As communicators, we have a lot of power to influence the terms people use to think and talk about their church. As such, we need to be careful about the words we choose. The ELCA has published extensive style guidelines (and also references the Chicago Manual of Style (for resource production) and the Associated Press Style Guide (news based)) to aid us in determining proper usage. I would recommend skimming and bookmarking and/or printing the whole ELCA Publishing Standards Manual, but here are a few quick tips that we should all know when picking our words:

• When referring to your council, use "Congregation Council" not "church" or "congregational." The Church Council is the churchwide ELCA council.
• Speaking of which, try to refer to your congregation as a congregation, not a church. The ELCA or the whole Christian community can be referred to as a church, but as members of a larger church, each congregation is not a "church" in and of itself.
• When using a title, it is capitalized when preceding a name, lowercase when following. Ex. "Bishop Harold Usgaard..." or "Harold Usgaard, bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod" (same with "pastor"). Note that the bishop of the ELCA is "presiding bishop."
• Always be careful to use inclusive language (ex. avoid referring to God in exclusively male terms) and use "politically correct" language (avoid the term "minority" when referring to racial groups, "young adult" is the best term for adolescents, anyone over 18 is a "man" or "woman," avoid "elderly" or "senior citizen" when possible and do not use them to refer to an individual, etc.).
• Never say "Last Sunday we worshped 324 people." Instead say, "Last Sunday 324 people were present for worship."
• The proper name for the women's organization is Women of the ELCA, not WELCA or W/ELCA.
• Don't refer to the ELCA as the "national" church. The ELCA includes the Caribbean, so it's not just the United States. Use "churchwide."

Finally, though this is not specifically part of the ELCA style guidelines, I would like to encourage you to be careful not to use language that suggests the ELCA as "other." Chicago is the ELCA, I am the ELCA, you are the ELCA, and your congregation members are the ELCA.

Does anyone else have any questions about usage or have any other errors that you've seen? Comment away!