August 6, 2018, Minneapolis — Bishop Ann Svennungsen is pleased to announce that Mr. Eric Howard joins the staff of the Minneapolis Area Synod today as Executive Assistant to the Bishop. Eric replaces Dee Cole Vodicka, who had served in this role until late May. “From our initial interview, I was excited by the possibility […]
By Emily Campbell On the first Sunday of Advent in 2008, congregants filed out of Messiah Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis and continued to walk a block and half to Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota’s (LSS) Center for Changing Lives. Carrying the church’s altar candles and paraments with them, members of the congregation processed to […]
Not too many years ago, congregational councils debated whether to let “recovery organizations” use church space. Often the argument against opening the doors included fear of coffee stains on the carpet and cigarette smoke in the curtains. And then, many congregations realized that a gracious policy toward people who were experiencing the reality of resurrection […]
By Bob Hulteen Under the theme, “I Will Pour out My Spirit,” more than 450 voting members of congregations participated in the 2018 Minneapolis Area Synod (MAS) Assembly May 4-5, 2018, at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ramsey, Minnesota. The assembly keynote speakers were Archbishop Musa Panti Filibus, judicatory leader of the Lutheran Church […]
By Bob Hulteen What does resurrection look like today? How does life arise from death? The members of Lutheran Church of the Reformation, a St. Louis Park congregation that closed in 2015 and donated the property to the synod, have left a legacy of resurrection. A portion of the $1.2 million proceeds from the sale […]
By Bob Hulteen When Boko Haram, an extremist organization, intensified violent activities in the northeast of Nigeria, including the kidnapping of 276 girls from the Chibok secondary school in April 2014, many of the displaced persons from neighboring villages flooded into the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) compound in Numan, Nigeria. Fearing continued […]
By Emily Campbell The popular story about young adults in the church is often focused on their absence from the pews on Sundays. This narrative fails to capture the richness that young adults bring to the faith community through the integration of faith and their unique perspectives, engagement with communities at the local and global […]
The Minneapolis Area Synod, gathered into 12 geographic conferences, named 17 rostered ministers for consideration as bishop at the 2018 Synod Assembly at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ramsey, Minnesota, on May 4-5. The conference assemblies were held February 25 at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. More than 250 people participated […]
By Bishop Ann Svennungsen On March 10, 1957, the first worship service of the newly organizing congregation Lutheran Church of the Reformation (LCR) was held at St. Louis Park Theatre at 10 a.m. On October 27, 2013, the members of the church, with its building along Highway 100 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, voted to dissolve as a […]
By Bob Hulteen The Rev. Patrick Cabello Hansel, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, recently was awarded first prize in The Christian Century’s Reformation Poetry Contest, which was co-sponsored by Lutheran Arts, an organization that seeks to create inspiration on issues of faith. Cabello Hansel’s winning entry was titled “Cutting Away.” “The contest […]