When your annual budget is approved, a friendly reminder if there are any changes to compensation or staff, be sure to update this information on Portico’s EmployerLink website.
At Home Over-the-Counter COVID-19 Tests
Details are emerging daily for our ELCA-Primary members. You can find the most up to date information on our website: At-Home Over-The-Counter COVID-19 Tests (porticobenefits.org).
Adult Education/Spirituality Retreat
Join us for this special retreat with Dr. Andrew Root, professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary, will be our presenter. Expect insightful sessions such as “Why are People Leaving the Church? Mis-Diagnosing Our Challenges in a Secular Age,” “Ministry Inside the Immanent Frame: The Task of Speaking of God in a Secular Age,” “Families, the Good Life, the Need for a Story,” and “Why We’re All So Exhausted: The Church in a Time of Crisis.” and time for fun and relaxation at camp, too – quiet time, reading time, worship, hikes, pottery, and great food
Youth Worker's Retreat
Peer Ministry Leadership Training
Peer ministry is about the practical life skill that empowers us to become Good Samaritan leaders who care for every neighbor, every day, everywhere in every relationship. Peer Ministry is about loving, because God first loved us! 1 John 4:19 This retreat is for adults and youth (Jr high and up) Bring a group from your congregation, scout troop, or come on your own!
Message from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton
What Masks Do We All Wear?
Getting ready to leave the house—for work or errands—takes a couple extra steps during a pandemic. Do I know how crowded my destination will be? Did I remember to take a mask? Of all the annoying things about this pandemic, I find remembering to take and to wear a mask is one of the most irksome. Masks aren’t comfortable, they make it more difficult to understand conversations, and they are a daily reminder that we are not out of the woods yet.
Let me be clear—masks are an effective way to stop the spread of this terrible virus, and I will wear one for as long as it takes. I urge all of us to do the same. This isn’t about personal choice, but it is a physical manifestation that in baptism “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” (Romans 12:5). Wearing a mask is as much for our protection as it is for protecting others. I will continue to mask up.
I always thought it was silly that bandits and robbers are depicted wearing only a mask from just below the eyes down. How could that possibly be a disguise? One’s eyes, hair and ears are all visible. You can hear the voice. You can figure out a person’s stature. What’s the point?
“I mask people even when they aren’t wearing an actual mask.”
Christmas Greeting from Bishop Kristen
Christmas Message from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton
This is our second pandemic Christmas. We thought this would be over so long ago. And still, we wear masks; we're physically distant; we can't be with friends and family as we used to do. And also, there's so much that's broken in this world, so much that tells us, "Why have hope? Just give up."
But we have a hope that's stronger than any of this, stronger even than death. The hope of God comes in the form of a tiny baby, a helpless child; nevertheless, who grew to a man and in his fragile strength was willing to die on the cross and was raised again.
I don't know what next Christmas will bring. I don't know what New Year's will bring. But I do know we have hope.
St. Paul put it this way:"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."Merry Christmas, dear church.
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
BSA Bankruptcy
Congregations may have received information from the Boy Scouts of America (the “BSA”) including a “Plan Solicitation” package concerning voting on its proposed chapter 11 plan of reorganization (the “Plan”) and/or whether that congregation wishes to opt out of the treatment provided in the Plan for “Chartered Organizations.”
ELCA Churchwide Attorneys have prepared this information overview to help member congregations. It is not legal advice and should not be considered as such. Please retain and consult with an attorney if your congregation needs or wants legal advice concerning the BSA and its Plan. Under the polity and structure of the ELCA, each Chartered Organization (such as each individual congregation) must make its own independent decision, and the ELCA cannot give legal advice or dictate what a congregation should do.