Ministry Partners Reports 

Arizona Faith Network

Annual Report 2018: A Year of Transformation

(View PDF) 2018 was a year of transformation and growth for the Arizona Faith Network (AFN). Dr. Jannah Scott served throughout 2018 as the Interim Director for AFN. Dr. Scott worked diligently to help clarify AFN operations, grow our community connections and strengthen current AFN partnerships. We are happy to report that the Arizona Faith Network is now growing, more diverse and stronger than ever!

Thank you for your support! You make Arizona stronger.

OUR MISSION

Inviting people into meaningful relationships, shared prayer and dialogue rooted in our faith traditions, and actions that influence public awareness, engagement and policy.

OUR VISION

People of faith uniting to create positive change for the common good.

OUR FOCUS

Throughout 2018 AFN's mission focused on faith, equity, and inclusion. AFN offered a number of events in 2018 designed to promote understanding, awareness, and action with different faith traditions throughout the state. A few of the highlighted events attended by hundreds of interfaith leaders are listed below as examples.
-Faith & Justice! Equity & Inclusion?
-Confronting Religious Intolerance
-Indigenous Peoples' Day: Decoding the Doctrine of Discovery
-Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
-Judaism 101

OUR PARTNERS

AFN continues to expand our diversity through the inclusion of numerous partners. AFN currently has over 14 world religion partners including numerous representatives from the diverse communities of: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bahá'ís, The Religious Society of Friends, the Christian Church of Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ,

Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, African Methodist Episcopal, and The Church of the Brethren. AFN has continued to focus efforts to grow in diversity not only of faith but race, age, location, identity and experience. We are proud to announce our 2019 AFN Board of Directors is the most diverse group of leaders in AFN history.

OUR FINANCES

Our total expenses in 2018: $138,237.96. $9,583.16 were fundraising expenses, $112,366.43 were programmatic expenses, and $16,288.37 were administrative expenses.

Help build Arizona. Join the Arizona Faith Network today!

Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona 

(View PDF) It has been a year of transition for LCM at the U of A. In the Fall of the year our campus pastor Ron Rude announced that he would be retiring at the end of 2018. Ron had served faithfully as campus pastor here for seventeen years in a ministry that has been greatly appreciated. 

With the new year and the spring semester upon us the LCM Board and Bishop Hutterer agreed that I would fill in in a very part time way to support the students and to help keep the established programs of the ministry running. 

The student Leadership Team saw to much of the week by week programing, which included prep for Sunday morning worship and the midweek gatherings as well as the retreat in Sedona, the annual Spring camp out, a Saturday with Habitat for Humanity and other activities. Meanwhile the Board concentrated on getting paper work in order so that we might begin to interview and meet with candidates. Both the students and the Board are to be commended for their dedication to the tasks at hand. 

We would also like to take this opportunity to convey our sincere appreciation for the congregations and individuals who faithfully continue the LCM at the U of A with their interest, their offerings and their prayers. The Grand Canyon Synod in general is to be thanked for their understanding that this is our ministry together. We would also certainly be remiss if we did not say a special thank you to those Tucson congregations who continue to bring us dinner for our Wednesday evening gatherings. 

We did enter into the call process and interviewed two very worthy and qualified candidates, Students were included in both the interviewing and the decision making. 

We as a board, with student participation, recommended to the Synod Council that they call Rev. Rebecca Boardman to serve as LCM campus pastor here at the U of A. The Letter of Call was sent, and Rev. Boardman responded positively. Rev. Boardman is currently the LCM in St. Louis and plans on relocating to Tucson around the first of June and we look forward to introducing her at the synod assembly. 

Finally, a personal word of thanks to the LCM Board at the U of A, to our wonderful students, to Bishop Hutterer, congregations, individuals and the entire synod for all your support in this transition. We covet your prayers for LCM and Pastor Rebecca as we begin this new era of ministry at the University of Arizona. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Pr Vernon A. Victorson 
President of the LCM Board 
At the University of Arizona

Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Arizona University

(View PDF) This past academic year, a surprising feeling has settled within the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Arizona University, one that hadn’t been felt for several years now: Stability. 

It may not be intuitive that our students would find this appealing, but it is the word that they keep using. They have said that this is a place of stability. In a world of hate and fear, in academic lives accented more by change and transition than much else, what they find in us is a place of refuge. A place that they know they can come day after day, week after week, to breathe. 

This is a new feeling. For the first time in three years, we have started this year with the same leadership. When students left in May, they said “see you next year,” and this year, they did! This is incredibly important to the growth and prosperity of any campus ministry. In a young adult’s world where everything is in flux, the church is a place where they can turn to find a place that doesn’t change. This is one of the reasons we exist. 

This is also our second year of being in a shared ministry relationship with Canterbury Episcopal Campus Ministry in Flagstaff. Scripture tells us that when we work together as the Body of Christ, transformation happens. We find this daily in our relationship with the Episcopalians as we join forces for bringing the redemptive, never-ending love of Christ to the NAU Campus Community. We have learned as a community about what makes us unique, and what makes us great partners in Christ. From liturgical ways to cultural differences, we are learning as much about ourselves as we are learning about each other. Ecumenical models such as what we are exploring continually graduate stronger Lutherans and Episcopalians than individual denominational communities. This relationship has also significantly added to our stability, as we are able to lean on each other and draw from each other’s strengths. 

Throughout this year we have worked to preserve those things which make both Lutherans and Episcopalians unique, while lifting up new and emerging ideas and practices new to everyone. 

We have continued to participate in the Synod Campus Ministry retreats: joining together in La Jolla in August and in Sedona in February. At the same time, our Lutheran students have had the chance to continue to experience various Episcopalian-led retreats: at their Diocesan retreat in November and the Provincial Gathering of Episcopal College Students in April. 

In our day-to-day life, we have continued to meet for a Holy Communion service on Sunday nights, and a Bible Study time on Wednesday evenings. Both of these have continued to bring growth and maturation to the students participating. We have learned in depth about the Old Testament through a study led by Pastor Kurt Fangmeier of Living Christ Lutheran Church, Flagstaff, and have seen college students come out of their shells and lead their fellow young adults in studies on the New Testament, centered around the theme of Biblical Storytelling. 

New events and ways of being Church have emerged as well throughout this year. In 2018, we saw that some events such as Dinner Musical were at the end of their seasons, and we began to re-formulate how we would interact with area congregations and supporters. What has come from this is that we have begun to join with other congregations where they are, on Sunday mornings. We have been in three congregations this year (Christ Lutheran, Sedona; Holy Spirit, Las Vegas; Shepherd of the Hills, Flagstaff), and plan to begin to do these congregational visits throughout the year rather than at the end of each academic year. 

Throughout all of this, we have continued to serve the community of Northern Arizona University in the best ways we know how, and it is through your continual support that we are able to do this. Thank you for allowing us to be your campus ministry for Northern Arizona University. 

Respectively Submitted, 

The Leadership of Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Arizona University