Once again, Portico Benefit Services is offering us the opportunity to earn a 2% discount on ELCA health contributions again in 2014. Each congregation and organization in our synod will receive a 2% discount on health insurance premiums for all of 2014 if 65% of our eligible ELCA-Primary plan members and eligible spouses complete the confidential Mayo Clinic Health Assessment Jan. 1-April 30.  

 

If you have ELCA-Primary health benefits, we need your help. Take the 2014 Mayo Clinic Health Assessment on the EmbodyHealth web portal at www.elcaforwellness.org Jan. 1-April 30. We'll be one person closer to 65% participation, and you'll earn a $150 credit to offset out-of-pocket medical costs.

Find instructions for taking the health assessment at myPortico.PorticoBenefits.org 

Because ELCA missionaries have helped establish churches throughout the world, we are now part of a much larger story - a global community of more than 70 million Lutherans in 79 countries. Now we are building up God's global church - together. To find out how you can be engaged in this global church, see www.ELCA.org/globalchurch.

  

There's still time to make an online gift
for God's global work in 2013

Over 240 ELCA missionaries are working alongside our global companions in more than 40 countries, including young adults engaged in a life-changing year of global service. Your gift will connect you directly to these missionaries and enable you to participate in God's work around the world. You make their life-changing ministry happen! Learn more at http://www.ELCA.org/news-and-events/blogs/handinhand/394 and give now at www.ELCA.org/globalchurch/donate. 

The 2014 New England Synod Assembly will be held Thursday, June 5, through Saturday, June 7, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. Our theme for 2014 is "Mission and Worship in the Age of the Spirit."

 

Our keynote speakers are Rev. Dr. Scott Thumma and Rev. Dr. Claudio Carvalhaes. 

 

Scott Thumma is a professor of sociology of religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, and specializes in research on megachurches, homosexuality and religion, religion and the Internet, and congregational studies. He's also the author of "The Other 80%: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants." For more information on Scott, check out his page at the Hartford Institute.

 

Claudio Carvalhaes is an associate professor of worship and liturgy at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. A theologian and artist, Claudio was born in São Paulo, Brazil, studied ecumenism in Switzerland and received his masters in theology and literature from Methodist University's Ecumenical Institute of the Graduate School of Religion in São Paulo. Carvalhaes has served with the Presbyterian Church (USA) in its peacemaking and immigrant groups ministries, and is a much sought-after speaker, writer, performer and consultant. Visit Claudio's website for more information, including links to his speeches and lectures.

 

The Assembly now has an online home at our website. You can access the 2014 Synod Assembly page by clicking here. Watch for registration information to appear there (and in other Synod communications) sometime in March.

 

Among the many events and actions planned for the assembly is the election of a series of positions on Synod Council and the Discipline and Consultation Committees. Click on the link above to see a list of all the positions up for election at this year's assembly. 

At its weekly Saturday evening service on Dec. 14, 2013, the first anniversary of the Newtown, Conn. school shooting, congregants of  First Lutheran Church in East Greenwich, R.I., dedicated 26 quilts - each one made and labeled to honor the life of a Newtown victim. Pastor Linda Forsberg blessed each quilt, and the bell in the church steeple rang as the name of each child and adult was read. 

 

Hanging along both sides of the church, the quilts were the result of a year-long project to memorialize the lives of each victim. The project was the idea of First Lutheran Church Council member Diane Sauer Amaral, a longtime quilter who organized "Quilts from the Heart," a group of 12 church members aged 8 to 74, all but two of whom had never quilted. 

 

Click here to read more...

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m.

 

After a successful communications seminar last year, the Synod once again invites you to join us for a day spent discussing strategies and tips to help congregations better communicate - with their members and with the outside world. Speakers at CommFest 2014 include Pastor Keith Anderson (left, Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, Ambler, Pa.) and Elizabeth Drescher, co-authors of Click 2 Save: The Digital Ministry Bible. 

Click here to register for CommFest! Seating at Trinity is limited, so those wishing to come to Worcester for the event should register soon. 

Holy Trinity, Newington, N.H. - If you'd like to attend in Newington, please email Tim Roser at troser@nesynod.org to inquire about space.

Holy Trinity, Trumbull, Conn. - If you'd like to attend in Trumbull, click here to register.

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 7 p.m.

Christ Church Cathedral

35 Chestnut Street

Springfield, Mass.

 

Friday, Jan. 24, 7 p.m.

Assumption College Chapel of the Holy Spirit

500 Salisbury St.

Worcester, Mass.

 

 

Friday-Sunday, Feb. 7-9

Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

 

On Friday, Jan. 10, Denise Keltz will be ordained at Grace Lutheran in Shillington, Pa. Denise has been called as pastor of St. Mark in Woonsocket, R.I. 

Update on job listings policy