Water in the Wilderness: An Overnight Retreat
for Rostered Leaders - registration extended
March 16-17, 2015
Rostered leaders, join us for a Lenten timeout in companionship with colleagues. We will use Ignatian meditation for scripture reflection; no experience in Ignatian Exercises necessary for participants. Our focus is simply on prayer, rest, refreshment. Time for intentional prayer and quiet are balanced with open time for conversation, walking, or relaxing in the beautiful houses and grounds of the Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center. This retreat is sponsored by the synod's Continuing Theological Education Team.
Date: Monday, March 16, 2 p.m.-Tuesday, March 17, 1 p.m.
Cost: $150 per person for overnight accommodation and meals; $100 for commuters.
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2015 New England Synod Assembly
The 2015 New England Synod Assembly is scheduled for June 5-6, 2015, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., and registration for the assembly itself as well as preferred lodging at the nearby Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel is now open!
HOW TO REGISTER FOR THE ASSEMBLY
All active and retired rostered leaders must register as voting members. Rostered leaders on leave from call may register as non-voters. Please complete all required fields on the registration form (marked with an *). If you do not know the name of your conference, please check with your pastor or congregational secretary.
IF PAYING BY CHECK: After completing your registration form, please print a copy and mail it to New England Synod, P.O. Box 13, Worcester, MA 01614-0013. Please include the number of the check accompanying your registration, or ask your congregational treasurer to include that number on each form if multiple forms are mailed together.
VOTING MEMBERS selected by your congregation or rostered leaders, Click here to register as a voting member
NON-VOTING VISITOR attending by your own volition or assisting with the event, click here to register as a non-voting visitor
*If you are a Keynote Presenter or ELCA Representative, Ecumenical Partner, Assembly Staff (office, musicians, AV), Volunteer for display table or workshop, Anniversary Honoree, Guest of Anniversary Honoree, School of Lay Ministry Graduate, or Guest of Graduate please register on the NON-VOTING VISITOR page under the appropriate heading.
Cancellations requested by May 1, 2015, can receive a full refund.
LODGING REGISTRATION
Lodging reservation must be made separately using the link below. A block of rooms for the New England Synod has been reserved at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel. The deadline for hotel reservations is May 7, 2015. Be sure to pre-arrange your roommate and send in only one reservation form per room. Parking at the Sheraton is an additional $10 per day. Check in time is 3 p.m. Luggage may be safely stored by the hotel, if necessary.
To register at the Sheraton, click here!
Elections at the 2015 Synod Assembly
At our June 2015 Synod Assembly, we will be electing our voting members for the 2016 Churchwide Assembly, which is to be held Aug. 8-13, 2016, in New Orleans, La.
Pre-Assembly nominations are now closed for the positions to be elected at this year's Synod Assembly. Candidates can still be nominated from the floor at the Assembly. Floor nominations will be open from 8:30 a.m. (the start of registration) until 11 a.m. on Friday, June 5. For more information, go to the Synod Assembly page and scroll down to "2015 Synod Assembly Elections."
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Post-Easter Retreat for Retired Rostered Leaders and Spouses
Camp Calumet
Freedom, N.H.
April 7-9
 The New England Synod's annual Post-Easter Retreat for Retired Rostered Leaders and Spouses, which is also open to widows and widowers of rostered leaders, will be held at Calumet April 7-9. This event will begin with lunch on Tuesday, April 7, and end with lunch on Thursday, April 9. It also includes breakfast, lunch and dinners between, and overnight lodging for two nights. Cost is $140 per person. Pastor Ron Jackson and Pastor Dan Carlson and his wife, Faith, will host this casual gathering. Please contact Barbara Lamson at the synod office via email or at (508) 791-1530, to reserve your space.
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2% Discount: What, How, and Why
 What: $35,000 saved by ELCA employers in this synod
How: All congregations and organizations in our synod will earn a 2% discount on this year's ELCA health contributions if 65% of the eligible ELCA-Primary health plan members and spouses in our synod take the Mayo Clinic health assessment January 1-April 30.
Why We Need You: If you're an ELCA-Primary health plan member, we need you to take the health assessment. Same goes for your spouse, if he or she has ELCA-Primary health benefits. You may be the one to push us over the 65% discount threshold and save us all 2% on all of this year's health contributions. The good news is that as of the end of January, we were already a third of the way there with 23 percent of our eligible members taking the assessment.
Taking the assessment also benefits you, as you will earn $150 in wellness dollars to offset out-of-pocket costs!
New this year: To take the Mayo Clinic health assessment, access Mayo Clinic Healthy Living online directly through myPortico - no separate Mayo Clinic ID and password necessary. Go to PorticoBenefits.org/HealthyLiving for details.
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Reimagining Sunday School - a Calumet retreat
 May 15-17, 2015
Camp Calumet, Freedom, N.H.
Are you daring to reconsider or reformat your Sunday School program? Are your once filled classrooms down to a handful of children?
Come to Calumet and wonder ... dream ... imagine ... what Christian Education could look like in your local congregation. This three-day retreat will include opportunities for discussion in rethinking and reimagining Sunday School. You will hear from local folks in the New England Synod who have taken the leap to try new methods and models for Faith Formation, and have discussions based on the study guide written by Pastor Robert C. Blezard, assistant to the bishop of the Lower Susquehanna Synod, as found in the September 2014 issue of The Lutheran.
COST: 2 nights and 5 meals ~ $162 per person; 1 night and 3 meals ~ $86 per person
Contact Alice for more information or to make your reservation by calling (603) 539-3223, EXT. 220, or emailing alice@calumet.org.
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"Welcome One Another" Fellowship Retreat 2015
 May 1-3, 2015
The Walker Center, 144 Hancock St., Auburndale, Mass.
The Synod Team for LGBT Inclusion extends an open invitation to all members and friends of the Synod to the 2015 "Welcome One Another Retreat." The retreat will include worship, fellowship, meals, small group reflection, and large group plenary as participants learn more about the "B" in LGBT: bisexuality. For more information, please contact Pastor Nathan Pipho at 617-328-8348 or by email at PastorPipho@aol.com
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2015 New England Synod Honduras Mission Trip  ***Reduced Registration Fee***
April 20 - 28, 2015 Yuscaran, Honduras
Leader: Pastor Dave Rinas
Estimated Costs: $745* plus airfare (approx. $850) from Boston to Tegucigalpa.
With the trip to Yuscaran just around the corner, a generous grant of $1,000 allows us to reduce the registration fee from $795 to $745 for the first 20 participants. This also allows us to send more money for the construction of the church in Yuscaran for this year's 10th anniversary celebration of our partnership there. Others who might not be able to go on the trip may also send money to complete the edifice, which completion is only about $12,000 away. For more information on the trip, see www.sdumas.net, or contact Pastor Dave Rinas at prdrinas@yahoo.com, or call (978) 256-6300.
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Job listings policy
Job postings will run for two weeks in the synod's weekly NES News and/or Bishop's E-News, and then will be removed to make space for new listings. The listings will also be edited, so we urge you to submit them as 2-3 sentence listings with a contact if job seekers seek further information. Readers are encouraged to retain weekly emails if they wish to reference the job listings past their two-week publication period.
Additionally, job listings are now hosted on the Synod website's new job board.
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