PLU Campus Ministry is off and running for fall semester, reconnecting with continuing students and meeting new Lutes. There is good energy. Every new year and season brings its changes, and this fall we’ve made a few changes in Campus Ministry programming and the ways Campus Ministry is contributing to PLU’s mission and care for the spiritual development of students and community. It’s a time of ongoing reformation, ministry, and hopefully transformation, too
Synod Assembly Message from Pastor Phil Misner
The theme for the 2023 NWIM Synod Assembly is BEGA KWA BEGA. This phrase, which translated into English from Swahili, means “Shoulder to Shoulder,” comes to us from our companion synod, the Ulanga-Kilombero Diocese (UKD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. It is a fitting theme for our 2023 Synod Assembly for at least two reasons: 1) this phrase was introduced to the NWIM Synod during our last in-person Assembly in 2019 by our guests from the UKD, Pastor Moses Nwaka and Pastor Eliud Payowela; and 2) It is a good descriptor of and addition to what it means to be synod. We are bega kwa bega—shoulder to shoulder— “on the way together.”
ELCA Vital Congregations Training
Electing a Bishop
Electing a bishop is one of the most important responsibilities in the life of a synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a key responsibility of the Synod Assembly. As an election, it is a process governed by the constitution, bylaws, and continuing resolutions of the synod; however, it is also a call process. As such, it involves discernment, from the perspective both of individual potential nominees and of the synod as a whole.
RESOURCES ABOUND!
Are you looking for new ideas? Or new ways of bringing the Way of Jesus to people in your community? Or methods for becoming a more sustainable congregation financially? Or even how to adapt your worship practices to draw in younger generations by meeting their needs and desires? If so, here’s some good news - help is available!
Where Do We Go From Here?
Have you ever taken a road trip where you simply hop in the car and start driving, not really knowing where the road will take you, but willing to drive to wherever that is? There can be a sense of freedom in taking such a wild adventure. For most of us though, when we get into our car and put it in gear, we like to know where we’re heading. And if it’s a full-on road trip we plan the meals and overnight lodging and at the very least want to know where the next pit stop will be! We take comfort in knowing what’s ahead.
2022 Regional Gatherings Recap
Over the past month 240 people, from 56 different ministry sites, spanning 6 generations and including 10 decades (ages ranged from 3 months to over 90 years old!) came together in three different locations across the Northwest Intermountain Synod. Linda Staats was our facilitator for each of the gatherings as we formed faith across the ages and generations. We sang and danced, we ate and were filled, we listened and shared as we wondered together where the Holy Spirit is leading us now.