Summer in the North Cascades wilderness calls! Holden Village is offering some exciting programming this summer, and we are excited that FAN Policy Engagement Director Kristin Ang and FAN Governing Board Member Rev. Dr. Edward Donalson will be part of the teaching faculty for the week of August 5-8.
This Pulse Survey includes a total of 15 questions. The primary topic is congregational vitality, using the ELCA’s Gifts of Baptism – Five Gifts of Discipleship resource as a guide. Additionally, because congregations and worshiping communities frequently ask the churchwide organization to share a narrative about some aspect of their ministry, the Pulse Survey asks where your congregation or worshiping community finds joy in ministry.
September 23-25, 2024
A three-day conference dedicated to digging deeply into stewardship and generosity. . This year we’ll be in Portland, OR, exploring what “makes stewardship weird,” and hearing from a number of voices engaged in both practical and cutting-edge thoughts around fueling ministry.
August 4-9, 2024
The College for Congregational Development is a comprehensive training program for clergy and laity in congregational and organization development. Congregations are strongly encouraged to send clergy-lay teams to the College.
One way we hope to live into being Synod together is gathering those who serve on councils or boards of ministries for a monthly check-in with each other. We will meet over Zoom on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:30pm Pacific Time/7:30pm Mountain Time.
No one is going to prescribe exactly how to be a cluster. I have told the deans that I expect them to pull together the active rostered leaders every other month online or in person to check in on one another. Many rostered leaders do meet weekly or monthly in person for text study. Lay and rostered people should come together before regular synod assemblies, as our constitution states, though I celebrate those clusters that come together more often for business or recreation or worship.
Each year ELCA World Hunger offers three-year Domestic Hunger Grants (DHG) for up to $10,000 per year to assist with ministries that improve food security in communities in the United States.
This year the cycle begins with a Letter of Inquiry request from May 1 through June 16, 2024.
Ministry with Children Grants are for ELCA partners that engage in faith formation with and for children (birth through age 11) that further the ELCA's mission and purpose.
Welcome to “Our Kairos Moment,” a study guide for the ELCA’s social message “Earth’s Climate Crisis.” In this guide you will find four sessions designed to dig more deeply into major themes from the social message.
Within each session you will find learning activities, Bible studies, ideas for prayer and lessons drawn from passages of the social message.
“We are a people on the move following Christ Jesus.” This is the invitation to Susan Briehl’s workshop at the 2024 Institute for Liturgical Studies called On Our Way: The Purpose and Practice of Processing.
Did you know that the national Lutheran Outdoor Ministries network creates a new curriculum each year AND has a bank of old curriculum? This year’s curriculum even takes a page from the ELCA Youth Gathering theme!
The former Dana campus has been purchased by Lutheran Family Services and is being converted into a transitional housing program for youth aging out of the foster care system in Nebraska. Read more about Dana Village
Stay up-to-date on the work of the Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church.
Lutheran Community Services Northwest is thrilled to celebrate Kennewick First Lutheran Church as this year's Wiseman Award winner!
St. Luke Lutheran Church (ELCA), a large growing congregation located in north Spokane, Washington, is seeking a Kid’s Ministry Coordinator who supports our kid’s programs and facilitates involvement and growth in this area of ministry.
We are called to be the church, the Christian community gathered and sent week after week. We gather around Word and Sacraments and that is unique. When I say that we would do well to get back to basics I mean we need to read scripture well, create worship experiences that are faithful to the tradition and our local contexts, and love and care for our neighbors.
Did you know that the phrase ‘separation of church and state’ does not appear in our U.S. Constitution? It was first attributed to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in a letter to Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut as he attempted to clarify his understanding of the Constitution’s First Amendment, Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press. Specifically, it states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Jefferson wasn’t saying our religious beliefs and government should be separated, but only that the U.S. Government cannot establish, for the country, a national religion. Similarly, it cannot prevent the free expressions of one’s faith.
Two helpful tax guides are now available for church personnel. Portico provides rostered ministers and congregations participating in the ELCA benefit program with access to no-cost tax guides.
Plus:
Harness the Power of Rest
Creative Ways to Care for your Body
Church Mutual, has recently introduced two new email addresses that may be useful to your congregation should you encounter servicing or non-renewal issues.
Three year DHGs for up to $10,000 per year are one way ELCA World Hunger supports domestic food security ministries. These grants seek to accompany those in the community that are prayerfully working to eradicate food security by walking alongside those in need or bega kwa bega, shoulder to shoulder, as we have learned from our Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (Companion Synod in Tanzania) partners in ministry,
One of the important pieces of work approved at the January 2024 Northwest Intermountain Synod Council meeting was an updated Misconduct Policy. God intends for the Church to be a safe place for all people to experience God’s love and mercy, grow in faith, and equip themselves for ministry in the world. And yet at times the church has not been a safe place and sexual misconduct has caused injury and pain to individuals and communities.
A day to celebrate the joy and resilience of trans and non-binary people everywhere by elevating voices and experiences from these communities-
From Northwest Intermountain Synod Assembly 2023: Resolution in support of the dignity, honor, and rights of transgender humans.
Bowen theory engages a wide audience. Many in traditions of faith have found the theory central to how they think about themselves and their relationships with others, offering insights into theology and the practice of care and counseling, leadership, teaching, and research.
The two-day Faith, Functioning, and Bowen Theory conference will explore the implications of Bowen theory specifically for communities of faith. It is intended for anyone with a professional or personal interest in this area.
My passion to be an advocate/actor for creation care and justice for Earth and all life that lives here has been ignited. I’d like to hear your stories of what excites you to speak and act for creation care and Earth justice.
So, I invite you to join several of us who have been meeting over Zoom as a NWIM Synod Nurturing Creation Care group (a “working name,” for now) since November 2023. You can learn more about us here. We welcome anyone who is curious or already an advocate for creation care. Our next Zoom meeting will be April 18 6:30 PM PDT/7:30 PM MDT. (Note that this is the third Thursday for this month only.) Please contact our facilitator, Deaconess Katrina Martich, at contact@katrinamartich.com for a Zoom link for the meeting and/or any questions about the group that you may have.
There are many online resources out there for Christians eager to deepen their understanding of scripture. But how do you know who to trust?
LSM 2024 takes place at Valparaiso University in Indiana from June 30-July 28 and is open to students who have completed grades 8-12. Spots for LSM 2024 are filling fast! Nominate a student today
PLU, MULTICARE AND WSU’S COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
More than 140 health care providers, educators, and community leaders gathered earlier at Pacific Lutheran University for the announcement of the Partnership for Health Innovation.
Have you ever considered seminary? Have you ever felt like God might be calling you into ministry, but you’re not sure how or where to start?
Lord of Life in Kennewick, WA has an electronic carillon available for your church to use. It re-creates the sounds of a bell tower with many songs programmed into it.
In early December, Cathy, Liv, Phil, and I had a two-day retreat facilitated by two staff from Gonzaga University. We had several pieces of pre-work to do in advance of the retreat: identifying our personal values (the things that motivate us or give us direction) and social styles. You can imagine already that the facilitators accelerated our getting to know one another on a deeper level. They also facilitated conversations in which we identified the work we must do as the synod staff and who should be doing what. They helped us create our staff purpose and our goals for at least a few years. For this work, they lifted up our synod mission and vision statements and the ELCA’s Future Directions work. They also guided us as we talked about the gifts and needs in our synod.