Southwestern Minnesota Synod
News & Events - July 17, 2014
LMM Logo
Friday, July 25, 2014
Redwood Falls Golf Club, Redwood Falls, MN
 
Registration deadline is July 22!

Registration fee $60 per golfer includes:green fees, golf cart, meal, prizes and
a donation to LMM. Teams will be 4 or 5 members. If you do not have a full team,
ad hoc teams will be formed at the golf tournament.

Rural Ministry Scholarships 
This past year, the synod's Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM) provided $11,200 for seminary tuition 
scholarships. $9,100 is available for 2014-2015. Recipients will have have an openness and commitment to future service in rural settings. The profit from the LMM golf tournament goes into the LMM Rural Ministry Fund to help grow leaders. Besides the proceeds from the golf tournament, LMM also has an ELCA Fund for Leaders Endowment Fund which generates investment income for the scholarships. Since its inception, this endowment has awarded scholarships of $69,325 for seminary tuition.  
Donations to the Rural Ministry Fund are appreciated even if you are not able to participate in the LMM 20th Annual Golf Tournament.
The Listening Project: Listening to Our Context/Neighbors
+Bishop Jon V. Anderson
We listen to God, one another and to our contexts as we seek to engage the work of ministry and mission in our mission fields and beyond. I encourage you to join in The Listening Project. 

We are called to continuously
listen to God,
listen to one another inside our communities of faith and
listen to our mission field or context.

Listening to our neighborhood and context is a crucial vocation or calling of congregations. It is easy for individuals, congregations and synods to turn in on themselves and not notice how things are changing. It is easy to think the experience of those who are behind us in age are having the same experience we did. It is easy to put on blinders in our anxiety about new neighbors so we do not see the challenges and opportunities that God brings with them into our community. We are called to serve the mission field of today and tomorrow, so listening to our neighbors and community is crucial.
As leaders in our congregation we are called to listen to God, one another and to our neighbors. Sharing God's gift of hospitality with new comers, regardless of whether or not they ever attend our congregations is one of our callings. Learning and listening to their unique story is crucial to better understand our neighbors and their lives. If they are immigrants from a large city to a small town, listening will help you understand and reach out to support them. If they are immigrants from the farm into town, or from town into the open country listening will open the possibility of a relationship. If they are immigrants from another part of this world, listening and remembering the stories of your immigrant fore parents will deepen your empathy and possibly open doors for your shared life. If they practice another religion, love your neighbors and look for chances to listen and learn. If they do not participate in a congregation or believe in God listen and learn more. God sends gifts in human form into our midst all the time. Our job is to love our neighbors. God will create opportunities for our relationship to invite and even to create places and times you might invite people to share in your community of faith.

The Montana Synod has encouraged council people to get in a van and drive around town visiting with people like policemen, school leaders, social workers, council members as a way of listening to their neighbors. There are ways to listen to statistics, but relational conversations will help you learn the most not just the numbers.

I invite you to keep praying for and about your synod and what God is calling us to do and be on our local mission fields.

The Listening Project is Coming - The Landscape

+Bishop Jon V. Anderson

In August, we are going to engage in a deep listening project as a synod. Our goal is to invite over 700 leaders to take our survey called The Landscape. The survey will be done online and take you about fifteen minutes. It will give us a deep look into the life of our synod and our mission field. There are multiple other layers of The Listening Project that have begun or are coming, but our next step will be this survey of leaders across our synod.


Click here to watch a video clip from our assembly that shares about this project. 

 
For you to have a voice in the coming Landscape Survey it is especially important that you and your congregation update your personal and congregational information. We use your information in a variety of ways, congregational information is needed during the call process when administering Minnesota Statute 604.20 Background Checks on pastors. Out of date information can make the call process longer. It means we do not get information to the congregational leaders who might need it.  
ACS Tip of the week!

How to create your account in Access ACS, the synod's online directory/handbook.

Go to https://secure.accessacs.com/access/memberlogin.aspx?sn=143587. The link can be found at www.swmnelca.org on the lower right-hand corner under Quick Links, Access ACS/Directory.

Type your email, first and last name with the suffix and click find me. If your congregation has updated their leadership data you will already be in our directory/handbook. If you are not found you will need to call the synod office.

Only CURRENT church staff, congregation council officers, and synod boards/committees will have access to the Access ACS (online directory/handbook).

Throughout the year we will be teaching leaders how to use ACS and why you should always have your contact information up-to-date.

Please contact the synod office if you would like more information.
507-637-3904
Six Young Adults in Global Ministry from SW MN Synod
We are thrilled to announce six young adults from the Southwestern Minnesota Synod will participate in the ELCA program called Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) starting this August. Their mission commitment is for one year. Each young adult is asked to raise $4,000 and the ELCA provides an additional $7,000 of support for each of these young adults.

In the coming year there will be 64 young adults serving in places like Argentina & Uruguay, Central Europe (Hungary), Jerusalem/West Bank, Madagascar, Mexico, Rwanda, Southern Africa and the United Kingdom. The YAGM volunteers serve in a variety of areas, including congregational ministry, human rights work, development projects, healthcare, education and youth work. This year of service provides an opportunity for global service, spiritual growth, community building and reflection on one's place in God's world, all during a formative time in a young adult's life.

The list from our synod includes:
Kelly Bergman going to the United Kingdom from South Santigo Lutheran, Clear Lake
Sarah Brock going to Rwanda from Zion Lutheran, Litchfield and Trinity Lutheran, Grove City
Luke Hanson going to Rwanda from Christ Lutheran, Cottonwood
Brittani Lamb going to Southern Africa from First Lutheran, St. Peter
Lars Meisner going to Rwanda from Glenwood Lutheran, Glenwood
John Yost going to Southern Africa from River of Hope Lutheran, Hutchinson

Our synod has a standing commitment of providing 10% or $400 to help with the fund raising for each of these young adults. If you would like to provide additional support for any or all of these young adults from the Southwestern Minnesota Synod you can go to www.ELCA.org/YAGMsupport or contact their local congregation.

We are so proud of the encouragement from our local congregations to help these young adults see their call to ministry in the global context. Please join others in praying for these young missionaries as they travel, serve and learn over the next year.

Connect with YAGM Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter

Online giving - A great offer to get started!

Rev. Larry Strenge, Director for Evangelical Mission

Has your congregation considered the use of online giving? We have seen some great improvement in regular giving by members who are away on weekends when they can give online. For example, River of Hope in Hutchinson has grown its number of online giving units from 27 to 60 via the use of Simply Giving through Vanco thus helping meet regular budget expenses and missional costs.

 

Below is an offer to get you started. You can utilize this tool for one year with even lower costs to five congregations in our SW MN Synod through our ELCA Churchwide covering the monthly fee. It is limited to the first five (5) congregations from our Synod who respond to this offer so act ASAP. 

 

Here's what I received from our ELCA Stewardship office...

Online giving is a tool that can help us grow into habits and commitments because it takes the repeated effort of deciding and behaving, and replaces that with a single decision that then automates the future. Part of the challenge of our day is that many people do not carry either cash or checkbooks, which adds even more pre-planning to giving an offering at church. For these reasons, the ELCA is trying to encourage more congregations that are not already offering online giving options to take the plunge and get going. Funds have been set aside to cover the monthly fees for up to 100 congregations on a first-come, first-served basis to start offering online giving through Vanco, the long-time partner with Thrivent in the Simply Giving Program. There are no setup fees or long-term contracts to take advantage of this offer, which runs from July 15 through Sept. 30, 2014. For more information including links to register, click here. 
ELCA Malaria Campaign Resource - Digital Photo Gallery
Megan Flowers, ELCA Malaria Campaign intern has been working on organizing and captioning photos from the malaria programs supported by the ELCA Malaria Campaign. The galleries for Uganda and Mozambique are finished. Click here to view them. Additional countries will be added throughout the summer. Congregations are encouraged to download and use these photos with photo attributions where indicated.

Mission of the Month:

Working with children in South Africa 

While serving with the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission program, Rachel Swenson has come to some amazing conclusions about her reason for being there. Inspire your congregation with her story! For a colorful Word document to use in your congregation's bulletin board, bulletin or PowerPoint presentation, visit www.ELCA.org/resources/globalchurch. 
Full Bodied Stewarship Events
Tuesday, August 12 at 5:54pm
Trinity Lutheran, Sleepy Eye
Wednesday, August 13 at 5:45pm
Peace Lutheran, New London
 

Full Bodied Stewardship events promote the Body's growth by providing resources and "best practices" for congregational leaders to practice being full-bodied stewards of God's abundance and generosity in a variety of congregational settings.  

Key Presenters: Rev. Keith Zeh & Jay Beech 


Conversation groups:

- Growing worship and music leadership

- Potluck of ideas for growing, strengthening and developing a stewardship committee

- Help for treasurers

- Stewardship of Property to God's Glory 

- Creating a Men's Ministry   


These events are designed for pastors, council leaders, and others who serve on committees, boards, tables and teams in a variety of areas of congregational ministry. They could provide an alternative to an August council or committee meeting. They will promote ideas, offer resources, and provide best practices for growing a "full bodied stewardship" ministry in a congregation as we look ahead to a new school year and a year of "diakonia" (serving) as our Synodical word.  

Mark Your Calendar!
Below is a list of all the upcoming synod events. For more details click here.  

JULY
First Call Family Camp - July 27 - August 1  
Lutheran Men in Mission Golf Tournament - July 25  
AUGUST
Full bodied Stewardship - August 12 & 13
Region 3 Practice Discipleship Retreat - August 24-26  
SEPTEMBER 
Church Staff Workers Retreat - September 16 
Fall Theological Conference - September 21-24  
OCTOBER
Elderberry Retreat - October 23-24  
NOVEMBER 
NW & SW MN Synod Clergy Spouse Retreat - November 7-9 

 

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175 East Bridge St. PO Box 499
 507-637-3904