Mark your calendars for the Rostered Ministers Gathering on July 6-9, 2026, in Indianapolis. All ELCA deacons, pastors and bishops (under call, on leave or disability, retired or an approved candidate for call) are invited.
The ELCA’s Truth & Healing Movement is an opportunity for this church to increase our understanding of our colonizing impacts on Indigenous people in the past and present. Over the next several months, there will be opportunities to learn, raise awareness and engage in other ways to impact hearts and lives across this church. We believe that the truth, and our knowing and embracing it, is the first step toward healing for all of us.
We invite you to join with congregations and communities across the ELCA to gather for weekly, community prayer as part of the Bishops’ Pray Without Ceasing Initiative.
If you’re watching church attendance declining at your congregation and wondering what you’re doing wrong, this conversation will transform how you understand the challenges facing American religion. Dr. Christian Smith, sociologist at the University of Notre Dame and author of “Why Religion Went Obsolete,” reveals that the struggles you’re experiencing aren’t primarily about your leadership, programs, or preaching. Instead, we’re dealing with “perfect storm” conditions—massive cultural, technological, and social forces that have been building for decades, creating what Smith calls a “cultural mismatch” between traditional religion and today’s zeitgeist.
Theologian Walter Brueggeman praises the role of the artist in keeping imagination alive, especially in the face of tyranny. Imagination is alive and well at Celebration Lutheran Church in East Wenatchee, thanks to their Liturgical Arts group and a grant from the synod SHARE fund in 2024.
My name is Marwah Alobaidi, and I’m the Community Programs and Translations Manager at USAHello. I’m reaching out to make sure you’ve seen our newly updated Multilingual Immigration Guide, which is now easier to use—with more resources, better filtering, and translations in 9 languages.
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.
September 8-9
Lead with courage and clarity in a divided world.
This virtual summit offers six video sessions and live Q&As with Dr. Rose Madrid Swetman and Dr. Kate Rae Davis.
Hosted by The Center for Transforming Engagement
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:
For instructions on how to register and apply, please go HERE. We’re excited to see God at work in your projects and plans!
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?
Don’t Miss the Tailgate Party of the Year!
Vandals vs. Cougs
August 30, 2025
I think people need to be reminded, now more than ever, that God blesses them outside of our hour of communal worship, that God cares about our labors (volunteer and compensated). Equally important, we all need reminders that united with Jesus Christ, we each can bring gifts of empathy, connection, and presence to our laboring, no matter what it is.
OPEN POSITION
@ St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Renton, WA
Join our welcoming congregation as we seek to praise God through vibrant, inclusive music. We’re searching for a passionate Interim Director of Music Ministries who is ready to inspire worship, lead choirs, and collaborate with our creative team.
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.
October 13-15 in Richland, WA
Registration will begin soon.
All ELCA-Primary Health Plan options are changing for 2026. Before Annual Enrollment begins, you’ll want to understand how the new plans will work, what factors you should consider to determine what’s best for you, and how to navigate the new tools we’re creating to help your decision process.
CHICAGO (July 14, 2025) — Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will gather for the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, July 28–Aug. 2 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz. Meeting under the theme “For the Life of the World,” the assembly will participate in plenary discussions to make decisions about the work of this church.
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 Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to listen and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray and protect our common home. The Season “Celebration” begins on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.
World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls each year on 20 June and shines a light on the rights, needs and dreams of those forced to flee.
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.
The Northwest Intermountain Synod has a Companion Synod in Tanzania, The Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD). The Companion Synod Team is striving to have guests from the UKD with us every other year and to organize a trip to Tanzania every other year. This fall, two guests from the UKD will be with us for 6 weeks, traveling throughout the synod. And in June 2026, there will be a trip to the UKD.
Tanzania and Eastern Africa have again suffered from flooding and rains that have damaged roads, bridges and agriculture. The crops of maize and rice that the schools depend on have been wiped out. Some parts of the diocese are not easily accessed and the government resources to repair infrastructure will take a while.
Any ELCA young adults are invited to join and gather at the Wild Goose Festival - a transformational community gathering that is grounded in faith-inspired social justice. It is a weekend event in which people gather from all around the country to learn and grow together: through art, music, courageous conversations, and sharing in an affirming community where ALL are welcome.
LeaderWise’s online boundaries training workshop is lively and interactive, full of reflection and conversation. Attendees have given us feedback that our boundaries training was a great experience, AND caused them to re-evaluate some of their own practices.
The Northwest Intermountain Synod and Luther Seminary's Faith+Lead are joining together to provide our entire synod with free access to theological resources and training designed to equip disciples and leaders for today's ministry challenges.
A reminder that Synod Executive Assistant Cathy Steiner is on sabbatical June and July 2025. Hooray for Cathy!