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SEPANews Update / June 25, 2013
 
 
Keep SEPA Servants in Prayer

 

  

 

More than 100 youth and adults are leaving Thursday for 11 days of service and cultural learning on the South Dakota Servant Trip. Participants will be blogging throughout the trip about their joys, struggles, learnings and "God moments". Check out the "SEPA Servant Trip" blog at http://sepaservanttrips.weebly.com/.

 

Please keep these servants in prayer in the coming weeks - along with all the congregational groups headed off for service this summer.

 

Holy God, we ask for your special blessing on the servants from our synod as they journey to South Dakota this week. Use their hands to do your work. Open their eyes, ears, minds and hearts to what our American Indian brothers and sisters have to teach them. Watch over them in their travels and bring them safely back home so that others in this faith community might share in their joy and learning. Amen.

 

Synod Office Summer Schedule

The Synod Office will be closed for the Independence Day holiday July 4 and 5.

 

From July 8 through August 30, the office will be open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 am to 5:15 pm, and will be closed on Fridays.

Bishop's Tanzanian Visit

Bishop Burkat and Joanne Carlson have just completed a visit to Tanzania, including five days on the territory of our companion North-Eastern Diocese and then a gathering to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

Greetings at Irente School for the Blind.

During their visit, the bishop and Mrs. Carlson were warmly received by Bishop Stephen Munga and the NED head office staff. They visited our missionarires, Tom and Susan MacPherson, at Irente Children's Home, and met with young people at the Irente School for the Blind. They also visited the Irente Biodiversity Reserve, which integrates conservation, farming and rural development, and toured the brand new academic building at Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University (SEKOMU) with vice chancellor Dr. Anneth Munga.

 

Read more about this Tanzanian visit.

 
Register Now for "God's Work. Our Hands. Sunday"

 

On Sept. 8, 2013, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - 4 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations - will have an opportunity to celebrate together the 25th anniversary of the ELCA by taking part in "God's work. Our hands." Sunday, a day dedicated to serving the communities in which we live. You work every day to love your neighbors and make your community a better place. Now let's do it together.

 

"The more members and congregations that participate, the greater the witness to our commitment to share God's love among our neighbors," Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson wrote in an email to ELCA congregations and leaders this week. "We are a church that rolls up our sleeves and gets to work, whether it is cleaning up neighborhoods, delivering meals, collecting supplies for refugees overseas, visiting our neighbors or helping a child learn to read. The possibilities are boundless."

 

The email includes instructions to register for this Sunday at

http://archive.elca.org/cgi-bin/rws/rws5.pl?FORM=GWOH in order to get updates about this remarkable day of service. Find information about the day at http://www.ELCA.org/25years. Be sure to download the toolkit to help your congregation prepare.

 

Learn more on our website.

 

Practice Discipleship Traning
  

This fall our synod is kicking off a training series called "Practice Discipleship".  Practice Discipleship is a nationwide initiative with this year's focus being on Faith Formation in a Missional Age.

 

The training sessions are an opportunity for ALL congregational leaders to learn and share ideas about how to be engaged in intentional ministry that matters in the 21st Century. Download the flyer for more information.  The registration link will be in the SEPA Youth Ministry Website  in August!

Clergy: Save the Date for Bishop's Convocation

 

Provocative Insights:

The Art and Awe of Sharing the Gospel

 

November 13-15, 2013

Historic Hotel Bethlehem

 

Re-ignite your passion for the Gospel and explore ways to light a fire in your congregation at the 2013 Bishop's Convocation. The Rev. Dr. Alyce McKenzie will help preachers cultivate the imagination to notice God at work in the world and proclaim that good news to skeptics by "making a scene" in the pulpit. The Rev. Jay Gamelin will build on his popular Assembly keynotes by showing how the vocabulary of the emerging church can be put into practice in preaching, worship and evangelism.

 

More information coming soon!
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Annual Fund 12
Apply Now for Hunger Grants
The 2014 domestic hunger grants application and criteria may now be obtained online at the ELCA website. Applications close July 17, 2013. For more information, please feel free to contact Mr. Joe Young at [email protected], or Ms. Johnnie Thompson at 1.800.638.3522 ext. 2693 with any questions concerning the Domestic Hunger Grant Process.
Ordination 
Mr. Bryan Penman
Pastor, St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conshohocken
Friday, July 19, 2013
7p.m.

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for taking the time to read this edition of MinistryLink. We hope you find this electronic newsletter a valuable resource in our shared ministry. If you know of anyone who could benefit from the information in this newsletter, please forward it to them using the link below and encourage them to sign up to receive MinistryLink directly.
 
Bob Fisher
Assistant to the Bishop,
Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod ELCA
[email protected]
267.323.3743 
 
Cynta Outterbridge
Communications Assistant
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267.323.3742
 
 
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