Across your synod, pastors and congregational leaders are stepping up to support sister congregations regularly in times of transition and crisis.  I asked Pastor Kimberly to share her story of recently stepping in to support a sister synod and also a congregation that she knew and loved because they hosted her on her internship.  I am thankful that we are seeing the fruit of this offering of time by our youngest congregation, House of Grace, and their mission developer.

It had become obvious to me that there was some trouble brewing for Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church (SOJ) in Buffalo. Hints here and there in the community, Facebook posts, things people said or did not say, worry and concern when encountering people in the grocery store and Target. 

So when Pastor Luke Schmidt, associate pastor at Zion Lutheran church in Buffalo (the other ELCA congregation in this town), approached me and asked me if I had heard what was going on and how their congregation did not want to see any more people jump ship from SOJ out of fears of the church being closed, I was not surprised.  After all, I had paid attention to the news about the financial woes and of the pastor leaving to take another call because I care. What did surprise me was his next statement "Kimberly you are the one who can help them-you know them, they trust you." That series of statements began to tug at my heart and it got me thinking.

Click here to read more from Pr. Kimberly.

A few weeks ago I shared at an ordination, that it takes many expressions of our church body to support the development of a pastor. 

On Monday and Tuesday, leaders from across the church will gather to assign graduating seminary candidates for call in an assignment consultation.  You will be there because your bishop is one of the people who is in the room for this multi-layered discernment process.  I invite your prayers for our team of bishops, regional coordinators, seminary staff, and churchwide staff.  On Friday and Saturday, others from across the church will gather to sharpen and reform our candidacy manual and process.  You will be there as Pr. Kathryn Skoglund is trained for her new role.

As the end of the year came, we were thankful to end the year at 102.5% of budget. We are thankful for your personal and congregational support.  Because of falling mission support in 2014 we made a revision downward of our 2015 synod assembly passed budget of $220 thousand dollars based on the mission intents we had received and our history.  With our overall planned response, we will be able to restore funds we had promised to our shared ministry partners with synod council approval.  Our budget automatically shared more with our churchwide expression for national and global ministry based on a percent of our general Mission Support.  So the good news is tempered by the fall of overall mission support in the past three years.

If you have not submitted your mission intents for 2016 please do by clicking here. Again thanks for your generosity.  You make ministry happen all across our church and region with your gifts.