor in the ELCA, and received her Ph.D. in Comparative Theology from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif.