On May 4th, 2022, congregations of the Colorado River Conference joined together for dinner and worship to “Celebrate Leaders’ who helped us navigate the last two difficult years in ministry. Rev. Marta Poling Schmitt was the guest preacher and music was provided by hosts Christ the Servant and New Song, with additional participation from Community Lutheran in Bullhead City, AZ, and Las Vegas churches Living Hope, Saint Andrew, Community, and Holy Spirit. View photos in this post.
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Churches of the Northeast Valley Consortium loaded to a huge van full of food and baby necessities and delivered them to Casa de La Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico, which provides sanctuary for asylum seekers awaiting processing at the border. In this post we share photos of the trip.
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Congratulations to the Northeast Valley Consortium (Christ the Lord, New Journey, New Covenant, Living Water and Ascension) for being honored with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest’s 2022 Partnership Excellence award during National Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 17 – 23, 2022). The award recognized their support for Afghan families coming to Arizona.
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San Juan Bautista Lutheran in Tucson shares news of their new sanctuary mural, created over a weekend in a collaborative project with Our Saviour’s Lutheran in Tucson and Casa De La Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones. Read in this PDF or view more in this post.
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In their most recent newsletter, Navajo Lutheran Mission 2022 Mission Board Chair Patty Charley shares remembrances of the Mission’s founding in 1953.
“God’s love has blessed the Diné with so much. My name is Patty. My community is Rock Point, Arizona, near the Four Corners in the Navajo Nation. This is who I am as a Navajo woman to the world.”
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2021 was a very meaningful year for Rock Point area households. In total, the Navajo Lutheran Mission received and distributed over a quarter-million pounds of food to almost 2,000 Navajo homes.
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First and second grade students at Navajo Lutheran Mission Preparatory School are enjoying their hybrid classrooms where they receive a balance of direct and asynchronous instruction. Chromebook laptop computers for each child have made it possible to have our students in school full-time, learning and exploring the world.
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In their most recent newsletter, Navajo Lutheran Mission Executive Director and Pastor Kate Adelman shares how sustainable solutions are created when love reframes the conversation.
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The winter 2021 edition of Promise, Mosaic’s national magazine, is now on our website for easy reading. Read the latest issue by clicking here.
This is our Called to be Bold issue, and it features three stories about four people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living bold and meaningful lives in the way that they choose on their terms.
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133 golfers descended on Arrowhead Country Club this past November 15, both to enjoy a round of golf and to celebrate the Fund for Leaders.
$40,000 was raised for the 25+ candidates for ministry within the Grand Canyon Synod, after an inspired supporter of this Fund for Leaders program matched $20,000.
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After a two-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program is getting ready to send volunteers out into the world again!
Young adults aged 21 to 29 can apply now for an international service year that will shape their faith, career, identity and understanding of how they fit into God’s work in the world. Watch the video in this post and then more and apply at ELCA.org/YAGM.
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I am thrilled to share with you that at the close of our early-bird registration we crossed over the 10,000-person mark for the 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering. It’s exciting and hopeful to know that even during an unusual and tough couple of years, thousands of you are preparing for the Gathering next summer.
Questions? Our Grand Canyon Synod Gathering Coordinator is Pastor Shari Bernau, with Living Water Lutheran in Scottsdale: pastorshari@lwlcaz.org.
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In Worcester, Mass., the secondhand goods sold at Emanuel’s Closet represent the first step of a reinvigorated congregation looking for new ways to serve.
“Jesus told us we have a responsibility to our neighbors—feed the hungry, clothe the naked and be a place of shelter,” said Tom Houston, the licensed lay minister of Emanuel Lutheran Church, which houses the thrift store. “We want to be more of a factor in our community, and Emanuel’s Closet is a starting point.”
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With all eyes on turkeys this week, let’s not forget about chicken women. Check out this new video from ELCA World Hunger about Manna From Heaven, a ministry meeting the needs of its neighbors in Kentucky with support from ELCA World Hunger.
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This Thanksgiving, we share a photo taken 27 years ago of barren pantry shelves replenished by Living Hope Lutheran in Las Vegas (then Reformation Lutheran). Read more of the history of Lutheran Social Services of Nevada in this post, as they prepare for their silver anniversary on Silver Anniversary on December 20, 2021.
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Malawi
The Rev. Bertha Godfrey Munkhondya recently became the first woman ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi (ELCM). She studied theology at the Tumaini University Makumira in Arusha, Tanzania, with the help of an ELCA International Leaders Program scholarship. Read more about the Rev. Munkhondya here.
Poland
On Oct. 16, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (ECACP) voted to allow women to be ordained as pastors. Presiding Bishop Jerzy Samiec of the ECACP said: “I believe it’s a good decision and we will see good fruits come of it. It has been a long process for the church, and now we will find a way of walking together into the future.” Read more about the landmark decision here.
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When Kevin T. Jones of Mason City, Iowa, was elected bishop of the Northeastern Iowa Synod on June 12, the thought that everything had just changed hit him with a thud as the results of the fifth ballot were announced.
“It was a relief to know that my sound was muted and my camera off at that moment,” said Jones. “It was stunning and humbling and overwhelming, and my brain didn’t turn off for more than two months. It still is all that, but my brain takes the occasional break now and again.”
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This holiday season, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) is collecting 1,300 new queen size bedsheets for older adults and people with disabilities. Learn more about this program here.
Donations delivered before December 13, 2021, will be distributed as gifts to clients in time for Christmas. Your gift of bedsheets delivers comfort and love to neighbors who truly deserve it. Thank you.
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This month, we commemorate two particularly inspirational Catholic saints, Martin de Porres on November 3, and Elizabeth of Hungary on November 17, who each exemplified “faith active in love” in important ways. What might we learn from these important leaders?
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