December 17, 2019
Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA Enews
Event Spotlight: EcoFaith Power-Up
The synod's EcoFaith Network leadership team is sponsoring an inspirational and practical event at St. Luke's Lutheran in Bloomington on February 8. Green teams and individuals invited! Learn more  
Workshop descriptions one by one
The Minneapolis Area Synod offers an annual Tool Kit for congregational leaders. It's a great opportunity for teams of church leaders to come together and expand skills and knowledge about congregational leadership. Each week we are introducing one of the workshops to pique your interest. This week:

Title:   Good Stewardship: Maximizing the Value of Your Real Estate
Presenters:  Jeremy Striffler
Brief Description:  Real estate can be a religious organization's largest but most overlooked asset. We will offer our real estate expertise and nuanced understanding of the complexities of a religious community to help attendees understand how they can achieve outstanding results that are thoughtfully matched to their mission and ministry. The panel will encompass leasing, buying and selling of properties, along with effective property management ideas. More importantly, we will provide ample time for Q&A and idea sharing focused around good stewardship.
Well, that’s absurd
" In Advent we practice waiting. It’s a weird sort of waiting; “already, not yet,” I think we call it. “Now” and “then” bleed into each other. They aren’t opposites; the choices are not binary. Given what we so often experience, it is absolutely absurd to believe that we will have just and healthy neighborhoods. There is no evidence that we can embody that promise, that hope, that longing, that vision. "
A Christmas Message
Archbishop Musa Panti Filibus, president of the Lutheran World Federation, offers a Christmas message, "Light in the Darkness." Archbishop Filibus is the ecclesial leader of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, a companion synod of the Minneapolis Area Synod.

Ask the Archivist
ELCA Region 3 Archivist Paul Daniels addresses topics most of us never think about. In this edition of "Ask the Archivist," Part 2 of his column on discarded sanctuary art and furnishings, Paul reflects on the respectful disposal of church objects.
Travel author supports ELCA World Hunger program
Hear from travel author, TV host, and Lutheran Rick Steves about why he chooses to support ELCA World Hunger. ELCA World Hunger is a recipient of a climate-smart grant from Rick Steves to support its work to fight hunger and poverty around the world. Learn more at ELCA.org/hunger .
Bethlehem Twin Cities celebrates its 125th anniversary
As a synod, we are whole when we celebrate together. So as we approach the end of the year, we celebrate with churches that had milestone anniversaries in 2019!

Olin Reigstad, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church from 1921-1946, said, “If we can see a little farther, it is because we stand on the scaffold built by others." For the past 125 years, Bethlehem has built up a scaffolding that is grounded in the Holy Spirit. And, through the Holy Spirit, the church has done found a sense of identity and community. Since 1894, Bethlehem has grown to incorporate a Minnetonka campus in addition to its Twin Cities campus, and helped start congregations like Spirit Garage and Fabric.

On June 9, Pentecost Sunday, Bethlehem held a celebratory service commemorating its 125 th anniversary. Wendy Osment, Bethlehem’s director of member engagement, commented that “ We purposely chose to celebrate on Pentecost because of the importance of lifting up the power of the Holy Spirit in this community.” D uring the service, Paul Oman “paint[ed] the worship service” on a large canvas at the front of the sanctuary, according to Pastor Mary Pechauer . The end result was a colorful and artistic representation of the church and its congregants. To watch the service and the painting process, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3YHzyDT-7Y&feature=youtu.be .

Stay tuned for our celebration with Spirit of Christ. Last week we recognized Central Lutheran for its 100th anniversary; the week before, Our Saviour's for its 150th anniversary; the week before, Tapestry for its fifth anniversary; and the week before, Westwood Lutheran for its 75th anniversary.
Congregational Green Teams
of the Synod Unite
Saturday, February 8
10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
1701 West Old Shakopee Road
Bloomington

Join the EcoFaith Network as leaders gather for a few powerful hours to discuss and dream about how the Minneapolis Area Synod can impact wider systems change for environmental sustainability and justice as we care for God's creation.
A Christmas message from Bishop
Elizabeth Eaton
During this busy Advent and Christmas season, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton encourages you to find time for stillness and celebrate the miracle of God's love. 
Doing good for Christmas
As you prepare for gift-giving during the Christmas Season, remember ELCA-related opportunities to share your gratitude. Lutheran Social Service offers congregations options for donation sites or mission projects to support neighbors all over Minnesota; LSS has a wish list of needed items. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service offers opportunities to bring joy and hope to families in immigration detention or to children who have crossed borders alone with its Hope for the Holidays annual campaign. ELCA Good Gifts is an opportunity to aid communities around the world by purchasing piglets, bees, a goat, or a well that will be of support to a village.
Year-long service opportunities to be "healers of the breach"
The Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) is a community of faith uniting people to work for peace with justice. LVC's values are:
  • Living simply and sustainably 
  • Living in intentional community 
  • Exploring spirituality in community
  • Confronting racism and oppression through intentional and often uncomfortable personal and institutional transformation
  • Working for social justice and a peaceful world where basic human rights are met

Spend a year or semester living or exploring intentional community, serving at a social justice nonprofit, and practicing simple and sustainable living.

Applications are now open with priority application by January 15, 2020.
Through Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM), young adults learn what it means to serve in a spirit of accompaniment as they walk alongside global church companions.

Participants will become immersed in a new community and form deep relationships. And they will confront issues of wealth and poverty, racial privilege, gender privilege, economic disparity, and globalization, all through the lens of faith.

Applications for the ELCA’s 2020-2021 YAGM program are now open. If you know young adults age 21 to 29, encourage them to apply by the priority deadline of January 15, 2020 .
Minneapolis Area Synod holiday office hours
The Minnesota Church Center will be closed full days on December 24, December 25, and January 1. It will be open until noon on December 31. The synod's office hours will be the same. Synod staff will be available at other times during the next few weeks. Continued Advent blessings; and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Where is the synod staff in upcoming weeks?
Upcoming Events
Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA www.mpls-synod.org