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On August 6, at 2:00PM ET, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA will host a webinar titled: "Through a Faithful Lens: Discerning the Moral Costs of the Budget Reconciliation."
Recently, Congress passed H.R. 1, otherwise known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." H.R. 1 represents a major shift in national policy, with wide-ranging impacts on economic justice, healthcare access, immigration, and the social safety net. While proponents have framed it as bold reform, many of its provisions raise deep concerns for the communities we serve—especially those already facing systemic inequities.
NCC is convening this conversation to examine the bill’s contents through a moral and theological lens and to explore how faith communities can faithfully respond. | | NCC President and General Secretary, Governing Board Members Attend ELCA 2025 Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix | | NCC's Governing Board members at ECLA gathering in Phoenix̦—President/General Secretary Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Terri Hord Owens, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Margaret Rose, Kathryn Lohre, and Paul Tche. Below: Bishop McKenzie's full sermon. | | | | Bishop McKenzie and other worship service participants. | | Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's family and friends join other attendees in honoring her for her leadership and service. Photo courtesy ELCA | | The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA) held its 2025 Churchwide Assembly July 28–Aug. 2, 2025, at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz.
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the primary decision-making body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a process of communal spiritual discernment. When the ELCA Churchwide Assembly convenes, its voting members meet with confidence in God’s grace around word and water, wine and bread, to carry on their work on behalf of the entire church.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, NCC president and general secretary, was invited to preach during the assembly on Thursday, August 31, On day four of the assembly, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton offered her final report and received recognition for her service, the ELCA’s ecumenical and interreligious partners were recognized, and the assembly considered amendments to the church’s Constitutions, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions, among other business.
“I started my ministry as presiding bishop with these four emphases: We are church. We are Lutheran. We are church together. We are church for the sake of the world,” Bishop Eaton said in her report. “I will end as I began.”
Bishop Eaton’s family and friends then joined her on stage as Imran Siddiqui, ELCA vice president, presented her with the Servus Dei Award given to honor ELCA officers at the completion of their terms. More information about 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. | | Ecumenical and international guests at the ELCA gathering | | | | | Senators Prepare to Reintroduce
John Lewis Voting Rights Act | | | | On July 29, Senators Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) hosted a press conference to reintroduce the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to Congress on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The late Congressman John Lewis, often called “the conscience of the Congress,” spent the bulk of his life doing the work of justice, securing rights for every person. As a man of faith, he believed that “the right to vote is precious, almost sacred.” NCC Senior Associate General Secretary and Advocacy Director, Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland, and NCC Project Coordinator, Matt Markay attended the press conference. As stated in the Voting Matters 2024 Election Empowerment Guide, "The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) joins with our member denominations to affirm that every vote matters, just as each person is a precious child of God. Voting is the most powerful nonviolent tools we have to create a more perfect union. The right to vote is the way we determine the future for our families, communities, and country. We are stronger as a nation when more people participate in our democracy." In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Shelby County v. Holder allowed states with a history of voter suppression to change their voting laws without federal review, a process called "preclearance." Since then, the right to vote has been in jeopardy. Voter ID laws have made it harder for individuals to vote, people have been removed from voter rolls without their knowledge or consent, and election officials are permitted to change voting locations days before an election. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act restores preclearance and requires election officials to announce any changes to voting rules at least 180 days before an election. Speakers at the press conference included: Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) Maya Wiley, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Janai Nelson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund Melanie Campbell, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
Take Action! Call your Senators and express your support for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act!
Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 | | NCC staffers Matt Markay and Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland Tune; Photo: Matt Markay | | | A Faithful Budget. A Fair Democracy. A Future Worth Fighting For.
What You Need to Know… As we approach the start of Fiscal Year 2026 on October 1, Congress has passed only two of the twelve required appropriations bills—those funding Defense and Military Construction–Veterans Affairs (VA[LC1]). Nearly $900 billion has been approved for defense, while critical aid programs—such as affordable housing, healthcare, food aid, public education, and environmental protection—remain stalled or face deep cuts in the remaining bills.
NCC is taking action, and so can you! Visit NCC's website for a full legislative update report: http://bit.ly/3Ua90nJ | | | Casting a Vision for the Church Yehiel Curry to Serve as Fifth ELCA Presiding Bishop | | Photo by Janine Truppay/ELCA
When Bishop Yehiel Curry considers his vision for the future of the church, he sees an important distinction. “Part of the work is naming it,” he said, “but that next phase is embodying it.
“When we’re talking about casting a vision, I think people want to be part of a vision because they want to share in the process. But they typically will also share in the burdens as well. So part of my vision is [about] those things we’ve lifted up as a church that we said we need to do, we’re going to do, and find a way to bring more people to the table so that we might embody that work instead of it just being a written document.”
Bishop Curry, who was elected July 30 to serve a six-year term as ELCA presiding bishop, knows something about embodying a vision and discerning a call.
Before he became a pastor, then a bishop, then the chair of the Conference of Bishops, and now presiding bishop-elect, he was a social worker, then a teacher, then in sales. “I went from being a social worker to a teacher in the same community where I was helping those families, and in both cases, what I learned is passion is very important. And if you can align a person’s passion with a need, then it doesn’t feel like work sometimes.
“It wasn’t until I was in the church that I said, ‘I could do this for the rest of my life.’”
Bishop Curry will be installed Oct. 4 at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. | | | Global Religious Voices Call for Immediate Aid to Gaza and Respect for Human Life | | Photo: DSPR MECC
As hunger spreads across Gaza, faith leaders are expanding and amplifying the call for the suffering to end.
An ever-growing number of appeals are coming in the wake of a World Health Organisation (WHO) report that large sections of Gaza’s population are now experiencing starvation.
More than 400 rabbis signed a letter urging the Israeli government to allow aid into Gaza, halt settler violence, and pursue peace.
Jewish leaders from around the world are calling on Israel to respect all innocent life. The letter urges the Israeli government to permit the entry of “extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza under international supervision, while guarding against control or theft by Hamas.”
Israel stopped aid deliveries to Gaza in early March following a two-month ceasefire, citing factors including Hamas stealing the aid supply. Speaking after the recitation of the Angelus Prayer on Sunday 27 July, Pope Leo XIV said that he is following with deep concern the extremely grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the civilian population is being crushed by hunger and continues to be exposed to violence and death.
On July 19, the Muslim Council of Elders, led by His Eminence Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, condemned Israeli attacks, which violate international laws, warning of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
ACT Alliance general secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria said that the starvation in Gaza is a deep wound on the conscience of humanity. The Lutheran World Federation general secretary, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, expressed deep concern.
Health consultant Dr. Bassam Abu Hamad, who has worked with health units in Gaza operated by the Middle East Council of Churches Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees, shared what he sees on the streets of Gaza every day.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell issued a statement that reflected, with each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation, and dehumanization being inflicted on the civilian population by the Government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. Archbishop Thabo Magoba, South African Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, noted that the death toll of Palestinians seeking food at the hands of Israeli troops is staggering.
Bishop Dr Sani Ibrahim Azar, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, expressed shock at the images, videos, and reports of mass starvation in Gaza.
Rev. Dr Dagmar Pruin, president of Bread for the World and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe demanded that the German government take vigorous action for the release of the hostages, for an immediate end to the violence, and for unhindered access for humanitarian aid in accordance with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
The South African Council of Churches expressed heartbreak over mounting reports and evidence that the Government of Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
A statement from more than 100 other organizations notes that the residents of Gaza are starving—and now so are the aid workers. “With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes,” notes the statement.
A call to action from Caritas Internationalis addresses a situation it describes as beyond any legal and moral boundaries. | | | Freedom Church of the Poor Holds Black August Sunday Service and Bible Study Series | | | Black August is a holy season of resistance, reflection, and rededication to a revolutionary love ethic that compels us to struggle with and for each other. It began in the 1970s inside California prisons, after the deaths of Jonathan and George Jackson and other incarcerated Black freedom fighters. It is a time to honor the legacy of those who have struggled for freedom—and to prepare ourselves for the battles ahead.
In the face of growing repression, state violence, and religious nationalism, this season calls us to spiritual clarity, deep connection, political competency, and steadfast commitment to liberation for all who are oppressed. Freedom Church of the Poor believes in a God who breaks chains, who sides with the poor and dispossessed, and who calls believers to build a Beloved Community on earth.
Black August is presented in partnership with the SSING Network, New Disabled South, Highlander Center, and The Black Joy Experience with Black Youth Project 100. Featured Artists & Cultural Organizers Airika Cross (Dream Defenders), ana lara lopez (La Iglesia del Pueblo), Arnaé Batson (The SSING Network), Minister Ciara Taylor (FCOP), Jarvis Benson (Kairos Center), Jendog Lonewolf (People’s Music Network), JeNaé Taylor (Highlander Center), Jonathan Lykes (Black Youth Project 100), Lindsey Wilson (People’s Music Network), Oshara Hayes (We Cry Justice Artist Collective), Patience Rowe (Highlander Center), Rabbi Koach Baruch Frazier, Shun Tucker‑Allen (New Disabled South), and Steff Reed (Dream Defenders). Freedom Church of the Poor Sunday Service Sundays | August 3 – August 31 6:00PM ET / 5:00PM CT / 3:00PM PT
Freedom Church of the Poor Bible Study (Virtual Only) Wednesdays | July 30 – August 27 6:00PM ET / 5:00PM CT / 3:00PM PT | | | Register for Virtual
Christian Climate Training | | September is the Season of Creation, and Blessed Tomorrow is partnering with nine denominations to offer a free live, virtual Christian Climate Training on Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 - 11:30 am PT. It will include breakouts by denomination. The majority of Americans are concerned about climate change. But, they think only half of those around them feel the same way. As a person of faith, you can help others see they’re not alone in their concern and invite them to take action. The Christian Climate Training equips you with the knowledge, hands-on experience, and resources to speak and take action on climate change from a Christian faith perspective in your home, neighborhood, church, community, with policymakers, and beyond. After the training, you’re invited to become part of the Blessed Tomorrow Climate Ambassador Community, which provides ongoing support, resources, events, and a vast community of Climate Ambassadors from across the U.S. | | | North Carolina Council of Churches Prepares for 90th Anniversary Celebration | | This November, the North Carolina Council of Churches will celebrate 90 years of prophetic witness, faith-rooted advocacy, and ecumenical partnership. We invite everyone to celebrate with us for a day of worship, community, and joy!
NCCC is inviting congregations and organizations to be a part of this historic milestone by becoming a sponsor for this event. Sponsorship will offer a unique opportunity to support our continued work for justice while also receiving exclusive benefits including:
VIP access to a private reception with the Right Reverend Michael B. Curry Reserved seating during the worship service, where Bishop Curry will deliver a powerful message, followed by a live podcast recording of Everything Happens with Kate Bowle
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