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Synod Gatherings!
This year we will not be be holding a Synod Assembly.
Instead, all members of the synod are invited to attend one of two Synod Gatherings that will be held in May - allowing more participants from our synod to join in worship, fellowship, and forums to inspire, educate, and equip members of our Synod!
Cost is $40/person
While registration will not open until April 10, a promo pack has been emailed to all congregations and rostered ministers last week. Please share the info with your congregations and get ready to register a group from your church! (all information is also posted on our website HERE)
Saturday, May 13, 8:30am-3:30pm - Salem Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon
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Saturday, May 20, 8:30am-3:30pm - Saint Andrew's Lutheran Church in Bellevue
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Grace Grants
We are excited to be able to offer one final year of Grace Grants!
The 2023 Focus Areas:
Ministry Innovation
Equity and Justice for Marginalized Communities
Community, Inclusion and Belonging
Youth and Young Adult
Our online application form will open February 1 and close May 31.
You will find information and the link for the online application form on the synod website HERE
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REMINDER - 3 FORMS DUE
1) Annual Congregation Report to the ELCA (AKA Forms A & C or Parochial Report) PLEASE COMPLETE BEFORE THE ONLINE FORM CLOSES ON MARCH 15. Go here: https://www.elca.org/About/Congregations/Annual-Congregation-Report
2) Mission Support Intent Form
Thank you for sharing your congregation's giving intent on this online form here: https://forms.office.com/r/HjNPLsnPYj
3) Rostered Minister Report to the Bishop
PLEASE COMPLETE BY MARCH 15. These forms allow the rostered minister to share information with the bishop AND help the synod office keep our records up to date.
This year we are using the ELCA forms found below.
Select and download the appropriate form to your computer.
Save it with your name in the file name (example: ReportToBish_SBerg...)
Once you completed the form, save it again, and send it to: office@lutheransnw.org
Minister of Word and Sacrament – Reports to the Synod Bishop
Minister of Word and Service – Reports to the Synod Bishop
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Stories of Faith in Action - new webiste!
Across the ELCA we are connected through the stories we tell, the stories we hear and the stories we experience in ministry with, among and for one another. Our church has stories that span the country and the globe. By engaging with these stories, we become connected to those people and places, not physically present yet still responding to God’s call to serve. The ELCA is transitioning to a digital format for this storytelling. FInd the Stories of Faith in Action website here!
On this site is a helpful graphic showing how Mission Support starts as a congregational gift from regular offerings shared with ELCA synods and the churchwide expression to fund ministries near and far. You will also find a snapshot of the Mission Support financials. Then, to really show your Mission Support dollars in action, you will find five inspiring stories from around the country and around the world, paired with beautiful images. Each story also has a .pdf version available to print and share.
We share these stories with you as a reminder of our gratitude for your generosity through the sharing of Mission Support. We invite you to not only read these stories but engage with them personally and with others. We have also included a devotional guide to deeply consider how Scripture, engaging questions and these stories bring us together through this “Stories of Faith and Action.” We hope they lead you to be inspired, to ask questions, to share with generous hearts and to be thankful for the work God is doing through the ELCA.
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ELCA Youth Gathering 2024
A message from our Synod Champion!
My name is Becky Cole and I am your Gathering Synod Champion for the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. I am the Director of Children’s Ministries at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Kirkland and have been serving in that role for 15 ½ years! I have participated in previous gatherings in a variety of ways: adult leader, communications team, synod day team, general volunteer, and synod coordinator.
The Gathering Synod Champion is your primary contact for any questions you have regarding the Gathering. I know that July 2024 seems like a long time in the future, but registrations will begin this September. Also, fundraising for the Youth Gathering takes planning and time. I am happy to begin answering any questions you may have and will be putting together several training sessions to help groups best prepare for taking kids to the Youth Gathering.
I am working to create a general FAQ, so please send me any general questions you have about the Youth Gathering. As our ELCA Youth Gathering team is small, I am the first point of contact for all your questions and concerns for the Youth Gathering, MYLE, and the tAble. More information can be found on the website (https://www.elca.org/gathering).
If you are planning to attend the Youth Gathering, MYLE, or the tAble, join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/elcayg2024nwwa/. My email address is children@hslckirkland.org. I look forward to working with you!
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Synod Events this Week:
Mon, March 13, 4:30pm - Synod Finance Committee
Tues, March 14, 10am-2pm - Synod Staff Meeting
Tues, March 14, 6:30pm - FREE Synod-wide Online Study of Acts (see below)
Thurs, March 16, 12noon - Time for You (see below)
NO Deans Meeting this month
Thurs, March 16, 6:30pm - Interrogating Privilege (see below)
Sat, March 18, 9am - Synod Council Meeting (at St. John United, Seattle)
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Conversation with Kenneth Wheeler about his book US: The Resurrection of American Terror
Tuesday, March 14, 4:30pm Pacific Time - ONLINE
Rev. Kenneth Wheeler calls on white people to do the work of dismantling white supremacy. In the introduction to his prophetic book he shares "I wanted white people to feel the depth of Black pain. I wanted to arouse white empathy. I want white people to begin to act as human beings - to act as human beings toward those of us whose humanity is clothed in non-white skin". It would be hard to find a book more aligned with the mission of EDLARJ "Awaken Hearts, Confront Injustice and Inspire Transformation" than US The Ressurection of American Terror. We are thrilled that Rev. Wheeler agreed to spend some of his time with us and we hope that you will too.
Learn more about this ELCA European Descent Lutheran Association for Racial Justice event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/219667277225448?ref=newsfeed
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Synod-Wide Bible Study on the book of Acts
A FREE NW WA Synod LiVE Project Offering!
Tuesdays, 6:30pm - 7:30pm | on Zoom
Continues weekly - drop into any session!
The Synod's LiVE Project is offering this free, weekly online Bible Study Series! Various rostered ministers from around our synod will co-facilitate a study of Willie James Jennings' book, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. Purchase of the book is encouraged, although not necessary to fully participate.
Join any or all Zoom Sessions HERE. (Zoom Meeting ID: 822 0985 0836 Passcode: Acts)
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ELCA Coaching Network - Weekly Sessions
Every Wednesday at 11am (Pacific)
All lay leaders and rostered ministers are invited to join this weekly opportunity to hear from various leaders across the Church - and share in small group conversation - on the theme of COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP.
Learn more about this week's topic and get the registration link here: https://www.elcacoaching.org/
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Time for You
Thursday, March 16, 12noon - online
ALL volunteer and paid children/youth/family ministry leaders in our synod are encouraged to attend. Reach out to Bryant and Becky for the Zoom link here: cyflutheransnw@gmail.com
We'll gather and check-in, share Elementary Retreat highlights, share any May Youth Weekend at Holden updates, discuss the time of our gatherings (and if we should move this gathering time), and who knows what else! Please invite others who may not already be part of the group!
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Interrogating Privilege
A LiVE Project Course
Final class of the series is this week, Thursday, March 16
6:30pm - 8pm on Zoom
Presenters:
Rev. Priscilla Paris-Austin & Rev. Dr. Beverly Wallace
This 8-week course is designed specifically for lay leaders to open up transparent, and honest conversations around the ways privilege shapes and impacts our lives and communities of faith. If you’ve read anti-racist books, and are looking for the next, best steps as an individual, family or congregation, this course offers additional ways to move forward. Participants will also have an option to explore their own bias through the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).
Read about our presenters and get registered HERE!
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We give thanks for our partner collaboration with Trinity Education Foundation who, through a generous grant, is helping us to reach and make accessible these learning opportunities to more and more communities of faith. This gift helps us to further expand on the great offerings that we can make available.
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LiVE Community Retreat:
Spirit-Stirring & Creation Care
Saturday, April 1, 9am-3pm
at First Lutheran Church, Bothell
The call of the Spirit is to renew the face of the earth. This call comes with renewing our attention to creation as the very partner with whom God is bringing forth new life in this world. Far too long, many Christians have related to the land, and its ancestors, with domination and neglect. This day-long retreat focuses on how to restore dignity in relationship to creation, to rethink and practice faithfully a life of faith with creation at the center of our imaginations as local congregations. This retreat is a primer to the 5-week LiVE course in April and May with Deacon Jessica Zimmerle.
Learn how to participate here:
https://www.lutheransnw.org/events/spirit-stirring-and-creation-care/2023-04-01
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Compass Housing Alliance Gala
Saturday, April 1, 6:30pm
MOHAI, 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle
Join us as we celebrate the creativity and resilience of the neighbors that Compass Housing Alliance walks alongside on their journey to home. Enjoy interactive art, performances, entertainment, dinner, cocktails, and dancing. Your participation will provide life-altering services to our neighbors in need and support Compass’s continued work to develop more services and housing in our community.
Compass Housing Alliance develops and operates permanent affordable housing with supportive services, expansive 24/7 enhanced shelter programs, and a robust emergency services hub, for low-income and unhoused individuals and families in our community. Learn more and buy your tickets by March 17 here: https://www.compasshousingalliance.org/
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5-Week LiVE Course
The Kin-dom of God and Environmental Justice
April 13, 20, 27 (one week off) May 11 and 18
Thursday evenings 6:30-8pm on Zoom
This 5-week series will help you consider and embody how faith lives at the intersection of co-creating a just and sustainable future. Using the ELCA Social Statement on Caring for Creation as a guide, participants will build a faith-based foundation with a toolkit of resources for taking action as stewards of Earth and advocates for environmental justice. Come and learn how you and your congregation can engage this essential, and timely, vocation to care for creation in a way that centers justice.
About the Faculty Facilitator: Sister Jessica Zimmerle has served as a community organizer in the faith-based environmental justice movement for 10 years, most recently as the Advocacy Director of Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light. She centers stories and values in her work supporting congregations living out their call to care for creation and mobilizing individuals taking action as faithful advocates on issues of environmental justice. Sister Jessica lives out this vocation as a Minister of Word and Service and member of the Deaconess Community of the ELCA.
Learn how to participate here
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Bishop's Convocation
for Rostered Ministers, Mission Developers & Interns of our Synod
April 23-26
at Seabeck Conference Center
We look forward to sharing time and stories with you and our presenters. We will welcome Vance Blackfox, Director of ELCA Indigenous Ministries & Tribal Relations AND local Indigenous Elders and leaders, Jay Julius, Kay Knott, and Jay Bowen.
Find all the details and get reigstered by March 17 here: https://www.lutheransnw.org/events/bishops-convocation--164
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May Youth Weekend at Holden Village
Friday, May 26-Sunday, May 28
This amazing weekend is for High School Youth in Region One
Our theme this year is Rest Fest: Dwelling in Our Holy Enough
We will welcome guests Ellie Roscher and Lacey Brown
Cost is $265 per participant
Registration is now open - find all the info you need HERE.
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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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