The Office of the Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA is located on the traditional territory of the Chumash, Tongva, and Kizh people. The SWCA Synod rests on the traditional territory of over 11 different indigenous people.
Here is one resource you can use to find out more information about the traditional keepers of the land on which you live, work or travel.
|
It includes an inspiring message from Bishop Eaton, a beautiful litany to use at an annual meeting as well as highlights of several of the SOFIA stories! You can use the back page to tell your congregation's stories as church together in a time of change. |
Ask a Bishop
email askbishopbrenda@gmail.com!
|
Bishop's Message for
Reformation Sunday
|
#B3SWCA
#WhereIsBishopBrenda
|
From the Presiding Bishop |
Silence
Silence is not a technique but a way of being in God’s presence. It’s pretty simple, but it’s not easy. Sheer silence silences us—all of our defenses and self-justifications. It can be terrifying because in silence there is nothing between the soul and its source of being.
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reminds us that spending time in silence is a spiritual discipline, a way of being in God’s presence.
Read her October column for Living Lutheran in English and in Spanish.
|
The Vinyl Preacher is a weekly podcast where Matt Keadle (Southern Cal) and Zach Parris (Colorado) talk about Sunday's texts and make a playlist to listen to on your way to or from this week's worship. It's supported by LuMin, the Lutheran Campus Ministry Network, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
|
Meeting ID: 896 446 7618
Passcode: 090434
Dial-in: 1-408-638-0968
|
A talk with Bishop Brenda about what happens during Holy Communion and the Lutheran understanding of the sacraments. What is God doing when God embodies, when God comes into us through water, and wine and bread? You do not need to be an expert! You just need to be someone who is curious, who knows God is present, and wants to talk about it together.
|
There is this theory that whatever is in you will come out. It’s simple science. If you drink water, water will come out. If you intake toxins, they will come out of you in various ways, often in the form of cancers and other illnesses or medical/mental/
spiritual/physical and even financial traumas. If you take in comedy, you will release laughter.
Everything that goes into your body will come out in one way or another. When was the last time that you released joy? When did you last intake the recipe for joy to come from within?
In this workshop, we are going to tap into what is already inside of you, learn how to use it to re-present the experience of joy into your life. Are you ready to live from within? - with Tyra Dennis, Musician & Youth Leader
|
Big, small, happy, sad, boring, exciting. You could've lost a tooth, or grown a tooth! Lost a job, or grown a job!
Milestones are significant moments in our lives that we want to share with and hear from our community.
This is a practice started by Humble Walk Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota - holy hilarity and the practice a moment of gratitude, community, and honoring milestones in one another's lives - with Pastor Drew Stever of Hope, Hollywood
|
Please pray for the following:
- Lutheran Immigrant Services and their work with refugees.
- Pastor Ray Kibler, who is battling immuno-deficiency disease and cancer.
Your prayer requests are important to us. If you would like to be added to the prayer list or if we should continue your request, please email news@socalsynod.org.
|
The Southwest California Synod is a Reconciling In Christ Synod, making a public commitment to welcome, include and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people. For information about becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation or organization, please contact the Region 2 RIC Coordinator or the RIC office.
|
We are also a Lutheran Restoring Creation Synod. Lutherans Restoring Creation is a grassroots movement promoting care for creation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, cultivating a community of dedicated stewards of earth and neighbor who proclaim God’s promise of hope and healing for all.
|
The Rev. Brenda Bos
Bishop
The Rev. Joseph Castañeda
Carrera
Assistant to the Bishop Leadership Development and Authentic Diversity
The Rev. Chryll Crews
Director for Evangelical Mission
Taylor Dariarow
Office Manager
Executive Assistant to the Bishop
Robin Lujan
Administrative Assistant
Adrienne Griffin
Accountant
Lisa Higginbotham
Gift Planner/Advancement Advisor
Thomas Yuschak
Region 2 Archivist
Samantha Henderson
Mission Interpreter
1300 E. Colorado Street
Glendale, CA 91205
(818) 507-9591
|
|
News from the SWCA Synod, November, 2021 |
Southwest California Synod Mission Support
As members of the ELCA, our faith in a loving God frees us to be generous and to participate boldly in God's work in the world. Stewardship not only about paying the church's bills, but about how congregations can "be the church together" - what Bishop Eaton calls a "manifestation of the unity we have through baptism into the body of Christ." To be generous in response to God's generosity towards us is one way we live out God's call to love our neighbor, in ways that no individual, congregation or synod can do alone.
The Southwest California Synod sends half of the mission support it receives to ELCA Churchwide, and distributes a significant percentage of the remainder back to congregations in the form of grants, as well as educational and administrative support. Mission Support dollars are very real, present, and working on every level of church structure: congregations, synodical, and churchwide.
|
Give Online
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who...
Read more
www.socalsynod.org
|
|
|
|
|
Supporting LRCC & Synod Youth through the H.E.L.P. RECOVERY PLAN
|
At the 2021 SWCA Synod Assembly, voting members passed the Lutheran Retreats, Camps and Conferences H.E.L.P. Campaign resolution. We affirmed that we would call on the congregations of the Southwest California Synod to fully support the ministry of Lutheran Retreats, Camps and Conferences with special focus over the next few years as it recovers from the impact of of the Covid-19 pandemic by:
-
Helping children, youth and adults from Southwest California congregations to attend our Lutheran Bible camps by promoting the character building programs of LRCC, and by offering campership money to prospective campers; and,
-
Encouraging youth and young adults from Southwest California congregations to serve as Bible camp counselors and camp volunteers; and,
-
Leaning in to support the financial recovery of our local Lutheran Bible camps, in such ways as: initiate a fund raising event; support LRCC through the congregation’s annual budget; host a Camp Sunday and/or, encourage your congregational members to support LRCC; and,
-
Praying for God’s blessing on the partnership of the Southwest California congregations and Lutheran Retreats, Camps and Conferences.
|
In 2020 Central, Van Nuys needed 450 turkeys – whole birds, breasts, or chicken/game hen substitutions – to meet (Thanksgiving) demand. With many individuals bringing what supplies they could find, help from other food banks, and a crew of volunteers, everyone in the lines that stretched around a four-block area in their neighborhood received what had been promised. Central’s Pastor Marsha Harris says that when four or five families who had not signed up for Thanksgiving distribution showed up afterwards in case there was anything left over there were just enough turkeys left for their Thanksgiving meal – “God working,” she called it. In the end, over 1880 people were fed.
|
Mission Message: Thanksgiving Baskets - More than a...
"For many churches that organize Thanksgiving meals, their Holiday outreach is not just a one-month, one-meal effort." Helping those in need - housed and homeless, families and those experiencing the holidays alone - have a traditional...
Read more
www.socalsynod.org
|
|
|
|
|
Living the Resurrection and California Lutheran Homes join forces to support 18-month congregational programs |
“Many of our congregations are in buildings designed for 150 to 200 people, but often have 30 to 50 people in worship on a Sunday. We want to help these congregations be more relevant and vital. Many congregations want to learn how to change but have little access to resources that will help them." |
Living the Resurrection and California Lutheran Homes:...
Announcing California Lutheran Homes and Community Services' (CLH) collaboration with Living the Resurrection, assisting congregation to access the program in Southern California. Developed by the Rev. Dr. Marjorie Funk-Pihl while she served the...
Read more
www.socalsynod.org
|
|
|
|
|
The Thriving Leadership Formation (TLF) program from Cal Lutheran offers free and meaningful opportunities for ELCA rostered and lay leaders.
TLF brings ELCA pastors, deacons and lay leaders together online to cultivate skills and networks of trust, support, spiritual practice and accountability. This is the second round of our cohort groups. Cohort groups meet on zoom 12 times. These groups are a show up as you are, be present and build community. These groups are for people who are longing for meaningful relationships, community, encouragement, and accountability in spiritual practice.
At Large Cohorts : There is an offering of eleven different At Large Cohort Groups. Check out the different groups, fill out the interest form and wait to hear from us. Groups are currently forming and hoping to be filled and begin meeting by the end of October.
Southwest California Synod Cohort
"Who am I in this new era of ministry?"
Many of us who have led through COVID-19 are discovering that we are now different in significant ways. This is true of pastors, deacons, and all committed congregational leaders. Some parts of us are thriving anew. Some parts continue to languish. Explore who you are becoming in a supportive and devoted small group setting spanning from the Central Coast to Los Angeles.
Interested? Email Pastor Amy Beveridge
Get connected!
|
After delays due to the pandemic and a bishop's transition, Pastor Erik Rude was called and ordained a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday, October 17 at Prince of Peace, Covina, where he has been serving since 2020.
|
Pastor Chryll Crews has been called to serve as the Director for Evangelical Mission in the Southwest California Synod. In this position, Pastor Crews will support new starts, ethnic-specific and strategic ministries. Read more about Pastor Crews here!
|
November 1 Webinar
Interested in leading a group through this resource? Get tips and tricks and a sneak peek at the resource.
|
November 22 Webinar
Join us as we kick-off the series!
|
Southwest California Synod, ELCA
1300 E. Colorado Street
Glendale, California 91205
(818) 507-9591
|
|
