Truth and healing: Initiative to research connections to boarding schools

As part of the church’s efforts toward reconciliation with Native Americans, an ELCA truth-seeking and truth-telling initiative has been organized around Lutheran involvement in Indian boarding schools in the United States.

In May the U.S. Department of the Interior published the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, detailing more than 400 federal Indian boarding schools that operated between 1819 and 1969.

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Cal Lutheran’s Fifty and Better (FAB) Fall 2022 Lectures

Registration for the Fifty and Better program’s FABulous Fall Lecture Series is open! Join them in late 2022 for independent and two-part lectures on various topics, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, comparisons of the conflicts in Cuba and Ukraine, Jewish film, neurodegeneration, cyber-terrorism, and more! Visit callutheran.edu/fab for more info and registration.

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Native American Urban Ministry leader meets community where they are

They call her “Big Mama.” It’s probably not the most common of titles used by church members for their pastors, but it works here.

Mary Louise Frenchman might be “Pastor Frenchman” in professional circles. In more formal settings, some might introduce her as “the Rev. Mary Louise.” But to those who gather for worship and greet her almost daily on the streets of Phoenix, it’s “Big Mama.” Read more in this profile in Living Lutheran.

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Faith Lens: Borderlands

Many physical places serve as a transition between two other spaces. In locations where outdoor temperatures can be frigid, some homes have a vestibule, which is an enclosed entryway that serves as a buffer between the warm interior and the cold exterior. Architects and other designers will often refer to transitional zones as “liminal spaces,” which means being at the threshold of something new but not quite there yet.

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Voting registration deadlines in Arizona are Tuesday, 10/11/2022

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona reminds us that October 11, 2022, is the big cutoff date for registering to vote in Arizona general election. Check your registration status, check your friends and loved ones’ status, check, check, check! Read more in their post: How to register to vote in Arizona.

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Growing Fervent Voices with the Growing Generosity Appeal

In this post and video we explore Growing Fervent Voices: Planting seeds for Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona and Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada.

With gifts from congregations, foundations, endowments, and individuals, we can meet our $750,000 goal. Thank you to all who have helped us with gifts of $641,431 so far towards our Growing Generosity Appeal. We invite you to consider a gift. Please visit our pledge page for more info.

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NC Synod sponsors racial reconciliation partnership

It’s often called the National Lynching Memorial. Located at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala., the National Memorial for Peace and Justice consists of 805 hanging steel rectangles that represent each U.S. county where a lynching has taken place.

One day in May, after two years of study and deep discussion about the role of reconciliation in the church, Lutherans from Duke University in Durham, N.C., stood at the memorial and reflected on its enormity with members of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Durham.

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Join a 2022 Thriving Leadership Formation Cohort Group

Cohorts come together with the intent of creating nurturing and empowering times, spaces, and relationships. Cohorts meet virtually for 12 sessions using a curriculum of spiritual practices. Membership is open to rostered and non-rostered leaders in ELCA Regions 1 and 2. Explore the cohorts for this year and find one that works for you!

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ELCA monthly Insights newsletter: October 2022

Click here to view the October 2022 ELCA monthly Insights newsletter, featuring: what’s missing from your estate plan; Oct. 17-23 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week; avoiding the most common estate-planning mistake; the upcoming webinar Planning Your Legacy; and info on the ELCA Ministry Growth Fund.

For more info, contact our synod’s ELCA Foundation planners, Lisa Marie Higginbotham and Josh Kerney.

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Support hurricane survivors through Lutheran Disaster Response

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida Wednesday with near Category 5-strength winds, dumping record amounts of rain and causing catastrophic flooding. Ian, as predicted, is one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States in decades.

Gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response make it possible for the ELCA to act quickly after disasters, whenever and wherever they strike.

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