LAMA Policy Council Announces 2026 Policy Priorities

The Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona Policy Council gathered in September to discern what social concerns the group felt called to represent as LAMA’s Policy Priorities for 2026. Policy Council representatives are listed below:

• Rev. Deborah Hutterer, Bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA

• Connie Phillips, President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest

• Mark Engel, member Holy Trinity Lutheran, Chandler

• Solveig Muus, director of LAMA, member Grace Lutheran, Phoenix

• Dcn. Wendi Van Beek, member Our Saviour’s Lutheran, Tucson

• Rev. Robert Jones, pastor of Santa Cruz Lutheran, Tucson

• Carly Chamberlain, member of Faith La Fe Lutheran, Phoenix

• Peter Faur, member La Casa de Cristo Lutheran, Scottsdale

• Martha Garner, Flagstaff

Unable to attend, but with us in spirit and in prayer:

• Rev. Brian Weinberger, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran, Mesa

Policy Priorities for 2026 are:

• Food Insecurity as it relates to hunger and the root causes of hunger. Our ELCA social teachings on hunger and poverty include Economic Life and Homelessness. LAMA will continue its work through the Grand Canyon Synod’s Hunger Leaders Network and the annual 40-40-40 Lenten Challenge, and collaborate with our coalition partners at Arizona Faith Network, Bread for the World, Arizona Food Bank Network and others to alleviate food insecurity in Arizona and elsewhere.

• Civic Engagement as we are called to encourage faithful and nonpartisan voter participation, and understand and speak out about the intersection of voting and elections and racial, gender and economic justice. The ELCA is established to be a “publicly engaged church.” The ELCA social teachings on educating, advocating, and engaging in our political process, including Government and Civic Engagement, Church in Society, the new Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith, and the the ELCAvotes initiatives Called to Be a Public Church, Voting Rights and Racial Justice, Movement into Action speak to this calling.

  • Support for public schools. Martin Luther wrote, “A city’s best and greatest welfare, safety, and strength consist in its having many able, learned, wise, honorable, and well- educated citizens.” Then as now, effective schools are a blessing to society, preparing students for their future callings and responsibilities. LAMA will work to support public schools, acknowledging the many ways that students and families who are underserved benefit through not only an education, but also from food programs such as Healthy School Meals and Sun Bucks, shelter through both heat and air conditioning, and the safety that public schools provide. ELCA Social Statement Our Calling in Education informs this work.

  • Informed Christian engagement. What does it mean to be a Christian living and serving in a complex, diverse, and interdependent global society and to be responsible and civil citizens? What does our faith call us to be engaged in? LAMA seeks to educate, inform and promote healthy dialogue on Christian engagement.

• Health Care, supporting fair and equal access for all God’s people. The ELCA Social Statement Health and Health Care: Our Shared Endeavor expresses ELCA teaching on health and the health care system. Its vision of health as a shared endeavor rests in a biblical view that wholeness is a blessing God intends for all people. In this vision, a ministry of healing is integral to the life and mission of the Church. This shared endeavor means each person bears some responsibility for his or her own health, but health and health care also depend upon other people and conditions in society and our communities. Three issues are particularly important in this statement: the vision of health care as a shared endeavor, the responsibility to be stewards of our own health, and the commitment to steward resources on behalf of our neighbors. The ELCA message on Mental Illness also informs our work.

  • Sufficient Funding. Major cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage in the H.R. 1 omnibus bill enacted July 4, 2025 will result in increased costs for families, making it more difficult for them to afford the high cost of groceries and health care. The cuts disproportionately affect lower income families. LAMA will work to ensure Arizonans can afford satisfactory health care.

  • Equal Access. Nearly 2 million Arizonans currently rely on AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program. Under the budget cuts, close to 400,000 Arizonans could lose their coverage. Hospitals are required to treat patients in any circumstance, including those who cannot afford health care; offering services without payment places even more pressure on hospitals already stretched thin. Rural communities are expected to be hit the hardest; the closure of a hospital won’t just affect Medicaid patients, it will till affect all patients.

• Housing and Homelessness. We are pleased to be in collaboration with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW), who has committed again in 2026 to advocating in the areas of affordable housing and homelessness. We will partner with LSS-SW in these efforts, and will use the ELCA’s social message, Homeless: A Renewal of Commitment, and its new resource, Housing: A Practical Guide for Learning, Advocating and Building as references.

Seeking Policy Council Members

If you or someone you know is interested in being on the policy council, please contact LAMA at director@lamaz.org.