In the Congregation Transition Team’s report, Dr. Jerry Kingston, Rev. Doris Nolan, Rev. Patricia Reed detail how the synod entered into a collaborative partnership with the Rocky Mountain Synod in our ministry to congregations in transition.
Read MoreCelebrating their fifth anniversary as a financial ministry of the ELCA, the ELCA Federal Credit Union is open to every ELCA member, synod, congregation and ministry—and their employees.
In this update we hear how in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as congregations and ministries closed their doors, the Credit Union responded swiftly to growing needs for financial assistance.
Read MoreEmmanuel Sudanese Lutheran Church, Glendale shares the gifts of song and praise in their 2021 update.
Read MoreAmidst the changing landscape of the pandemic, California Lutheran University shares how over 4,000 students learn virtually or in hybrid classrooms in several different centers in California.
A member of the Network of Colleges and Universities of the ELCA, Cal Lutheran equips graduates who are called and empowered to serve the neighbor so that all may flourish.
Read MoreIn his 2021 update, Rev. Miguel F. Gomez-Acosta, Director for Evangelical Mission and Bishop’s Associate for Congregational Vitality, reflects on the abundant generosity and innovation in a year like no other.
Read MoreBrian Flatgard, Director of Communication, reports on a very busy year of communications for our synod.
Read MoreView this fresh 2021 introduction to Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center in Carefree, Arizona. Through interviews with staff, guests and friends, viewers learn what is unique about the retreat center, and why Spirit in the Desert is a holy place where people experience the love of God, joyful hospitality and renewal of their callings in the world.
Read MoreMyrna Wells-Ulland, President of the Grand Canyon Women of the ELCA, shares their 2021 update in a letter and video message.
Read MoreIn her 2021 update, Rev. Jacqueline Pagel, Bishop’s Associate for Candidacy and Faith Formation, gives a brief overview of the different ways ministry intersected as we grow the our synod into a great place to express the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Read MorePaul Gryniewicz, Synod Council Vice President, asks what it means to be church in a year of accelerated change in his 2021 update.
Read MoreHear the voices of Pastor Gary McCluskey and the students and leaders of ULC in this video update.
Read MoreArizona Faith Network shares their 2021 update in this video.
Read MoreOne-fifth of the world’s Lutherans were left homeless by 1945, at the end of the Second World War. That same year, Lutheran churches in the U.S. mobilized to help in Europe through a new agency called Lutheran World Relief. Within a decade, the mission expanded, sending love where needs were greatest, often to places off the radar of the rest of the world. And you have continued to draw on God’s strength, responding to God’s call to be the Body of Christ in the world, reaching further, staying longer, standing faithfully alongside our neighbors in need. This year, we celebrate 75 years of faithful impact — and the work that lies ahead.
Read MoreAs we look back, I am grateful for the ways you have embraced the world as it is, not as you want it to be. You ensured that the witness of the church continued even when it was not safe to gather in-person.
Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you went well beyond what you might have imagined possible. Through uncertainty, you spoke words of hope and offered reminders that nothing will separate us from the love of God.
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