Lutheran Disaster Response is collaborating with the Indiana-Kentucky Synod and other partners in the area to assess the damage and develop an immediate and a long-term response plan. Your gifts to support these response efforts will empower our partners to meet survivors’ immediate and long-term needs. Given the extent of the damage, recovery will take years as thousands of homes will need to be rebuilt or repaired. With your support, Lutheran Disaster Response can accompany survivors on the long road to recovery.
Global Mission News | December 2021
Harvesting The Plenty
Our Siblings in Tanzania Need Us Now More Than Ever
With everything that is happening in the world it's important to remember and lift up the good things that are occurring in so many places worldwide. Our synod has a direct relationship with the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese in Tanzania. You may know of the work that our gifts have enabled, along with other church and support organizations in Europe, to make the Gospel known in their region.
Through the Tumaini School and Seminary projects, many young students have been supported and sustained through education. The school director, Pastor Moses Nwaka, has been a guest here in our synod and shared his enthusiasm and effort for the school and their community. Many of his posts on Facebook are about the hard work that he and others are doing, including the farming of maize and rice to feed the students! It is blessed work but also hard and laborious, but without that work there would be no harvest.
Our synod's territory is deeply immersed in agriculture. To harvest, someone had to trust their instincts, training, and God's abundance to make sure that the soil was prepared, the seed planted, the crop tended so that a future bounty could be harvested and enjoyed.
Right now, there is a significant need to meet the scholarship goals for Tumaini School. The coronavirus has impacted Africa and Tanzania, which changed life for many students. Now, there is increased interest in attending Tumaini but for some young women their families are not able to fund their schooling.
Has God been generous to you? Of course, He has! For many of us with resources, especially investments, the stock markets and financial industry has seen substantial growth even during our past year of uncertainty. I would ask that you consider how you might use those gains for helping others, but especially the scholarship needs of a growing number of students in Tanzania. The investment in a child's education means significant improvements in the lives of the student, their families, and their future.
Donations through charitable distributions are able to be received for these purposes. Speak to your tax specialist and investment advisor to determine how you might make a contribution that would have a powerful impact on young student lives going forward.
Recently, the leaders of the UKD shared the status of the Spiritual and Conference Center being constructed on the grounds of the diocese in Ifakara. Over multiple years, they have done much of the construction of the facilities using their own resources. Recently, a request was made for funding to help finish the construction and make the Center useable.
Initially, there was no funding available. Once the need was made known to a wider audience, an anonymous donor offered to make a Charitable Distribution to match the request, almost $25K. This would not have been possible if there was no early work, no past investment, to enable the 'harvest' of funds to help reach the goal.
Help us by supporting Tumaini, the school staff and teachers as they 'plant' knowledge and anticipate the 'harvest' of students with bright futures. Thanks be to God for His abundance in our lives, that we might share with others.
++++++
Rev. Wayne Shipman
Pastor - Good Shepherd (Pocatello, ID) and Emanuel (Blackfoot, ID)
Dean, Upper Snake River Cluster, NWIM Synod, ELCA
What Are ELCA Good Gifts?
ELCA Good Gifts are a creative, meaningful way to support the ministries of the ELCA that mean the most to you and your loved ones. These gifts are real examples from projects currently supported through ELCA churchwide ministries:
The ELCA Fund for Leaders,
ELCA Global Church Sponsorship,
ELCA New Congregations,
ELCA Vision for Mission,
ELCA World Hunger, Disability Ministries
Lutheran Disaster Response.
Each of these programs is a long-term, partnership-based ministry that focus on the needs identified by local congregations and global companion churches and their communities.
Global Mission News November 2021
Download the November 2021 Global Mission Newsletter here.
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"Climate Justice, Health and Wellbeing"
2021 MOHRENWEISER LECTURE SERIES
co-sponsored by PLTS Center for Climate Justice & Faith
Friday, December 10, 2021
9:00am - 12:00pm PST
Free to Join, Registration Required
This lecture will discuss how climate change is threatening human health and well-being, and the ethical and moral imperative for action. The lecture will also delve into preparedness and prevention; mitigation and adaptation; and recovery from the loss and damage already sustained. The discussions will encourage reflections on how we can be accountable and take responsibility- as individuals, as congregations, as communities, and as nations.
Mission Support
This letter was mailed to your congregation with the 3rd Quarter 2021 Statement of Mission Support. Please share in congregation newsletters so that all may witness the Holy Spirit’s presence across our synod territory!
“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25-27
Greetings Siblings in Christ,
We live in times where strong language can be found throughout our society, language that can dismiss another person with a swift blow to one’s ego. Its challenging to hear such exchanges or to be the direct target of them. Sadly, it’s all too common these days and yet serves no real purpose.
In the Luke verses above, Jesus’s language of hating family members and even life itself, is strong stuff as well. It makes clear that following Jesus is a costly business and not to be taken lightly! Jesus speaks these words to the large crowd hoping that some may hear him and think it’s worth paying the price. That discipleship may be challenging yet is worthwhile in what is gained from following Jesus.
When was a time that you felt challenged as a follower of Jesus? Do you find it easy to “go through the motions” of belonging to a congregation without ever needing to think about paying a huge price? What have you gained from being a follower of Jesus? Read this passage in Luke 14 again as you consider these questions. This spiritual practice may help you renew your commitment to follow Jesus.
Another spiritual practice each of us undertakes, is making a financial commitment, tithing, to our congregation and its ministries. We do so because we belong to a local group of followers of Jesus. You freely share of your financial resources, just as you share your stories of hope from living your life in Christ. This sharing serves many through our local ministries; we touch people who have not heard the gospel and lives are changed and hope is renewed.
Your congregation’s 3rd Quarter Statement of Mission Support is attached. As you share this good news in your congregation, may it be a reminder of the price you all have chosen to pay to follow Jesus. Thank you for pausing to reflect on how this choice brings peace into our world and comfort to those in need.
In gratitude,
Mary Morrow, Director for Evangelical Mission
Email: mary.morrow@nwimsynod.org
With BishopKristen Kuempel
And Tami McHugh, Synod Treasurer
God Has Given Us a Mission
Remember the Beatles? John, Paul, George, Ringo! I was into it. I had Beatle boots, love beads and granny glasses. My big brother gave me a model of Paul (the cute Beatle) for Christmas one year. It was one of those paint-it-yourself kits. I knew the lyrics to the Beatles’ hits better than I knew Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. The early hits were pop and upbeat: “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “A Hard Day’s Night.” Even later “Yellow Submarine” was still whimsical.
But then the Beatles got older, and the world changed. Vietnam, the Kennedy and King assassinations, the urban riots, the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention. Innocence—for those of us who had that luxury—was gone. Skepticism, even cynicism, was the lens through which the world was seen. A lot was broken, including trust in institutions and the church.
In 1971, John Lennon’s hit “Imagine” came out. It was evocative and, I’m sure, was meant to point us to the possibility of a better future. I found it disturbing. A world without religion. No heaven. No hell. No countries. No possessions. As if excising these things would cure humanity and the world would be as one.
Spokane Urban Ministries Affordable Housing - Invitation to Help
There are many trials in the affordable housing business, but SUM has been able to provide the best apartments we can in a very difficult market, in a challenging setting. Our waiting lists are very long since the demand is so high. The pandemic brought a new set of challenges our way, but we have been able to, not only make it through in good shape but have begun looking at expansion opportunities. After 14 years we feel that we have some expertise in the affordable housing arena and will be able to make a difference in a very tough housing market that does not favor our poorest or newest siblings in the Spokane area.
With this in mind I would invite any of you, who are interested in affordable housing, to get in touch with me. We need willing and compassionate folks to sit on the SUM board to help with some of the exciting changes to come! The board meets monthly, usually on a Thursday late in the month, but we have been flexible, especially during pandemic! We offer Zoom connection to meetings so anyone can participate!
Global Mission Newsletter | October
Download the October 2021 Global Mission Newsletter here.
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