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.

Best Skills, Best Churches will cover:

• Volunteers in Service
• Legal Aspects of Governance
• Effective Communication and Handling Conflict
• Marketing and Community Presence
• Financial Management for Effective Service
• Fundraising Aspects of Stewardship.

Best Skills, Best Churches will meet from 6:30– 9:30 pm (except in December from 5:30–8:30 pm) on the following dates:

• July 11 & 13
• August 1 & 3
• September 5 & 7
• October 3 & 5
• October 31 & November 2
• December 5 & 7

Upon satisfactory course completion, participants will receive a certificate in Non-Profit Management.

The cost is only $150 per participant - a $775 value made possible by the 3E Lilly Grant!

Click the link below to enroll TODAY!

Questions? contact Deacon Sarah Bjornebo HERE

Migrants Are Coming

A Zoom Program exploring the Intersection between ELCA World Hunger and Migration here and around the world

Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30pm

Join the RMS Hunger Network to explore this important topic right before the Synod Assembly in El Paso!

Speakers include:

Giovana Oaxaca, ELCA Program Director for Migration Policy

Evie Landrau, Program Director, World Hunger Networks & Engagement

The one-hour program is the perfect introduction to the synod assembly in El Paso! We will explore the intersection between migration and the ELCA’s hunger and poverty ministry with policy and stories! Plan to ask questions, as well!



Join the Zoom Meeting:

us06web.zoom.us/j/4418378179?pwd=QldRZU5wMUZaSXBER0pRQmpOWk82QT09

Meeting ID: 441 837 8179

Passcode: Lutheran

One tap mobile: +17207072699, 4418378179# US (Denver)

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ELCA Launches Truth and Healing Movement

The ELCA’s Truth & Healing Movement will enlist and empower members to become involved in the areas of focus started by the task force: development of appropriate settler narrative from a Lutheran perspective; encouraging the ritual practice of land acknowledgement; understanding Lutheran participation in Indian Boarding Schools; and support for communities impacted by murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. The movement will also offer ways to participate in the national Truth and Healing Movement.

ELCA Church Council appoints members to the Commission on a Renewed Lutheran Church

On April 20 the ELCA Church Council met electronically and appointed members to the Commission on a Renewed Lutheran Church (CRLC), which will hold its first meeting in July. The 2022 Churchwide Assembly called for the council to establish the CRLC to reconsider statements of purpose for the church and its organizational structure. The commission will present its findings and recommendations to the 2025 Churchwide Assembly in preparation for a possible reconstituting convention. A summary of the nomination process and the names of the appointed members is available here.

IN-PERSON and ZOOM WORKSHOP

BREADITATION: learn to make Gluten Free Communion Bread; it’s all about hospitality

Saturday, May 6

9:00am to 1:00pm

plus FRIDAY PREP for ZOOM participants: required the day before

IN PERSON is at Messiah Mountain Retreat Center: no prep needed the day before

COST: $20 for Zoom participant (providing your own ingredients); $40 in person (includes all ingredients and lunch)

Gluten free communion bread is easy, tasty, and all about hospitality for all. Join us in the in-person or online workshop to make gluten free communion bread, as well as fougasse, which is a light, open textured bread typically associated with the Provence region of France. Your workshop leaders are Pastor Ron Glusenkamp and Pastor Kent Mueller.

Monday, May 1 registration deadline. Limited to 12 participants in person. 

Zoom registrants will receive ingredient list, instructions, and Zoom link several weeks before the event.

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Italy - update!

October 16-29, 2023

A Multicultural and Ecumenical Spiritual Journey Experience

Experience the origins of your Christian faith. Walk the land where it all began, walking and visiting the fields and holy places where Jesus was born, where Jesus preached and instructed his disciples, where Jesus suffered, died, and was risen. The holy places where Jesus inaugurated his Church and commissioned his apostles to spread the Good News of God’s unconditional love throughout the whole world.

Download all updated information here.

Trip Leaders: The Rev. Quirino Cornejo (QC) (Pastor/Priest/Missioner for Multicultural Ministries and Witnessing) accompanied by Bishop Kym Lucas and Bishop Jim Gonia. For more information contact: The Rev. Quirino Cornejo, , qcornejo@rmselca.org or qc@episcopalcolorado.org. Mobile. 325-227-2139

Informational Meeting with Tony Abuaita, CEO of Good Shepherd Travel: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at 6:30 pm MT. Zoom Link: us02web.zoom.us/j/6866523628

For customized or specific travel needs contact Good Shepherd Travel directly at 1-84HolyLand (4-659-5263) FAX: 1(844)659‐5263 www.Goodshepherdtravel.com | info@Goodshepherdtravel.com

from The Rev. Quirino Cornejo (QC)

ELCA AMEXTRA Immersion in Mexico City

an integral transformational experience

From April 10 through 14, 2023, several ELCA bishops, DREs, and others from the ELCA wider church, participated in an immersion trip in Mexico City with AMEXTRA (the Asociacion Mexicana de Transformacion Rural y Urbano), that has the mission to promote an integral transformation in the most marginalized communities in México. We immersed ourselves in the culture, spirituality and current socioeconomic situation in Mexico. We met and interacted with local people… some of them that live, and make their living from the Land field, with no education, medical and health government programs… some others, especially women, who were subject of abuse and lack of equal values and respect, now being self-sufficient equals in society… some others in the Valle de Chalco, a city that I saw its beginning transformation 40 years ago from being farming fields, to dust and mud card board houses, now transformed into a big city… We experienced and witnessed one of the most transforming ministries and work with the poor of the poorest people in the margins of society. We witnessed the total and unconditional dedication of a team of young and adult people who, based on values and beliefs, promotes sustainable change processes, accompanying, as well as potentiating community leadership and local participation, which transforms living conditions in marginalized communities, with values of service, compassion and justice.

Support for 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.”

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.

SEICENTO PRESENTS

J.S. Bach’s monumental St. John’s Passion

May 6 at 7:00pm

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Denver

Seicento’s performance of this monumental work will focus on historically informed musical forces and techniques, beginning with the use of period instruments such as theorbo, portative organ, traverso (wooden flute), baroque oboes, viola da gamba, and baroque strings. Seicento’s singers and instrumentalists perform at baroque pitch with the signature Seicento flair, all contributing to the realization of the work as—in the words of American choral director and conductor Hugh Ross— “transcendent in its divine benignity.’

Tickets are $15 - 50. For concert locations, directions, times and tickets, visit

seicentobaroque.org/current-season/.

Join King of Glory Lutheran Church in celebrating their 65th Anniversary!

Sunday, May 28, 2023 at 9:00am

10001 West 58th Avenue

Arvada, CO

King of Glory Lutheran Church is celebrating 65 years of Mission and Ministry. We would like to invite former pastors, staff members and former congregation members to join us on Sunday, May 28, 2023. Our celebration begins at 9:00 am with festival worship followed by brunch and program. Please RSVP to Diane Burton by email dianeburton44@msn.com or call 303-431-6118 by May 20, 2023.

A DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION

Composting and carbon farming turn a major problem into a major climate solution

Landfilling organic matter like food and yard waste is heating the planet. When

buried in a landfill, organics decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and in the

process become the number one source of human-caused methane—a greenhouse

gas that traps 84 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the short term.

That is a major problem . . . but we can transform it into a major climate solution. If

we turn these organic discards into compost instead of landfilling them, we can

prevent methane emissions at landfills. If we then apply compost to landscapes, we can

build healthy soils. Healthier soils grow healthier plants which absorb more carbon

dioxide from the atmosphere and store it safely in the soil where it belongs.

Applied broadly and across the globe, carbon farming creates four global

SOLUTIONS:

• Restoring lost topsoil,
• Increasing soil resilience to drought,
• Restoring food nutrition, and
• Reversing climate change.

Learn more at ecocycle.org/learn-about-zero-waste.

Questions- rmscreationcareteam@gmail.com.

ZOOM LEARNING

2ND ANNUAL VALBORG TOLLEFSRUD EDUCATIONAL EVENT

What Every Nurse Needs to Know About Spiritual Care

Presented by Sondra Weinzierl, MA, BAN, PHN, Faith Community Nurse

Thursday, May 11, 5:00-7:00pm

The intentional care of the spirit is foundational to faith community nursing. Yet, many FCNs feel unprepared to identify spiritual needs and provide care in complex situations with diverse clients in a rapidly changing world. This workshop provides information on assessing spiritual needs, spiritual care barriers and interventions.

Download flyer with more details here!

TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT GO TO lutheranfcna.org/event-5243488.

"The Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is led by Bishop Lee M. Miller, II and is a Companion Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, a partner synod with the Central/Southern Illinois Synod, and a Reconciling in Christ Synod. It is composed of 170 congregations in Upstate New York.

The Upstate New York Synod is an engaged, active body of people who put faith in God into action in many ways, all over Upstate New York and through partners in ministry around the world. Regardless of age, race, or status in life, members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America welcome you to join this community of faith. If you’re unfamiliar with our church, some of what you learn may surprise you."

Visit upstatenysynod.org and on Facebook.

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