Current News
Download your complete Assembly Notebook ahead of time.
New documents are also available: Ministry Partners, Workshop Schedule, and a map.
United at the Font: Partnering for the Future 2026
REGISTRATION OPEN FOR
Chelan - May 16
Sandpoint - June 27
Ministry, in all the ways we live it—parish, hospital, campus, new/old projects, organizing, public service and public witness—has its seasons just like a river does. It’s up; it’s down. It bends unexpectedly. It has snags. It dwindles to a trickle or rages in a torrent of energy. When we are so focused on navigating the moment-to-moment challenges, we easily miss the glorious sunset. Too homed in on that potential snag we know is coming, or worried about our own lack of knowledge (gosh…never floated this section before…), we fail to look up from our wheel, our desk, our phone, our whatever and just see. Oh, my goodness: the play of the twilight sun on the water!
NWIM Synod Council has authorized the Companion Synod Team to raise funds towards the purchase of a Solar Electric Cooking System (SECS) to replace the hazardous combustion system. In addition to producing on-site electricity for stove-top and oven cooking, the SECS would power a water pumping system and water purification system.
I am inviting you to consider Sacred Ground, a faith-based dialogue program of the Episcopal Church designed to help communities engage honestly with the history of race and racism in the United States, and to discern faithful responses grounded in Scripture, theology, and lived experience.
Congratulations to Shalom Ministries in Spokane, Washington who is a recipient of a 2026 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Domestic Hunger Grant for $30,000 over three years! Shalom is supported by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Spokane.
Here is a photo of the scholarship students as well as their headmaster, Pastor Frank Mauyo, and the vice principle. This is 27 girls and 11 boys. You have changed the life of these students. Asante Sana!
Worship, including the sharing of the peace, gives us a glimpse of God’s reign that we can take into the world, and what a gift that is. Jesus gives us a peace, as he says earlier in John’s gospel, that the world does not know, a peace that exists through Jesus Christ even when the world feels like it’s shaking and absent of all peace.
We have updated the Congregation Remittance Form to use when sending in mission support and now have a Checklist that provides some helpful information about submitting mission support and designated gifts.
the Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations offers this guide to support preachers and teachers in reflecting and embodying these commitments in congregational life. Progress in understanding the Bible, its first communities and the development of Christian theology provides many resources for creating a foundational framework for moving forward.
Can breath from a global Lutheran church body like the ELCJHL blow through the atmosphere and give life to the rest of the church? If it could, the breath would whisper about six congregations plus schools and other ministries who are giving life to their local communities.
Registration
$325 Early Bird – through March 31, 2026
$400 Registration – April 1 - June 5, 2026
$110 Non-Registered Guest Celebratory Banquet Ticket –
Available until Wednesday, June 3. Tickets will not be available after this date.
From weekend workshops to full-week classes, the Guild is excited to welcome you into a year of resonance. Check out the Guild’s In-Person Program page to explore upcoming programs - spring, summer, fall, and winter - and register today!
The 2026 Conference on Worship, Theology, and the Arts (CWTA) is a high-quality, affordable conference, full of practical ideas that you can adapt to your own setting, along with meaningful worship experiences — for ministry practitioners and by ministry practitioners. It will be held July 20-22, 2026.
Wednesday, April 29
2 p.m. Central time
Insurance is one of the most pressing property concerns shared by synod and congregation leaders with the Church Property Resource Hub team. Join us for a conversation about today’s insurance landscape and learn about the support and options available to help congregations navigate these challenges.
We’re delighted to have available for congregational use a curriculum to help study and understand the ELCA social statement, Faith and Civic Life: Seeking the Well-being of All.
Check out these headings:
Mental Health Support During Disruptive Times
Notify Portico of Compensation Changes
Online Retirement Readiness Series
Get Ready for Tax Season
“Imagine More” isn’t about doing more stuff or trying harder to be “good enough.” It’s about recognizing that God is already at work in us and around us — way more than we can predict or control
This year ELCA World Hunger received 1000 applications for Daily Bread Grants and were able to fund over 600 of these very important ministries. All 65 ELCA Synods received at least one Daily Bread Grant.
It was an honor to represent our synod and the larger ELCA on a bishops accompaniment visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL).
Join us on May 29-31 at the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome, Idaho for a retreat and training event designed for lay ministers but meaningful for anyone who shepherds the Sunday gathering and ministers through the pulpit and table.
This week we turn an important corner in the church year. We will mark the coming arrival of Spring by deepening our prayer for six weeks before celebrating Christ's resurrection. And we begin this period of fasting and prayer by reminding one another that we will die. We are mortal. We fall into sin. This is part of our humanity and leads us to rejoice in the mercies of God all the more.
A twelve week online discipleship course sourced by Luther Seminary's Faith + Lead
Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry and ELCA synod bishops from Minnesota share a joint pastoral video message condemning aggressive immigration activity.
We 12 travelers are getting excited about our upcoming trip to our sister synod in the UKD (Ulanga Kilombero Diocese). We will be flying out of Portland, Oregon on June 5, and arrive in Dar es Salaam on June 6
After eight years serving as the Assistant to the Bishop, Pastor Phil Misner has been granted a sabbatical for the summer of 2026 (June 1-Aug. 31).
When I was with my mom in Minnesota writing my January column about the gift and need for communal singing and preparing for my trip the Holy Land, I could not have imagined what was about to unfold in Minneapolis and across the state of Minnesota. My heart has broken again and again as I watched videos of the shooting of individuals and violent apprehension of individuals by ICE agents. Our hearts go out to those families and to so many people living with uncertainty and fear in Minnesota and in our own communities.
News articles on:
New 2026 Portico Health ID Card
EAP Update for ELCA-Primary Members
January is Financial Wellness Month
Registration for the 2026 Rostered Ministers Gathering , happening July 6-9 at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis, Ind., is now open! All ELCA deacons, pastors and bishops (under call, on leave or disability, or retired) and candidates approved for call are invited to a time of intentional connection when we can renew our strength, enjoy camaraderie with colleagues and reflect on the Holy Spirit’s work among us.