Welcome to Lutheran Advocacy—Illinois, a justice ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the three ELCA synods in Illinois and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois.
Current Campaign to Restore Substance Abuse Treatment
LPlease participate in our current campaign to restore funding for human services in Illinois. Click here get more information and to send a message to your State Representative.
We hope this site will help you become a better informed and more active participant in public life in ways that connect with your Christian values.
In our current program year, Lutheran Advocacy—Illinois has been focusing our attention on several large issues that have many small moving parts. We portray our work as follows:
Human Care:
Nutrition
Housing
Health Care
Social Services
Education
Earth Care:
All issues relating to environmental stewardship and Care of Creation
Civil Rights/Human Rights:
Death Penalty
Prison Reform
Restorative Justice
On Saturday, November 8--just four days after Election Day—Lutheran Advocates from all over Illinois will me in Bloomington to participate in our annual Issue Caucus at which the public policy priorities for our work in the next legislative session are set. Watch this space for registration information coming soon.
Here We Stand: Lutheran Day 2008
On April 16, nearly 200 Lutherans and other people of good will participated in the fifth annual Lutheran Day in Springfield, which is held annually to advocate for people in need. This year, the focus was to call legislators’ attention to a growing crisis in social services funding. Participants met with individual legislators to educate them about the problem and to ask for adequate and timely reimbursements.
The highlights of the day included a morning educational session at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Springfield, which included inspirational presentations from staff and clients from participating agencies.
The day also included the presentation of the annual Paul Simon Courage in Public Service Award to State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago). Like the late Senator Simon, throughout her career, Rep. Currie has been an advocate for her community and low-income parents and children.
In addition, four state lawmakers were named Legislative Champions for Social Servirtyrces for their leadership, hard work and dedication in representing their constituents and advocating on behalf of the state’s most vulnerable residents. They are: Rep. Rosemary Mulligan (R-Park Ridge), Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Champaign), Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) and Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont).
Lutheran Day sponsoring organizations included: Lutheran Social Services of Illinois; Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS); Bethel New Life; Lutheran Life Communities; Advocate Health Care; Lutheran Senior Services; Mosaic; Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services; Concordia Avondale Campus; Saint Luke Ministries; and Zion Development Corporation. Lutheran Advocacy-Illinois, a grassroots justice advocacy organization, also sponsored Lutheran Day.
