Twice each year, rostered ministers gather together for worship, learning, conversation, and relationship building. Given the abundance of local resource people, a seminary or college professor regularly presents on an important and timely topic. Our fall Ministerium is held jointly with the Saint Paul Area Synod, taking turns acting as hosts.

The next Ministerium is
Thursday, January 30, 2025
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
“Listen Together”

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
​1701 West Old Shakopee Road
Bloomington, MN 55431

Church Together. Listen Together.

We are church together. Our task and call as the Minneapolis Area Synod is to be the church together, to extend gracious invitations into life-giving Christian community, and to contribute to just and healthy communities.

Our first step toward discerning the Word of God for each of us and our communities is listening. We listen to each other and to God, trusting that God is speaking. This year’s January Ministerium will provide us the space to listen together in worship and in intentional conversations with one another. Nick Tangen, the Assistant to the Bishop for Faith and Neighboring, will lead us in a small group conversation exercise, and we will hear stories from people in our Synod about the power of listening to the neighbor and to God.

Previous events

The October 2024 Joint Ministerium, was called Reformation Rekindled: Practicing a Living Catechism. Participants learned about Living Catechism, a resource put together by Church Anew and the Lutheran Center at St. Olaf have been working with hundreds of faith leaders to shape such a resource. Join a conversation where they share learnings, experiments, and invite all of us to co-create A Living Catechism for this time and place. The featured speakers were: Dr. Deanna Thompson, Director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community and Martin E. Marty Regents Chair in Religion and the Academy; Rev. Matthew Fleming, Executive Director of Church Anew; and Rev. Peter Carlson Schattauer, Associate Director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community.



The January 2024 Ministerium, “The Place God Calls You,” included a worship service and a presentation by Bishop Svennungsen about her time serving as Bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod.

Spring 2023: The 2023 Spring Ministerium was titled “Flourishing in Ministry” and featured Matt Bloom, Director of WorkWell.

Watch the worship > 

Listen to the audio of Matt’s presentation, part 1 >

Listen to the audio of Matt’s presentation, part 2 >

View Matt’s slides >

Fall 2023: The 2023 Fall Joint Ministerium was titled “Hearing the Stories of Refugees,” and featured Kao Kalia Yang.

Spring 2022: The 2022 Spring Ministerium featured the new expansive language liturgy and Rev. Dr. Mark Sundby and Rev. Sarah Ciavarri talking about resilience. It was so great to be back in person!

Fall 2022: The 2022 Fall Joint Ministerium was called Life Together: Connected Communities and featured a panel of local politicians talking about the divide between rural and urban parts of Minnesota. We met at Luther Seminary on October 27. Watch the recording >

Fall 2021: Fall 2021 Ministerium was a Joint Ministerium with Saint Paul Area Synod featuring Rev. Dr. Anthony Bateza.

Fall 2020: The 2020 Fall Joint Ministerium was titled Jubilee Reclaimed: The Time is Now. We celebrated the Jubilee Anniversary of our church’s decision to ordain women.

Spring 2019: Jeremy Myers presented to Minneapolis Area Synod rostered ministers about the Augsburg Riverside Innovation Hub

Fall 2019: Rostered ministers from the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Area Synods gathered at Luther Seminary to hear Dr. Rahuldeep Gill speak about the topic: Beyond Fear & Division: A Sikh Challenge for the Lutheran Vocation.

Spring 2018: Rostered ministers in the Minneapolis Area Synod gathered for worship and a presentation by Rev. Sarah Ciavarri on the topic, “Resiliency: From Suriving to Thriving.”

Fall 2018: Rev. Dr. Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, presented to the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Synod rostered ministers.

Spring 2017: Rostered Ministers in the Minneapolis Area Synod gathered at St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church to hear Rev. Lamont Wells (DEM at Metropolitan New York Synod) and Dr. Paul Pribbenow (President at Augsburg University) discuss “Why Lutheran? Does Luther Still Matter in the 21st Century?”

Several clergy participants asked about the manuscript and Rev. Wells readily agreed to make it available for others. Click here to download the PDF.

Fall 2017: Rostered ministers of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Area Synods gathered together on the morning of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, Tuesday, October 31. The theme, “Turning 501,” examined how Lutherans respond to the world in which we live in our 501st year. Speakers included Emilie Bouvier (Minneapolis Area Synod), Dr. Corinne Carvalho (St. Thomas University), the Rev. Jen Collins (Hosanna Lutheran, Forest Lake), Joe Davis (Artist [and poet] in residence at Luther Seminary), Dr. Karoline Lewis (Luther Seminary), and the Rev. Peter Rogness (retired bishop of Saint Paul Area Synod).

Spring 2016: Held on March 31, the 2016 Spring Ministerium featured conversations about the future of the ELCA and a presentation by Dr. Michael Chan (Luther Seminary) titled “Why Daniel’s Visions Matter for the Church Today.”

Fall 2016: Rostered ministers in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area synods were invited to hear Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ present about her new book, The Strength of Her Witness: Jesus Christ in the Global Voices of Women.  Fall 2016 Worship Resources >

Fall 2015: The Fall 2015 Ministerium was jointly sponsored by Minneapolis Area and Saint Paul Area synods and featured keynote speaker Dr. Jacob J. Erickson, St. Olaf.