Washington just launched a hate crime and bias incidents reporting hotline in three counties across the state, one of which is Spokane. Hotline staff will help callers find local, culturally competent, victim-centered, and trauma-informed support services and, with consent of the caller, can assist in reporting incidents to local law enforcement. 

For many among us, the summer season provides a break in the normal routine. In congregations and other ministry sites, many committees and programs pause or slow down their activity (and others might increase). It also tends to be a time for planning for the future. All this makes summer an ideal time for leaders to tend to some basic “committee work,” or (re)establishing foundational practices and principles for the mutual work the group or committee is about. Here are some helpful points to consider:

Coaching as a leadership support is very different. In our synod, we have been using coaching for Faithful Innovation, Mission Developers, and First Call Rostered Leaders. An individual or a team works with a coach to…What do coaches do?

The Stewardship if Life Institute is giving away $100,000 in $1000 grants for ELCA congregations to throw a Feast of Abundance for their church neighborhoods!

The Northwest Intermountain Synod, ELCA is honored to announce that it has been selected as a grant recipient through The CaSTLE Project: The Country and Small Town Lived Ecclesiology Project, a five-year initiative led by Wartburg Theological Seminary to support renewal in small town and rural congregations.

Showing up is a spiritual practice. As such, it will look different for each of us. Some of us will go downtown with posters, some of us will stock the food banks or bring bottled water to a sit-in, some of us will be ready to bandage wounds, some of us will do research and gather information.

It was evident that God’s Spirit was at work bringing the refreshing waters of life. It was good to be together for worship and prayer. It was good to hear reports about the work of the Synod and about where Synod is moving in the future. It was good to elect council and committee members; to approve the proposed budget; to amend the constitution and bylaws. And the NWIM Synod got a little be larger as we received Christ the King Lutheran Church, Milton-Freewater, OR into the Synod.