View reports for our 2024 assembly on our assembly mission and ministry stories page or in this collection of blog posts.

• Bishop’s Associate for Candidacy and Faith Formation Report

• Grand Canyon Synod Assembly: June 14-15, 2024

Connect People

Candidacy

Candidacy continues to thrive in the Grand Canyon Synod. There are 27 people entered into candidacy to become a pastor or deacon for the ELCA. It is exciting that after fourteen years we will hopefully be ordaining deacons to our synod by the end of 2024. We are well blessed to have people who want to serve the Roster of Word and Service in our synod and help our congregations live into their faith outside of the church building.

The Candidacy committee is sorry to see Mary Beth Baron step down as Committee Chairperson and is a blessing that Nick Pegelow is willing to step up. Our synod is in the top ten of synods across the 65 synods with the most candidates in process. We are excited to continue and walk with people as they take on their pastoral identity and lead in our church.

Lutheran Campus Ministry

Arizona State University Campus ministry in Tempe was sorry to see Pastor Gary McCluskey retire. He is a long-time leader and pastor to University Lutheran Church and we are very thankful for his over twenty years of faithfulness to that community. Lutheran Campus Ministry at ASU continues to be a safe place of questioning for students across Arizona. At the Tempe campus, students can get home-cooked meals on Wednesday and Sunday along with some bible study and worship. There is always someone around to be sure connections are made: lcmassociate@gmail.com. The ASU West Campus is working on a combination student young adult group championed by Mr. Casey Goslin: phxyoungadults@gmail.com. The Poly Tech Campus in the East Valley continues to meet students where they are at in the Agape House, shepherded by Pastor Charles Newman: pastorcharles@kogaz.org.

Pastor Mike Girlinghouse has worked out well as the Interim Campus Pastor at Northern Arizona University LCM/Canterbury: lcmcanterbury.org. The students feel wonderfully loved and the ministry house is garnering a reputation for a place of acceptance.  

The University of Arizona in Tucson continues to thrive in their new space at Our Saviour’s in mid-town Tucson and with the leadership of Pastor Rebecca Boardman: pastor.lcmuofa@gmail.com. They are providers to  VALID USA, meeting young people where they are at and showing that God’s love is for everyone, and ALL are welcome.

First Call Theological Education (FCTE)

The Grand Canyon synod continues to be open up possibilities for pastors and deacons newly ordained. We have 11 people currently part of the FCTE Cohort and look forward to two deacons and two more pastors joining by the end of 2024. In October, we bumped up against the Bishop’s Fall Gathering and talked about money, clergy taxes and financial trends. This past spring we went up to Camp Pinerock and were joined by metro-Chicago synod’s Pastor Sunitha Mothra, Associate to the Bishop and Director of Diversity, Inclusions, and Belonging (DIB) . With her we explored Refocusing Your Congregation's Vision and Mission on the "Why". Future topics include personal and professional clergy boundaries and how our personalities inform the way we work and play.

Create Possibilities

Youth Gathering

160 youth, young adults and youth leaders from across our synod will have the opportunity to worship with 26,000 other youth from across the country and world at “Created to Be” Gathering 24. Many youth groups, leaders and volunteers are preparing to depart for New Orleans on July 12 – 21 for MYLE, TABLE and the Gathering.  We would love for you to help us fill an extra suitcase with nonperishable snacks. Contribute to the Grand Canyon Synod Youth Gathering Snack Drive. If your congregation is not sending any youth this year, please consider helping our synod represent well with the asked for in kind donation of 200 personal fans that we have been asked to donate. Please check out the offering on the Youth Gathering page of our Churchwide website at Offering (elca.church) The Gathering hopes to thank the city of New Orleans for hosting us by providing  3000 disaster relief kits.

Theological Education for Indigenous Leaders

TEIL has taken over where Wisdom Keepers could not go. The efforts of the Grand Canyon Synod to encourage leadership in our Native American Communities was recognized by Churchwide and is flourishing as a way to build up leaders. The people that we are working with from Native American Urban Ministries (NAUM) and Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Ministries (NELM) are being better set up to thrive in settings that are more personal and familiar, equipped to lead and train in ways we can all appreciate.

Lay Leadership

In the Office of the Bishop we look forward to unveiling a new Lay Leadership learning opportunity to start in the fall of 2024. We want to open up opportunities for people within their communities to continue and provide Word and Sacrament while that community waits for a rostered leader.

Diakonia

Diakonia continues to develop leaders who want to learn more and be more about being church together. For more information, please visit Diakonia. Cohorts are starting across the Grand Canyon Synod and many of the courses are hybrid zoom and in person.

Churchwide Candidacy Committee Work Group

We continue to look at and consider ways we can streamline and strengthen our candidacy process. We have worked with the Office of the Secretary and are ready to take proposals to the 2025 Churchwide assembly happening in Phoenix next year. We will make recommendations to update the language of some of the bylaws impacting how we implement the candidacy process and make efforts to rewrite the current candidacy manual that will add more consistency across Churchwide. The most recent update can be found at Candidacy Leadership Development.

Simon’s Project

Simon’s Project is moving to a more action-oriented team and the first priority is the success of the Grand Canyon Synod’s Celebration of Diversity for Martin Luther King, Jr’s. Birthday. There is an 11-person team working to present a stellar celebration on Sunday, January 19, 2025. We hope to add a communications team that will work to get the word out about diversity in our synod and an action team that works with congregations to do justice in the name of celebrating instead of demoralizing the differences among us.

Global Engagement

We continue to work and strengthen our relationship in Senegal and Mexico. The recently planned trip to Senegal was canceled, but plans are being made to reschedule that visit with Bishop Deborah and several leaders from across the synod for November, 2024.  It will be great to make face-to-face contact with the new President of the Lutheran Church of Senegal, Rev. Latyr Diouf.

We are in conversations with the Lutheran Church of Mexico, ILM, to have their Pastoras join female clergy in the Grand Canyon Synod for a week of bible study, formation, and fun in the Fall of 2024.

Funds for Leaders

One of the most exciting ways we get to form the faith of future leaders is to support them with scholarship and alleviate some of the debt seminary education can incur. So far this year, we have awarded $83,500 to candidates in good standing at seminary or on internship. This is through the generosity of numerous people, congregations, and friends of the Grand Canyon Synod. These funds help highly equipped leaders take calls that make the best fit without the burden of student loan debt. It keeps our candidates healthy physically, mentally, and financially so they ae ready to serve the people when they are called.

Communicate Jesus

There are many ways I get to represent the Office of the Bishop and encourage leadership development and faith formation, hopefully communicating Jesus along the way. Some of them are:

• Youth Leadership Summit

• Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest Board Member

• Global Missions Board

• Growing Young congregation support group

• Preaching and teaching across the synod

• Various synodical and region worship expressions

• Region 1 & 2 Authentic Diversity work group

• Lily Foundation Preaching Cohort

• Southern Arizona Lutheran Camping Association

• Campformation

• Interfaith discussions with Arizona Faith Network

This report is respectfully submitted for the 2024 Grand Canyon Synod Annual Assembly.

Pr. Jacqui

The Rev. Jacqueline Pagel,
Associate to the Bishop Candidacy and Faith Formation