On June 17, 2015, Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina.
Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were both graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
A resolution to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance for the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine was adopted by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on August 8, 2019.
Congregations of the ELCA are encouraged reaffirm their commitment to repenting of the sins of racism and white supremacy which continue to plague this church, to venerate the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, and to mark this day of penitence with study and prayer.
As part of the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, voting members adopted a resolution designating June 17 as a commemoration of the martyrdom of the Emanuel 9—the nine people shot and killed on June 17, 2015, during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
The resources referenced below are provided to help synods and congregations mark this commemoration. These resources can be adapted for virtual worship, online conversation, or individual reflection and devotion. You are invited to use them in whatever ways are most helpful for your local context.
There will not be a national commemoration service in 2021. Synods and congregations are encouraged to mark this commemoration locally. Please email worship@elca.org if your synod or congregation is planning an online commemoration service that you wish to share with others.
Our relationship to the shooter, as well as two of the slain, reminds us of both our complicity and our calling. Together we confess that we are in bondage to the sins of racism and white supremacy and, at the same time, we rejoice in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus who “has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14).
May God continue to guide us as we seek repentance and renewal, and racial justice and reconciliation among God’s precious children.
Worship resources
- ELCA “Prayers, Litanies, and Laments for the Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine” | PDF | DOCX |
- “Terror and Prophetic Witness,” a litany by Senior Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr., African Methodist Episcopal Church | PDF |
- “The Doors of the Church Are Still Open,” a litany in memory of the Emanuel Nine by Senior Bishop Adam J. Richardson, African Methodist Episcopal Church | PDF |
- “ACT NOW: Unite to End Racism,” a litany by Senior Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Jr., African Methodist Episcopal Church | PDF |
- Litanies for the Emanuel Nine, Council of Bishops of the AME Church (2019) | PDF |
- ELCA “Confession, Repentance and Commitment to End Racism Sunday” (Sept. 6, 2015) | PDF | DOCX |
- ELCA “Worship Resources: Juneteenth” | PDF |
2020 ELCA Prayer Service
On June 17, 2020, the ELCA offered an online Prayer Service for Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine. This marked the fifth anniversary of the evening nine people were shot and killed during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. and the first official commemoration following the 2019 Churchwide Assembly.
ELCA Anti-Racism Pledge
As church we are called to confess the sin of racism, condemn the ideology of white supremacy, and strive for racial justice and peace. Beyond statements and prayers, we are called to also act and respond to injustices. Take the ELCA Anti-Racism Pledge.
PLEDGE NOW!
Ecumenical partnership
For many decades, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the African Methodist Episcopal Church have been ecumenical partners through coalitions such as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). In the 1990s, our two churches entered into theological dialogue seeking full communion and co-published a congregational resource. Our churches have also engaged in various forms of cooperation and public witness together and with other ecumenical partners. We have participated together in the cross-racial dialogue of the Conference of National Black Churches since 2015 and in the NCC’s A.C.T. Now to End Racism initiative since 2018. As the Office of the Presiding Bishop tends to church-to-church relations nationally, vital relations have been cultivated across the church by bishops, rostered ministers and lay leaders, with key leadership from Lutherans of African descent. We continue to seek ways to deepen and expand our ecumenical partnership across various ministry contexts and communities as part of our ecumenical commitments and churchwide resolutions.
Learn More.
Additional ELCA resources
- ELCA Racial Justice Ministries
- ELCA Racial Justice blog
- The Emanuel 9, Five Years Later by Rev. Kwame Pitts (June 5, 2020)
- White Supremacy Has a Body Count by Elle Dowd (June 3, 2020)
- The Broken Ones by Shari Seifert (May 29, 2020)
- Hiding in the Open: White Supremacy on the Great Plains by Kelly France (May 27, 2020)
- ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations
- ELCA Advocacy
- African Descent Lutheran Association
Resources for the Commemoration of the Emanuel 9. - ELCA Worship Frequently Asked Question – “What Is a Commemoration and How Do We Celebrate Them?”
- ELCA social statement Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture (1993)
- Presiding Bishop pastoral message and statements on racism, white supremacy
- Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s pastoral message on COVID-19 racism and white supremacy (May 13, 2020)
- Bishop Eaton’s pastoral message on racism and white supremacy (Sept. 13, 2019), also available in Spanish
- “ELCA Presiding Bishop Calls on Church to Work for Racial Justice” (April 6, 2018), also available in Spanish
- Bishop Eaton’s response to racist remarks (Jan. 12, 2018), also available in Spanish
- Bishop Eaton’s letter on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 2017)
- Bishop Eaton’s call to be present (July 7, 2016)
- Bishop Eaton’s statement on the anniversary of the Charleston shooting (June 2016), also available in Spanish
- “ELCA Presiding Bishop Urges Church to Have ‘Difficult Conversations’ Around Racism” (Jan. 20, 2016)
- ELCA statement on the Charleston shooting (June 18, 2015)
- “Presiding Bishop Continues Call for Conversation on Racial Equity” (March 25, 2015)
- “ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton Addresses Issues of Racial Justice,” text and video (Dec. 5, 2014)
- Bishop Eaton’s pastoral word on the grand jury decision in Ferguson (Nov. 14, 2014)
Synod and congregation resources
Additional Emanuel Nine resources
- Official resources from the AMEC Publishing House
Information about Mother Emanuel Remembrance Sunday, including worship resources from the AME church, are available under the “Mother Emanuel” tab. - Emanuel Nine memorial
ELCA members are encouraged to give both prayer and financial support to this memorial project at Mother Emanuel Church. The memorial is dedicated to reversing the spread of hate with a message of unyielding love and forgiveness. - Emanuel Nine resolution website
This website was created to raise awareness of the resolution coming to the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and contains helpful background information about each of the Emanuel Nine. - Emanuel
A 2019 documentary film, study guide produced in partnership with Sojourners - Remarks by President Obama in Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney
June 26, 2015.
