Deck the Halls: The 2018 Christmas Tree Decoration Contest Winners
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Over the past few weeks we invited you to show off your Christmas Decoration style in the
2018 Virginia Synod Christmas Decoration Contest! With plenty of fantastic submissions, we’re taking a moment to share our three category winners from congregations and families of the Virginia Synod. Thank you to all who entered! It has been so much fun to see and share the decorations that fill your homes and congregations.
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Advent Wreath
By Grace Casola
College, Salem
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Chrismon Tree
By Brenda Boldin
Trinity, Stephens City
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Christmas Tree
By Lenae Osmondson
St. Timothy, Norfolk
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A Christmas message from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
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Welcoming Visitors at the Holidays and Year Round
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I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35)
Building Faith, a ministry of Virginia Theological Seminary has created a resource to help you as you welcome visitors into your congregations during the Christmas season and beyond!
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Holiday Graphic Resources
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This year to support your communication needs, we've created a number of Advent and Christmas graphics you can use in your congregation! Covering each week of Advent, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day there's plenty of resources available to use in your congregation!
These graphics can be used as part of your congregation's social media plan, printed off and displayed in and around your church, or any number of ways that best serve your congregation! From email headers to printable posters there plenty of opportunities to make use of our Advent and Christmas graphics!
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Sermons are available one month prior to the Sunday service they are to be shared during. View all the sermons shared
on the Virginia Synod website.
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- December 23, 2018- Fourth Sunday of Advent by The Rev. Dave Delaney, Director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Virginia Synod ELCA
- December 24, 2018- Nativity of Our Lord I: Christmas Eve by the Rev. Lance Braun, Mount Tabor, Staunton and Redeemer, Middlebrook
- Suggested for Use with “The Candlelight Service” from Augsburg Fortress, available online for $8.99
- The Candlelight Service LBW texts
- The Candlelight Service ELW texts
- December 30, 2018- First Sunday of Christmas by The Rev. John Wertz Jr. Assistant to the Bishop/DEM, Virginia Synod ELCA
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Do You have an announcement, upcoming event or news story idea? Send it to Emily Pilat at
pilat@vasynod.org
and make sure to follow our
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Winter Celebration is our annual weekend retreat for youth in grades 9 through 12 and their adult advisors. We have Large Group and Small Group gatherings that consist of singing, comedy, worship, faith sharing and presentations on our event theme. On Saturday afternoon during Free Time we will also hold out annual Talent Show and in the evenings you will have time to relax in your Cottage and talk with other youth and adults from your congregation and other congregations about how Winter Celebration is going.
For more information and to register for this event,
click here.
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Ask, Thank, Tell: Growing Generous Stewardship
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The Virginia Synod and the Presbytery of the James are offering a one-day Stewardship education event with Charles R Lane, the author of “Ask, Thank, Tell” and “Embracing Stewardship” at Three Chopt Presbyterian Church in Richmond on Saturday, March 23, 2019, from 9 AM until 3 PM. The cost of the event is $15 per person. For this event, you have two options to participate. You can register and participate in-person or by simulcast.
Registration is now open to attend either in-person or through the online simulcast. If you haven't spent all of your continuing education funds for 2018, now is a great time to register to attend this event.
To register for the event,
click here, for more information about this event,
click here.
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ACTS 2019 Spring Course: Spirituality and Leadership
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Save the Dates! April 6 and May 11, 2019 we will gather for our ACTS Spring Course. This year's spring course will be led by
Dr. Jill Y. Crainshaw
Acting Dean at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. This course will explore how throughout biblical history prayerfully listening to God changed the way leaders served in response to God’s call. The participant will learn ways a congregation can prepare and use their many differing personal and spiritual gifts for mission. To download a save the dates flyer for the 2019 ACTS Spring Course,
click here.
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Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp and Retreat Center Upcoming Events
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Spring Work Weekend: April 12-14 in the Cabin Village
Pre-Advent Retreat:
August 19-21 at Buttonwood Lodge
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The ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) application is now open!
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The Young Adults in Global Mission is a one-year, international service-learning and faith-formation opportunity in churches and social service ministries for young adults, ages 21-29. The application for the 2019-2020 program year closes
February 15th, 2019
. For more information and to apply,
click here.
Young adults serve alongside Lutheran companion church bodies and organizations in one of ten country programs around the world, being shaped by the witness of our global neighbors in a cross-cultural journey of faith. For the current program year, the country programs are: Argentina & Uruguay, Australia, Central Europe, Cambodia, Jerusalem/West Bank, Madagascar, Mexico, Rwanda, Senegal, and Southern Africa. Areas of service include, but are not limited to, health and development, congregational ministry, human rights, education, homelessness, addiction recovery, women’s issues and children and youth. All site placements provide opportunities for young adults to confront issues of wealth and poverty; racial privilege; economic disparity and globalization, all through the lens of faith.
Short-term recruiters will be headed around to ELCA Colleges and Universities, Lutheran Campus Ministries, ELCA Camps, and other young adults ministries throughout the fall speaking about their previous year of service and about the program as a whole! Be on the lookout for their upcoming visits!
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2019 Ignite the Church Conference
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The Ignite the Church Conference is an annual gathering on
February 19-21, 2019
that seeks to further Kingdom impacting conversation among leaders that will ignite the Church and help it live out its heritage of renewal in the years ahead! Speakers include Bishop Pedro Suarez, Florida Bahamas Synod, Rev. Dr. John Herman, and Beth Lewis, President and CEO Emeritus of 1517 Media. All proceeds from the event support the ELCA Fund for Leaders. For more information, check out their website:
ignitethechurch.net
.
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Many of us have questions about God and our faith, but don’t always know where to go with them. Many of us would love to talk about our faith, but there isn’t always an easy place to do that. You don’t exactly ask someone across the lunch table at school, “Someone told me ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ That would mean God planned all those school shootings. What do you think?” Bishops’ School is your opportunity to be with people like you – people who want to talk about God, to think theologically. In addition to interactive classroom times, small group gatherings, and service projects, there will be plenty of time for making new friends and having fun! Bishops’ School 2019 takes place at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
For more information and to submit a nomination for Bishop's School,
click here.
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Explore and apply for opportunities available with the churchwide organization or global service on the ELCA Job Board at
elca.atsondemand.com
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If you have a position opening you would like posted, please email Emily Pilat at
pilat@vasynod.org.
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Stay Connected with the Virginia Synod:
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