Join Pastor Liv on Tuesday evenings in Advent, 6:30pm PST / 7:30pm MST to study the ELCA social statement on Faith, Sexism and Justice by reading the short book on it by Mary Streufert and Mary Elise Lowe. Let’s take delight in the promises of God that we are all a part of the Body of Christ on earth.
The Northwest Intermountain Synod Council recently reviewed and approved the 2026 Compensation Guidelines for Deacon and Pastor and are now available at https://nwimsynod.org/documents-resources.
Pulpit Supply guidelines for 2026 have been revised as well.
Our July 2025 Mission Support Memo enlightens us about our ELCA chaplains in specialized ministry and federal chaplaincy across our church who minister to all in all kinds of places. Our ELCA chaplains in specialized ministry and federal chaplaincy serve to support those defending our country, in places outside church walls, tending to people of all needs and backgrounds and showing the gratitude and love of God to all.
Have your ever wondered where the money we give to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD) goes to support? Have you wanted to go see, first hand, why we support the hospital and school a half a world away, in Tanzania? Or where is Tanzania, for that matter? If this questions, or some similar have been ones you have asked yourself, now is the time to act.
The Northwest Intermountain Synod has a Companion Synod in Tanzania, The Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD). The Companion Synod Team is striving to have guests from the UKD with us every other year and to organize a trip to Tanzania every other year. This fall, two guests from the UKD will be with us for 6 weeks, traveling throughout the synod. And in June 2026, there will be a trip to the UKD.
Tanzania and Eastern Africa have again suffered from flooding and rains that have damaged roads, bridges and agriculture. The crops of maize and rice that the schools depend on have been wiped out. Some parts of the diocese are not easily accessed and the government resources to repair infrastructure will take a while.
St. Catherine of Sienna said, “All the way to heaven is heaven.” Most of the way from Dar es Salaam to Ifakara is bumpy and awkward, punctuated with roadside checks along freeways and unpaved paths of varying quality. But even this section of our two-and-half-week pilgrimage to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese was heavenly, because we saw the face of God everywhere we looked.