Welcome to the Eastside Lutheran Church Community!

Welcome to the first newsletter published on behalf of the Eastside Lutheran Church Community (ELCC)!  It has taken almost three years for this vision to gain form and function.  We are still in the infancy of this journey together, but it is gaining momentum and vitality.

The Eastside Lutheran Church Community is a unique expression of Lutheran ministry on the Eastside of Seattle.  It is a collaboration and partnership of several ELCA churches that recognize the power of living in a relationship as one entity with many sites.  It is a collaboration born with the vision to share the love of God in Jesus with diverse expressions of ministry, while having a larger identity together.  It allows us to come together in strength to share administrative and organizational tasks.  This shared support enables each ministry site the room for imagination and innovation to be the body of Christ in their neighborhood.

Individual churches are in the process of discerning the level of involvement with the ELCC.  To date, the congregation of Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church has voted to become a partner within the ELCC.  Saint Andrew’s will be voting on this question in late January.  We know other congregations are also well on their way to bringing this to a vote at upcoming congregational meetings.  This is an exciting time!

There has been an open invitation to participate in the ELCC Steering Committee that has been meeting for more than a year in an attempt to explore how God may be calling us to come together.  We have had various working groups looking at Governance, Missional Engagement, Finance/Administration, Music, and Communications.  Almost 40 people from the various Cluster churches have participated in these discussions over time.

In our most recent Steering Committee meeting in January 2025, we realized that it may be time to graduate to a different foundational model.  We hope to form the ELCC Advisory Board in the first quarter of 2025 with representation from each church.  This body can take on the responsibility of discernment and visioning based on the work accomplished by the Steering Committee.  Therefore, the last Steering Committee meeting will meet on March 15 at Saint Luke’s at 10:00 AM.  In this gathering, we will bless those that have given so much of their time and talent and prayerful support for the ELCC formation and talk about the next stage of our journey together.

We are hoping that each church within the Cluster will ask their clergy, President and an additional member-at-large to participate in the ELCC Advisory Board.  Even if a congregation is not willing or ready to commit to be a partner in this joint mission, we still want those voices and the collective wisdom to guide us as we continue to seek God’s will.

We are excited to announce that the ELCC now has a website!  https://www.eastsidelutherancc.org. 

This website will host the latest updates on upcoming events, FAQ’s, ways to get involved and information about the ELCC itself.  It is definitely a work in process, but it is a start.

Lastly, we hope to send out an ELCC newsletter at least every other month.  You will always have the opportunity to opt out of receiving this newsletter, but we hope you look forward to learning what is happening and seeing where your gifts might be used as we explore where the Holy Spirit may be guiding us.

May God bless you all as we explore our future together.