September 1st, 2020
For more information, visit www.fbsynod.com
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Synod Update for September 1st from Bishop Suárez
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Dear friends in the Florida-Bahamas Synod of the ELCA, welcome to this Synod Update for the first week of September 2020.
First in our news, we want to update you on our United as One COVID-19 relief appeal. As of today, we have helped many congregations meet their needs and improve their ministry during this pandemic. We always love to see and hear about how the Synod’s United As One relief is helping our congregations.
If your congregation has been helped by the United as One grant, please remember to send a short 30-second video of stories about how God is impacting the life of the people you serve. We would love to see them!
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“God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday Service in the time of COVID-19
Acts of service can happen anywhere: you might contribute to an online project from your home or volunteer in person keeping a safe physical distance and wearing a mask. In this special tool kit, you’ll find service project ideas and considerations for safely supporting your community during a pandemic. Get ready at ELCA.org/DayOfService.
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Together, we can support those in need and share the love of Christ through our ministries. |
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Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in Tampa received a United As One relief grant earlier this summer. After months of hard work, their food pantry is finally restocked. |
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Because of this grant, their Food Pantry is ready to serve the community again!
Every Friday, an average of 40 families seek assistance from the pantry. The pantry is run by volunteers not only from Our Saviour, but from neighboring churches as well.
Additionally, every Monday at noon, Lutheran Church of Our Saviour is able to offer food bag distribution for the homeless in their parking lot.
Your Gifts Make a Difference!
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On September 17th at 10:00am, join Bishop Suárez and Dr. Timothy Wengert for our next Rostered Ministers Virtual Gathering! We will gather online for prayer together and a discussion of Holy Communion during COVID-19.
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Our special guest, Timothy J. Wengert, is the Ministerium of Pennsylvania emeritus professor of Reformation History and the Lutheran Confessions at the United Lutheran Seminary (Philadelphia). A parish pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Minnesota and Wisconsin, he received his doctorate from Duke University in 1984. Besides his published dissertation on Philip Melanchthon's interpretation of John's Gospel, Wengert co-edited with Robert Kolb the 2000 English edition of The Book of Concord. His translation into English of Luther’s Small Catechism is widely used throughout the ELCA. He has received honorary doctorates from Carthage College and Wartburg Theological Seminary, and in 2011 he was visiting guest professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. In 2019 he published Word of Life: Introducing Lutheran Hermeneutics, and in 2020 he edited a new edition of Doberstein’s Minister’s Prayer Book and The Augsburg Confession: Renewing Lutheran Faith and Practice. |
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Gather with Bishop Pedro Suárez, Assistant to the Bishop Pastor Khader El-Yateem, and Pastor Joe Conner for a service of remembrance and prayer on the 19th anniversary of September 11th, 2001. Service will begin at 10:00am.
This brief service will include prayers of lamentation and special live music. Reflections will be shared by Pr. Joe Conner, who served as Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church on Staten Island during 9/11/01, and now serves as Pastor of Lamb of God in Haines City.
No registration is necessary. Simply click the link to access the meeting.
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Mission Partner 100 Fall 2020 Recipient:
Babcock Ranch, Florida
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The Florida-Bahamas Synod has chosen the mission at Babcock Ranch, Florida as our Fall 2020 MP100 focus! We are excited to bring you the opportunity to support this incredible project, the first of its kind in the United States!
This unique community forming just outside of Fort Myers, Florida is a place where sustainability and environmental awareness drive development and daily life. Babcock Ranch is a Master Planned Solar Community built on 18,000 acres, drawing its power from a field of 680,000 solar panels. 50% of its land is dedicated to greenspace, reinforcing its emphasis on the environment.
Being the first “smart town” in the United States, we have an opportunity to build a worshipping community in Babcock Ranch that nurtures the idea of faith and innovation and comes alongside its residents in giving Creation a voice in worship, service, and learning.
Today, there is no worshipping community within Babcock Ranch. But with your partnership, that will soon change! By becoming a Ministry Partner with the new mission at Babcock Ranch, you will help us locate a site for worship within the community and, together as co-creators with our amazing God, build a place for faith to grow, gifts to be shared, people and creation to be cared for, and God to be worshipped and praised. Your gift to Mission Partners 100 will be used for the purchase and development of a site in Babcock Ranch where God’s mission for this new community will be revealed and sustained.
To be a part of this incredible project, you can send in a donation to the synod office designated for “MP100”. You can also designate your electronic gift for MP100 through the “Give Now” link on the home page of our web site.
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The Fund for Leaders, a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), provides scholarships for future ELCA pastors and deacons who attend ELCA seminaries. In 2021, the Fund for Leaders will once again be offering scholarships to seminary students!
The Fund for Leaders has an open application process that allows all eligible candidates to apply online directly to Fund for Leaders to be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. These scholarships will cover the full cost of seminary tuition for the duration of coursework. Eligible candidates must have an offer of admission from one or more ELCA seminaries, be planning to enroll full time in fall 2021 and be in good standing in the ELCA candidacy process. Recipients of Fund for Leaders scholarships may apply their full-tuition scholarship to any ELCA seminary that has offered them admission.
The application period will be open from November 2020 to February 2021. If you are discerning a call to ministry, please click here. Check the ELCA website for specific dates and eligibility criteria.
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Boundaries Training
Essential to ministry.
Easy to access online.
During COVID-19, Rostered Ministers can access our Synod's comprehensive boundaries and sexual ethics training completely online! Not only is Boundaries training absolutely essential for ministry; it is the expectation of Bishop Suárez that rostered ministers will take boundaries training once every 3 years.
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GRATEFUL:
Being Grateful In Difficult Times
An online video series featuring Diana Butler Bass with facilitated discussion by Rebecca Bass and Maureen Connors.
Thursdays - September 10 to October 29, 2020
From 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Fee for 8 week series: $85.00 (no refunds)
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In this course based on her recent book, Grateful, Diana Butler Bass takes us into a video recorded journey to understand what gratitude is, how it can strengthen us as individuals and in community, and the surprising ways in which it subverts hopelessness and injustice. Mini-practice sessions to make gratitude part of our daily spirituality are also included. To read more and watch a 5-minute sample of the video content, click here!
This zoom series will be co-facilitated by Maureen Connors and Rebecca Bass, both spiritual directors and retreat leaders. Diana and Rebecca are sisters-in-law. We will be using the video content from Diana as the focus for our conversations and explorations of gratitude practices.
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Your congregation is invited to attend a shortened version of Stewardship for All Seasons this Fall, led by Mike Ward.
The goal of this program is to help congregations stabilize current year giving to 2019 (pre-COVID) levels, with the potential for modest growth in 2021.
The cost of the program is $450 per congregation. This program could qualify for Thrivent Action Team grants (a $250 value). Contact a Thrivent Financial member for details. For a registration form or to learn more, please click here and download the corresponding PDF.
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Caring for Creation Online Worship Service for September 20th
Lutherans Restoring Creation is busy preparing a creation-focused worship service utilizing the lectionary texts for Pentecost 16 (September 20, 2020) that congregations can download and use however they wish. It will include participants from all over the country including Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, The Rev. Dr. Barbara Rossing, Rev. Lenny Duncan, Rebekah Bruesehoff, as well as numerous parish pastors and members of the Lutherans Restoring Creation Board of Directors. Music will be provided by Marty Haugen, the Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, and Pastor John Tirro.
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Click on the calendar icon to see more
events on the Synod calendar
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October 10 - Bishop's Visit, Advent, Melbourne
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