By Courtney Olsen When schools close their doors for the summer, churches open theirs: the warm weather and break from school provide the perfect space for congregations to focus their energy on youth programming. Financial barriers, however, can prevent churches from putting on a youth event. The synod’s summer youth program grants are working to […]
By Courtney Olsen Last month, 80 young adults from around the country gathered at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago for a week of relationship building, learning, and preparation. These developing leaders are participating in Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM), an international service program through the ELCA. YAGM invites young adults between the […]
By Pr. Craig Pederson The Minneapolis Area Synod Council’s Executive Committee and the Resurrection Fund Advisory Committee (RFAC) are pleased to announce the first round of Ministry Imagination Grant awards. Eighteen different projects have been awarded a total of $181,860.00! Ministry Imagination Grants are funded through the Resurrection Fund of the Minneapolis Area Synod (MAS), […]
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 […]