The federal public welfare system has recently undergone significant reform.
Poverty is the underlying problem welfare programs seek to alleviate.
These principles presume and build upon the biblical, theological, and ethical understandings articulated in the social statements of the ELCA and its predecessors, as indicated in the endnotes. However, the focus in these principles is on the role of government. That strategy recognizes that, in addition to the many kinds of church-based assistance, policy and practices that create and sustain poverty need to be challenged and changed. The study is the precursor for the ELCA social statement on economic justice and deals in depth with economic and welfare issues. Some ethical interpretations and implications of these theological affirmations for the discussion of welfare reform today.