By God's grace, together we have what we need . . .

+Rev. Joyce Piper, Synod Minister

In the midst of a six-month Lilly Endowment planning grant re financial challenges for pastors and congregations, I am learning again that one of our greatest assets becomes whatever we share together in Christ's name.  Accompaniment takes us farther together and in directions we could have not imagined alone.

"We have silos" . . . separate spheres of ministry.  This self-descriptive phrase was one of the first things I heard from our New Jersey colleagues when visiting the New Jersey synod office on March 12th.  I attended 8 hours of meetings with 3 different groups of leaders that day:  the Lilly Research & Planning Team, the Discipleship & Witness Team, and the Stewardship Team.  I responded that we have silos in SW MN also, but we try to keep grain in them and our relationships out of them.  Everyone laughed!

Warmth and welcome were extended to me, a visitor from the prairie.  I did not personally experience any "silos" or walls in my direction.  I felt a wonderful spirit of comradery and good humor among colleagues.  This joint project is bringing us together to brainstorm new solutions to stewardship challenges that continue to grow for our congregations and leadership. 

We are indeed in this boat together.  It can seem like a tiny boat on a large sea change of economic challenge.  But as the disciples in the storm at sea, we are not alone in the boat.  Jesus is with us and we have one another!  We have partners in ministry across the nation and around the world.  Most importantly, we have partners in one another right in this place where our pioneer ancestors shared whatever tools they had and then made or invented new ones when the old ones didn't work anymore.

Thanks to everyone participating in the study and planning phase of this Lilly project.  Pastors and congregational financial chairs/treasurers are invited to fill out brief surveys.  The surveys are available at synod gatherings or from the synod office. (Please email Carla Klawitter at carla.klawitter@swmnelca.org for a copy of the survey.) Interviewing of 12 pastors and 12 financial chairs serving in a variety of settings will be done by some of our conference ministers.  Our Lilly Planning Team relating to staff overseeing this project includes Kirsten Rabbe (Trimont), Marv Isder (Fulda), Pr. Tim Wrenn (Windom) and Pr. Mark Yackel-Juleen (Shalom Hill Farm).  

Reformation - Rosters

ELCA Conference of Bishops recommends unifying lay rosters, considers other business

ELCA News Release

The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered here March 5-10 to continue their conversation and consideration on this church's proposals to form one unified roster of Word and Service. The conference also considered an array of topics ranging from theological education to mission support, from immigration reform to the means of grace, from the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 to Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA and more.

The conference is an advisory body of the ELCA that includes 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and secretary. It gathers at least twice a year for worship and study, sharing and to conduct business. The Rev. Jessica R. Crist, bishop of the ELCA Montana Synod, is conference chair.

The Conference of Bishops continued its conversation, offering perspectives about the formation of a single ELCA roster. The ELCA's study and dialogue about the work and ministry of its lay rosters began in 2007, which lead to the ELCA Church Council appointing a Word and Service Task Force to continue overseeing this process. A discernment team was also appointed to give particular attention to the "entrance rite" for the roster and to offer a recommendation about this rite for consideration by the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

After a series of conversations, the Conference of Bishops recommended that the ELCA Church Council move forward on unifying the three lay rosters - associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers - but delay consideration of the entrance rite "and related issues." Currently, associates in ministry are commissioned; deaconesses and diaconal ministers are consecrated. A decision will need to be made about the appropriate entrance rite for the unified roster. In its recommendation, the conference expressed its "deep gratitude" to the ELCA Word and Service Task Force and to the Entrance Rite Discernment Group.

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