June is PRIDE month!

As PRIDE celebrations begin, it is an important time to affirm and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. PRIDE events will be taking place throughout the synod:

• Salt Lake City, UT -- June 2-4
• Cheyenne, WY -- June 3-10
• Albuquerque, NM -- June 5-10

Check your local community and congregation for events! Click HERE for Congregational Resources

If you live in or around the Denver metro area, PRIDE events will include a Lutheran Booth at Civic Center Park and an ecumenical march on Sunday, June 25th.

Bishops March - Sunday, June 25th

Bishop Jim Gonia, Bishop Kym Lucas from The Episcopal Church in Colorado, and Bishop Karen Olive from the United Methodist Church have invited all area Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Methodists to march with them in the Denver Pride Parade -- Let's show our support for equality and justice for all, walk together, and show that love always wins!

The parade will start at 9:30 am, but we encourage everyone to gather on the outside steps of St. John's Cathedral 1350 N. Washington St. at 8:00 am and we will walk to Cheesman Park to line up together.

• Be prepared to spend about 2 hours total for the march and be prepared to walk approximately 2 miles.
• Alternatively, you can meet the group no later than 8:30 am on Sunday, June 25 at the northernmost loop of Cheesman Park with our parade unit (Red #39).
• Coordinate with other members of your church or diocese to have a pole banner, matching shirts, or signs to hold. Be creative and have fun!

Cruzando Fronteras - the RMS 2023 "Crossing Borders" Assembly

-- Are you still thinking about it?!

Please enjoy the highlight reel below! More information and follow-up will be coming soon!

At this year's Assembly, Bishop Jim Gonia pledged that voting members would be invited to participate in a coordinated advocacy action to build on their experience at the border. We are currently crafting the details of that action with our synod's advocacy staff in Colorado and New Mexico and our ELCA Washington Office. Stay tuned for more information in just a few weeks! (And if you weren't a voting member at synod assembly, no problem: you will be invited to join the action, too!)



Telling the story of Mission Support in your congregation?

RMS Treasurer, Susan Sharkey's Assembly report is available to share, click HERE.

3E Lilly Grant is partnering with the Arizona State University Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation to offer Best Skills Best Churches  

Best Skills, Best Churches, offered online, is a graduate/executive level certificate program designed to advance rostered ministers' and lay leaders’ knowledge and skills for effective management of congregations and ministries.

Registration for 2024-25 cohorts now open!

Choose a 2-year program running from September 2023 through March 2025 or a 13-month program January 2024 through January 2025.

ELCA YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY

Announcing the ELCA Young Adult Fellowship

The ELCA is excited to announce a new program for Young Adults! The ELCA Young Adult Vocational Fellowship is an exciting program that offers young adults an amazing opportunity to discover their calling while gaining valuable professional experience. In partnership with new and existing year-long opportunities at ELCA affiliated ministries, participants are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to explore their faith and vocational aspirations, all while receiving support from a network of peers and experienced ELCA coaches. The program is designed to prepare communities and ministry organizations to welcome new, young, and diverse leaders, paving the way for a more inclusive and dynamic future. Additionally, fellows receive competitive compensation and benefits, including access to mental health resources, relocation assistance, coaching, and a small group cohort.

The program has partnered with several sites for the 2023-2024 year, including The Dwelling, All Places Together, National Lutheran Communities & Services, Together Lab, Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp, The Hunger Advocacy Fellow Program, Building Resilient Communities with the ELCA Churchwide Organization, Pine Ridge Reconciliation Center, the Minneapolis Area Synod, and Capital University. This program truly embodies the ELCA's commitment to empowering young adults and building a brighter tomorrow. For more information about the program and these partner sites, please visit http://www.elca.org/Vocational-Fellowship.

The ELCA Coaching Ministry received requests for evening coach trainings to be offered in order for lay persons to attend. They now have a session that will begin June 6th. Details are available HERE.



ELCA Segment 1 BASIC SKILLS COACH TRAINING

(formerly called Level 1) Tuesdays - June 6, 13, 20, 27, July 11 (first triad), July 18, August 1, 8 (second triad), August 15 (final triad) [Please note we are skipping July 4 and July 25] - 7-9pm Central times* Cost = $375 Instructor = Nathan Swenson-Reinhold Required attendance for "live"...

www.elcacoaching.org

INDIGENOUS MINISTRIES & TRIBAL RELATIONS

ELCA Truth and Healing Movement

RMS WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION

Views From the Rockies May 2023 and more!

Get the latest issue of the Views of the Rockies here. The registration form for the Southeast Colorado Cluster retreat is also here and a copy of Elsie. 

Who is Elsie? Did you get a letter from RMSWO President Anna Thompson in January asking to color Flat Elsie and take photos? So share your stories and photos by sending them to anna498.at@gmail.com and we will include them in the next issue of the Views. 

Our RMSWO Fall Gathering is in Colorado Springs, October 6-9. Be watching the next issue of the Views for more information about it. It will be good to see and share the experience with all of you. Save the date! 

Reclaim: Embody, Embolden, Liberate

by African Descent Ministries

September 14 - 17, 2023 

RECLAIM is a curated gathering for people of African Descent of all ages and gender identities brought to us by African Descent Ministries. Building on well established community traditions and principles like Umoja, Sankofa, and Ubuntu, we will gather together to grow across generations. The African Descent community thrives most when gathered. This event is meant for our siblings in the pulpits, pews, and brunch.

Follow us on social media as we announce our workshop leaders and keynote speakers. Join African Descent Ministries and our community on September 14th through the 17th in Minneapolis, MN.

Support Veterans Homes in our synod

Each area of the Rocky Mountain Synod has at least one Veterans Home. The Vision Statement of one of these homes is “Working together to provide the highest quality of care and the best quality of life for veterans and their families.”

Get information about Veterans homes in our synod:

• Colorado Veterans homes: (cdhs.colorado.gov/our-services/older-adult-services/veterans-community-living-centers)
• Wyoming Veterans home: (health.wyo.gov/aging/veteranshome)
• Utah Veterans homes: (veterans.utah.gov/veterans-homes)
• New Mexico Veterans home: (nmhealth.org/about/ofm/ltcf/nmsvh)
• El Paso Veterans home: (vlb.texas.gov/veterans-homes/locations/el-paso/index.html)

The Veteran Servant Corps Project (VSCP), a ministry of the Rocky Mountain Synod (RMS), is currently offering regular worship services at three of these homes. VSCP pays $200 plus expenses to ordained clergy for each of these services.

Veteran Servant Corps Project is a self-funded ministry of the RMS. As such, a minimum of $600 in monthly donations is needed to enable VSCP to continue offering these worship services. There are more of these Veterans Homes desiring worship services. At this point, VSCP can add no more worship services until supporting donations are received.

Please prayerfully consider donating to help us expand our ministry. This is a marvelous opportunity to honor a Military Member and/or Veteran in your life as Memorial Day 2023 approaches. Click the button below and select "Veterans Servant Corps Project" from the dropdown list.

SAVE THE DATE!

LFSRM 2023 Tee of Hope Golf Tournament

July 31 @ Red Rocks Golf Club

The 2023 LFSRM Tee of for Hope Golf Tournament will be held on July 31, 2023 at the Red Rocks Golf Club. This exclusive venue is stunning and provides a perfect backdrop for a day of golfing with friends all in support of the many programs of LFS. To sign up, visit www.lfsrm.org/golf.

"The Slovak Zion Synod was founded in 1919 by Slovak Immigrants, and joined the United Lutheran Church in America, remaining as a separate synod in that denomination. The larger Lutheran denomination then became the Lutheran Church in America, and now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as those churchwide expressions have grown and merged over the years.

Our Synod is non-geographic: We are rooted in God's mission and sent out into the world in the name of Christ. Our ministries are spread across many areas, including New England, New York City, New Jersey, Upstate New York, the coal regions of Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes, the greater Chicago area, as well as in Ontario, Canada.

In years past, we have proclaimed the love of Christ to our brothers and sisters overseas in Slovakia and Eastern and Central Europe during the oppressive period of communism, and today we are inspired by our past to fulfill God’s work with our hands in the future wherever and whenever needed.

Over the decades, we’ve transitioned into a Synod that defines itself not by location, but by what Christ has done for us and now calls us to do in God’s name for others."

Bishop Wilma S. Kucharek has served the Slovak Zion Synod–ELCA since 2002.

Visit slovakzionsynod.org and on Facebook.

Click here to view a Bishops and Synods map of our 65 ELCA synods and 9 regions.