August 8, 2022
Weekly Update
announcements & events
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Building a Culture of Generosity
This Fall there is an opportunity for congregations to participate in a cohort around “Building a Culture of Generosity.”
The cost for the congregation will be $250, with the ELCA and Synod picking up the additional $200.
You can have several members of your Stewardship Committee participate in the program.
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LiVE PROJECT Update!
We are very excited to embark on this next year of the LiVE Project!
There are a host of learning opportunities for congregations and lay, life-long learners. The theme for this year is Spirit Stirring. How is the Spirit stirring in your life? How is the Spirit informing your sense of call?
All mini-courses (5-8 weeks) and the four day-long retreats explore how the Holy Spirit is igniting curiosity and fresh ways to integrate life, faith, and the public witness of the church.
Check out the 2022-2023 Courses and Retreats in the catalog. Read the invitation email sent last week HERE. Learn more about the LiVE Project HERE. Share the info with your congregation neighbors!
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Calling All Organists!
Dr. William Bryant is pleased to announce the full return of the Fine Arts at Faith Concert Series at Faith Lutheran Church in Redmond, WA.
The series has successfully completed its first year of concerts and the Fine Arts at Faith Committee is looking towards the future. One of the annual concerts this series will bring is a Halloween concert, alternating each year between a silent film improvisation and a Halloween “pops” concert. This year is the year for the “pops” concert. On behalf of the committee, Dr. Bryant is excited to extend an invitation to organists in the area with the opportunity to experience the wonderful Pasi Op. 2 pipe organ Faith proudly owns and participate in this concert.
The concert is currently scheduled for Saturday, October 22 at 7PM. If you would like more information and to be involved, please contact Dr. Bryant at: bryantw@faithluth.org. |
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Contemplative Action Cohorts Forming Now!
The goal of the Cohorts to foster and equip spiritual leaders for new models of ministry and church. These small groups are communities of practice, learning and friendship… places for you and others to form meaningful relationships built on trust. TLF offers Synod Cohorts (11 Synods within ELCA Regions 1&2) and At Large Cohorts (organized around a particular group or theme)
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PEWS for Sale
Edmonds Lutheran Church has 8- and 10-foot pews for sale.
There is enough to seat 200 folks.
Asking $500 for the lot.
Please reach out to their office if you are interested: (425)744-8090
(photo is an example, not the actual available pews!)
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Free items to share!
Nativity Lutheran Church (Renton) is moving out of our current space while a new facility is being built and have a number of items we will not be storing that we would like to offer to other congregations in the area!
If you are interested in any of these items, please contact the church office ( NativityLCoffice@gmail.com or 425-228-5464) for more information. We’ll be holding a “No-Sale Garage Sale” on Friday, August 19th (9am-3pm) and Saturday, August 20th (9am-2pm). We’d love to get as many of these spoken for before then as possible!
- Baptismal Font, Altar, Pulpit
- Assorted Communion Ware: Chalices, Platters
- Two Pianos
- 100-cup coffee maker
- Spotlight [multi-color] and 2 overhead projectors
- Three 2-door cabinets, about 92" x 47" x 26" each.
- Big projector screen. (about 10' wide and a little over 8' tall.)
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Mini-Classes/Presentations
With Rev. Dave Ellingson (schedule now for the fall/winter)
Options:
- Adventures of Faith: Transformative Biblical Journeys (3 sessions)
- Go Outside & Play: The Great Commission in the Outdoor Cathedral/Classroom (3 sessions)
- Paddle Pilgrim Individual Presentations: Mississippi River 2300 miles, Erie Canal and Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, Fjords of Norway, Mississippi “headwaters” in a Time of Climate Change (NEW)
- Creation Care: Called to Tend the Garden
- Say What? A Fresh Look at Old Sayings
- Glimpses of Refirement: Revisiting Pentecost (NEW)
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Synod Events this week:
Mon-Fri, Aug 8-12 - ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Columbus, Ohio - see below
Mon, Aug 8, 4:30pm - Synod Finance Team
Tues, Aug 9, 10am-1pm - Synod Staff Meeting
Wed, Aug 10 - Transition Facilitator Planning Day
NO STAD in August
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ELCA Churchwide Assembly
August 8-12
Columbus, Ohio
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly is the highest legislative body of the denomination. This gathering will be composed of more than 900 voting members serving on behalf of the 3.3 million members of the ELCA.
Please hold in prayer the voting members attending from our synod:
Bp. Shelley Bryan Wee, Synod VP Kay Edgerton, Rev. Esau Cuevas, Eli Daheim, Curt Eidem, Frankin Lulan, Laura Sasaki Norton, Kasey Shultz, and Rev. Rachel Swenson.
Please also keep in prayer, Rev. Joanne Engquist from our synod, serving on ELCA Church Council.
Meeting under the theme “Embody the Word,” the assembly will participate in plenary discussions to make decisions about the work of this church. Attendees will also spend time in worship and Bible study. Over the course of the assembly, voting members:
- Hear reports and review the work of churchwide officers, leaders and units;
- Receive and consider proposals from synod assemblies;
- Elect officers, board members and other leaders as specified by the constitution or bylaws;
- Establish ELCA churchwide policy;
- Worship together;
- Adopt a budget; and
- Conduct other business related to the ELCA churchwide organization.
During the Churchwide Assembly we will honor and celebrate Indigenous people through presentations and worship during this weeklong event, to be held Aug. 8-12 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton will open the assembly on Tuesday, Aug. 9, with a land acknowledgment noting that the gathering is taking place on the original and ancestral homelands of the Shawnee, Miami and Kaskaskia peoples.
On Wednesday, Aug. 10, the assembly will honor Indigenous people through various observances and presentations:
- The American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association has invited assembly participants to wear red to recognize and publicize the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
- The assembly will recognize the Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, who died July 22. Helgemo was the first Native American woman ordained in the Lutheran church.
- The assembly will hear the first in-person pronouncement of “A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People” and receive an update on the work of the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery Task Force. The declaration is a direct result of the social policy resolution adopted by the 2016 Churchwide Assembly. Following the presentation, Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, will address the assembly.
- The words and music for the service of Holy Communion are derived from a variety of Native American sources and designed with the help of Indigenous people who are leaders in the ELCA. The Rev. Joann Conroy, president of the ELCA American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association, will preach, and the Rev. Guy Erwin, president of United Lutheran Seminary and a member of the Osage Nation, will serve as presiding minister. Other worship participants include Eaton and several native leaders from the ELCA. The worship service will begin with a prayer song offered by Imnizaska Family Drum. Other elements during worship will include a prayer to the four directions, which will incorporate a gathering of waters from the four directions within the territory of the ELCA, and a time of repentance as called for in the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery.
- The worship offering will support the Pine Ridge Reservation initiative. ELCA Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations and ELCA World Hunger are partnering with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and local organizations to support the tribe as it addresses homelessness, housing, education, cultural preservation, livelihood opportunities, Two Spirit support and more on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Throughout the week, assembly participants are encouraged to visit the American Indian/Alaska Native Community Learning Space, located in the convention hall in rooms B140-145.
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ELCA Coaching Network - Weekly Sessions
Every Wednesday at 11am (Pacific)
ELCA Coaching will continue with the theme of COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP. ELCA Coaching has invited various ministries to host these gatherings each week. There will usually be time for small groups in breakout rooms so that leaders across the church can continue to learn from each other and leave each gathering with at least one action step.
Join Zoom Meetings here:
Meeting ID: 180 439 412 / Passcode: 648160
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LiVE Information Sessions
(Living into Vocational Engagement)
Join our last info session of the summer:
August 17 - 6:30-7:30pm on Zoom
Come and learn more about LiVE, get your questions answered, and see what this exciting opportunity holds in store for your own learning journey as a Christian public leader.
Please pre-register here:
Learn more about our LiVE Project here:
Check out the 2022-2023 Courses and Retreats in the catalog. Read the invitation email sent last week HERE. |
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Kitsap Ride for Refugees
Saturday, August 20, begins at 9am
We are excited to be able to once again partner with Lutheran Community Services Northwest to bring back this great event for summer 2022. All proceeds go toward LCS Northwest and their refugee resettlement efforts.
Participants can choose between a 10- or 30-mile out-and-back course through beautiful Kitsap County, starting and ending at Silverdale Lutheran Church. This is an untimed, supported bike ride (not a race). Roads will still be open to vehicles and participants may need to stop at intersections.
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Spiritual Leadership Development Intensive
For Rostered Ministers and Lay Leaders
August 22-23 and 29-30 (four days total)
The Spiritual Leadership Development Intensive (SLDI) is an opportunity to engage with deep questions about your gifts, the challenges confronting you and your community, what God is calling you to, and how to be a spiritual force-to-be-reckoned-with in this turbulent world.
During these four days of leadership development and spiritual discernment in a safe and supportive environment, you have the opportunity to explore the dynamics of your life and ministry, how you got to where you are, and how to use fresh awareness and insights to enhance, strengthen and expand your ministry - and who you actually are.
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Upcoming Zoom Sessions:
Tuesday, August 23, 4:30pm-6pm
Tuesday, September 27,4:30pm-6pm
Connect with others, pray together, consider next steps in anti-racism work and share resources. Open to everyone on the journey to racial justice from newcomers and long-time movers.
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Webinar series: Building an Anti-Racism Team: Next Faithful Steps*
As with any team, having shared goals is really important for doing effective work. The team should decide what their function will be by identifying their goals. Each racial justice team is unique to a specific congregation and community context. The goals of the team should be defined keeping that in mind. The main areas that a team focuses on falls into three areas: internal team goals, congregational goals, and community goals.
Hosted by: The ELCA European Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice (EDLARJ)
Audience/For whom: Anybody in the ELCA, specifically interested in connecting with other folks building or working at a synod, campus or congregational anti-racist team.
Register in advance:
September 7, 4:30 – 6 pm Pacific time: Internal Team Goals
Team goals are generally focused on one or more of the following:
• leadership development of team members - trainings, etc.
• cultural competency work as individuals and a team
• intentionally examining personal unconscious biases
October 5, 4:30 – 6 pm Pacific time: Congregational Goals
These goals involve the whole congregation and are usually focused on one or more of the following:
• hosting educational events (i.e. movie nights and discussions, book studies, etc.)
• writing (and then getting the congregation to pass) a Racial Justice Mission Statement
• examining the culture of the congregation
November 2, 4:30 – 6 pm Pacific time: Community Goals
Community goals put the internal pieces into action with goals like:
• connecting with local diverse community organizations or congregations in partnership
• engaging in local organizing and advocacy work that is meaningful to racially marginalized communities
• simply being present, active listeners to the voices of leaders of color in your context
* We thank and acknowledge the wisdom, experience and knowledge that Brenda Blackhawk put into creating this resource. She has offered it to us to use for our benefit. Our work will be better and stronger because of this resource…we acknowledge that as white-bodied people we cannot do this anti-racism work without siblings of color and culture. Please donate if you use this resource.
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Camp Lutherwood is Celebrating 75 Years!!
Join the celebration at their open house:
Saturday, September 10, 10am-2pm
It will be a joyful day - with fun for the whole family, including lunch and carnival games and activities!
Learn more and register by Sept. 2nd here:
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God’s work. Our Hands. Sunday!
Sunday, September 11
Old Lutheran has T-shirts and other items available for purchase. The deadline for ordering your congregation’s personalized T-shirts is Aug. 19.
Don’t forget to share your congregation’s participation with us! Send stories and photos to LivingLutheran@elca.org so that together we can celebrate what God accomplishes through you.
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Sacred Spaces:
Opening the Holy Invitation Even Wider
September 24, 9:30am-2:30pm
at St. Andrews Lutheran Church (2650 148th Ave SE, Bellevue)
Sponsor: NW Washington Synod
Join Facilitators and Practitioners of unique gatherings and organic forms of church, for a day of stories, experiences, and workshops to explore together how we can open God’s holy invitation even wider.
There are so many ways to gather as faithful communities, whether it's outdoors, creating art, at the pub, or just eating around one big table. Why shouldn’t our gatherings reflect our uniqueness?
Let’s imagine how we can foster organic sacred spaces right in our own backyards. How can we create more inclusive gatherings for people to encounter God? How can we experiment with the gifts we have to meet the needs of those seeking the spirit in our own neighborhoods? What is sprouting up within you that is ready for germination?
Come with ideas, come with questions, come to dream about what sacred spaces can be!
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Fall Bishop's Convocation - Save the date!
All Saints Day, Tuesday, November 1, 10am-3pm
For All The Saints: Welcoming Immigrants and Refugees
ALL NW Washington Synod Rostered Ministers, Mission Developers and Interns, please plan to join us for our Fall Bishop’s Convocation for Rostered Ministers of the Synod. Our day will feature a live-streamed presentation and discussion with Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, as well as stories from local ministries who are accompanying immigrants and refugees. More information and registration link coming soon!
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Want an item included?
All items due by 2pm on the prior Thursday
Northwest Washington Synod / ELCA
5519 Phinney Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103
206-783-9292
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