The social statement — titled “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action” — was approved by the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly with 97% of the vote Friday morning (Aug. 9) on the last full day of the denomination’s triennial meeting at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee....

She ( the Rev. April Larson, the first woman bishop in the ELCA) said the statement offers an alternative way for the country to see Christianity’s view of women. That’s needed, she said, at a time when “the predominant Christian way to talk about gender puts men and women in a hierarchy.”....

It calls on the ELCA to act to end gender-based violence, to encourage women and girls to pursue ministry and leadership roles in their congregations, to use “gender-inclusive and expansive” language for God and to address inequities in pay and hiring both inside and outside the church.