Bishop’s Fall Gathering

  • Monday, September 29 through Wednesday, October 1, 2025

  • Franciscan Renewal Center, 5802 E. Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85253

Please join Bishop Deborah Hutterer at the Franciscan Renewal Center as we gather under our theme of Life Together: Lament, Love and Christian Hope in a Time Such as This.

Rostered ministers and synodically authorized ministers (SAMs) are invited. Note that active rostered ministers have priority if we exceed space available.

If finances cause a challenge in attending, please contact the Office of the Bishop to inquire about scholarship opportunities.

All are welcome to attend as commuters as well, though we encourage you to stay at the Franciscan Renewal Center for the full experience of connecting with other rostered ministers.

In addition to worship and synod updates, good food and fellowship, we will have two special guests from Wartburg Theological Seminary: Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen, President of Wartburg Seminary, and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible.

Please contact the Office of the Bishop with questions about this event, and not the Franciscan Renewal Center.

Registration

  • All registrations include meals.

    • Dinner on Monday, September 29

    • Breakfast, lunch, dinner on Tuesday, September 30

    • Breakfast and lunch on Wednesday, October 1

  • Registration deadline: Friday, 9/5/2025

For any guests who have severe allergies, those guests are welcome to bring in outside food to the dining room to supplement what is being served. The Franciscan Renewal Center cannot 100% guarantee that there won’t be any cross-contamination of food items (for example, no gluten or contact with gluten, etc.) in the kitchen and food preparation.

Click a link below to register:

First Call Rostered Ministers and SAMs, use these links to register for your extended event:

Extra First Call meals include 9/28 dinner, 9/29 breakfast & lunch. We are encouraging room sharing to include as many people as we can for our First Call event.

Meals are included for commuters, and are prepared and charged. Please enjoy the food to avoid food waste.

We encourage you to stay at the Franciscan Renewal Center for the full experience of connecting with other rostered ministers.

Please choose one registration at a time and fill out each attendee’s form as you add that registration to your shopping cart. Then we can capture each attendee’s email and needs.

Your cart is at the top right corner of the page, and you’ll see it fill up as you go. When you’re ready to check out and pay, click the cart.

For questions about registration or to make changes, email office@gcsynod.org or call the synod office at 602-957-3223. 

Speakers

Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen

President, Wartburg Theological Seminary

The Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen was born in Colorado and still considers Colorado the home of her heart. After serving as a parish pastor in Arvada, Colorado, she began teaching at Gettysburg Seminary (now United Lutheran Seminary) in 2006 and taught in the area of systematic theology, focusing particularly on comparative theology with Buddhism and Hinduism. She also works in 21st century theology, specifically with feminist and liberation theologies. She is the editor of Dialog: A Journal of Theology, and her most recent books are Finding God among our Neighbors, vol. 1 & 2 (Fortress Press, 2013 & 2017), and A Christian Exploration of Women’s Bodies and Rebirth in Shin Buddhism (Lexington Books, 2020).

Dr. Largen was a student at Wartburg Seminary, which was a formative experience for her as a Christian, a theologian, and a human being. While at the seminary, she was fortunate enough to spend a month in Guyana, working in New Amsterdam; a year as an exchange student in Neuendettelsau [where she met one of her best friends, who is the mother to her goddaughter]; and a summer teaching with Dr. Duane Priebe at the seminary in Lae, Papua New Guinea. Coming back to Wartburg feels like coming home. Prior to accepting the call as President of Wartburg Seminary, Dr. Largen served half-time as Professor of Systematic Theology at United Lutheran Seminary and half-time as Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life/College Chaplain at Gettysburg College. She is a runner, hiker, avid reader, longtime vegetarian and animal lover, and amateur harp player.

Her husband, John, is recently retired. John is also an ELCA pastor, and served the majority of his career at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC. He first came to the seminary as the admissions director, and then moved into the position of Pastor to the Seminary Community for Spiritual Formation; John has his D.Min. in Spiritual Formation and has led many workshops, retreats and pilgrimages.

She and John, and their Jack Russell Terrier Rufus, live on the Wartburg Campus in Dubuque, where you will often see Dr. Largen and Rufus out exploring the neighborhood.

Dr. Largen also blogs regularly at www.happylutheran.blog. Read full bio here.

Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, Wartburg Theological Seminary

Helen Chukka is an Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible/First Testament. She earned a Bachelor of Divinity and a Master of Theology from Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai, India, a Master of Sacred Theology from Union Theological Seminary, New York, and a PhD from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Her dissertation is titled “Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10: An Anti-Caste Reading to Unravel the Intricacies of Caste.”

Before coming to the United States in 2016, she served the National Council of Churches in India as the Executive Secretary for the Commission on Youth. She is an ordained minister of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Helen enjoys engaging in contextual readings of the Bible, including Dalit feminist, anti-caste, womanist/feminist interpretations, and juxtaposing biblical texts with Indian films and novels. Read full bio here.

Life Together: Lament, Love and Christian Hope in a Time Such as This

with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about the gifts and challenges of Christian community, grounded in the grace of Jesus Christ. Now, more than ever, the world needs the witness of faithful Christian communities, proclaiming the gospel of God’s reconciling mercy and lavish love.

But, in our current social context, dominated by Christian Nationalism, and fractured by deep and painful political divides, how can we draw on our Lutheran biblical and theological tradition to embody a counter-cultural witness?

Participants in the Bishop’s Fall Gathering for Rostered Leaders will engage chapters in Life Together and correlate them with different stories from the Old Testament that both challenge and illuminate our experience of the God who fosters inclusive Christian community that embraces both insiders and outsiders: neighbors, strangers and enemies.

This radical, Christ-centered inclusivity resists the false theologies that are founded on party allegiances, tribalism and demonizing rhetoric.  Conversations will include the role of lament, and how it can also be a catalyst for hope. Alternating between large group presentation and small group work, participants will leave with material to take back and share with their congregations.

Agenda

This agenda is tentative, and may change.

Monday, 9/29/2025

  • 1 pm: Welcome and Session 1 of Life Together: Lament, Love and Christian Hope in a Time Such as This, with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

  • 3 pm: Break

  • 3:30 pm: Grand Canyon Synod updates

  • 5:30 pm: Social time

  • 6 pm: Dinner

  • 7 pm: Fun and hospitality

Tuesday, 9/30/2025

  • 8 am: Breakfast

  • 9-noon: Sessions 2 and 3 with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

  • Noon: Lunch

  • 3 pm: Session 4 with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

  • 5 pm: Social time

  • 6 pm: Dinner

  • 7 pm: Fun and hospitality

Wednesday, 10/1/2025

  • 8 am: Breakfast and checkout

  • 9 am: Session 5 with with Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen and Rev. Dr. S. Helen Chukka

  • 10:30 am: Worship

  • Noon: Lunch and depart