E-News
Lin Carlson
ECLA Federal Chaplaincy Ministry

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.

E-News, Special Announcement
Lin Carlson
Preach, Pray, Preside & Polity

This retreat is for LAY LEADERS, especially, but not limited to, those going through Montana’s Lay Ministry Associate program OR Luther Seminary’s Lay School Certificate or Graduate Certificate programs. 

Special Announcement, E-News, Event
Lin Carlson
2025 Bishop's Fall Convocation for Rostered ...

October 13-15 in Richland, WA
Registration is open now until September 15.

Campus Ministry, E-News, Special Announcement
Lin Carlson
LuMin Campus Ministry Network - Refer a Student

LuMin is the Lutheran Campus Ministry Network. As part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), LuMin celebrates our partnerships with other traditions and welcomes people from a variety of faith backgrounds. There are currently more than 240 faith communities connected with LuMin. 

E-News, UKD, Event
Lin Carlson
2026 Synod Trip to Tanzanian Companion Synod UKD

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. 

Extending Grace

On our staff Zoom call the other day, we were remarking on the weirdness of time right now. It’s simultaneously stressful, boring, never-ending, and flies by. How is it possible that time can be all those conflicting things simultaneously?

We continue to live under the oppressive shadow of COVID-19.

I confess that I have felt like I have been spinning my wheels in sand. Early on—in March and April—there was a sense of urgency. Information to be distributed, guidance to be offered, congregations to be supported. But in more recent months, we’ve settled into what has become our new normal. Zoom or recorded worship. On-line committee and council and staff meetings. On-line bible study. Our computer and phone screens have become our access to the world as we use them to make contact with those who live outside our “COVID bubbles”. And I’ve wondered: what comes next? Why are we working so hard? What are we paddling this canoe toward? Anything?

A COVID-19 Update

It has been a little while since I’ve given you all an update on the Synod’s response to COVID-19.

The Synod office (housed in with the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane) will remain closed as long as the Diocese is closed. Following a conversation with Bishop Rehberg, we are in agreement that this will be in Phase 4 at the earliest—possibly later than that if the numbers are still going up. Once again, the Phase process is closely connected to economic realities—not necessarily the realities of the case numbers in a given county, so we will be looking to those numbers to make our final decisions. Because NWIM is a tenant of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, we will respect their boundaries around the health and well being of our employees.

White Supremacy and the Need for Anti-Racism Work in Our Synod | June 9, 2020

In the last few weeks we have watched our country (and much of the world) explode in protests following the death of George Floyd while in custody of officers from the Minneapolis Police Department. Three of the five synod staff called the Twin Cities home for at least a portion of our lives, so we have watched this while seeing familiar landmarks & neighborhoods burn, while hearing of congregations we were once a part of stepping in to support those whose lives have been shattered by the violence, & keeping in contact with friends and family still living in the area. This is not simply happening in a city. It is happening in our hearts.

Mr. Floyd's death (along with the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor & many others) has reignited conversations around racial inequality in our country, often in ways that cause white people to react defensively. The existence of systemic racism is not up for debate. The existence of white supremacy is not up for debate.