Posts in News
Growing Fervent Voices with the Growing Generosity Appeal

In this post and video we explore Growing Fervent Voices: Planting seeds for Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona and Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada.

With gifts from congregations, foundations, endowments, and individuals, we can meet our $750,000 goal. Thank you to all who have helped us with gifts of $641,431 so far towards our Growing Generosity Appeal. We invite you to consider a gift. Please visit our pledge page for more info.

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NC Synod sponsors racial reconciliation partnership

It’s often called the National Lynching Memorial. Located at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala., the National Memorial for Peace and Justice consists of 805 hanging steel rectangles that represent each U.S. county where a lynching has taken place.

One day in May, after two years of study and deep discussion about the role of reconciliation in the church, Lutherans from Duke University in Durham, N.C., stood at the memorial and reflected on its enormity with members of St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Durham.

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Join a 2022 Thriving Leadership Formation Cohort Group

Cohorts come together with the intent of creating nurturing and empowering times, spaces, and relationships. Cohorts meet virtually for 12 sessions using a curriculum of spiritual practices. Membership is open to rostered and non-rostered leaders in ELCA Regions 1 and 2. Explore the cohorts for this year and find one that works for you!

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ELCA monthly Insights newsletter: October 2022

Click here to view the October 2022 ELCA monthly Insights newsletter, featuring: what’s missing from your estate plan; Oct. 17-23 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week; avoiding the most common estate-planning mistake; the upcoming webinar Planning Your Legacy; and info on the ELCA Ministry Growth Fund.

For more info, contact our synod’s ELCA Foundation planners, Lisa Marie Higginbotham and Josh Kerney.

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Support hurricane survivors through Lutheran Disaster Response

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida Wednesday with near Category 5-strength winds, dumping record amounts of rain and causing catastrophic flooding. Ian, as predicted, is one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States in decades.

Gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response make it possible for the ELCA to act quickly after disasters, whenever and wherever they strike.

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New ELCA resources to support our ministries in a multi-religious world

"ELCA Guidelines for Ministry in a Multi-Religious World" provides general guidance for occasions when Christians and people of other religions come together. Included are recommendations for prayer services, crisis and tragedy response, social ministries, pastoral care, weddings and funerals.

"Preaching and Teaching with Love and Respect for the Jewish People" explores challenging topics, lectionary selections, and Bible passages to inform Christian preaching and teaching so that they respect the integrity of the Jewish tradition and avoid anti-Jewish interpretations of New Testament texts.

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Office of the Bishop Updates: 9/30/2022

The Office of the Bishop does some traveling this week for meetings, conferences, and preaching.

We also share photos from the Synod Council and Dean Retreat last weekend at Ascension Lutheran in Paradise Valley, where our guests and presenters included the ELCA’s Vance Blackfox, Native American Urban Ministry’s Rev. Mary Louise Frenchman and Wanda Frenchman, as well as Patterson Yazzie and Patty Charley with Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission.

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500 years of God’s word in common language: The true story of Martin Luther’s “September Testament”

Five hundred years ago in September, at the Leipzig Fair in the German state of Saxony, the printer Melchior Lotter Jr. offered up for sale his first edition of the New Testament as translated from the ancient Greek into the German vernacular by Martin Luther. By then Luther was notorious across Europe for his attacks on the papacy. He had been denounced as a heretic, excommunicated by Pope Leo X and condemned by Charles V, leader of the Holy Roman Empire. The edition of 3,000 copies sold out rapidly.

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Save the Date: Rostered Ministers Gathering in Phoenix, July 17-20, 2023

The Planning Team shares a letter of invitation to the Rostered Ministers Gathering in Phoenix next summer, July 17-20, 2023. You’re invited to join colleagues under the theme of "Rekindle the gift within you" (2 Timothy 1:6).

If you like to welcome people, help with registration, or have the gift of hospitality, please connect with Pastor Doug Dill: pastordoug@centrallutheranaz.org or 402-235-6969.

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Hymns for Him: a Hymn Festival Sing-Along

If you love to sing, join the Central Arizona Guild of Organists and La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church for a free hymn sing at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at the church, 6300 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale.

The hour-long “Hymns for Him: a Hymn Festival Sing-Along,” will feature guild members playing La Casa de Cristo’s 91-rank Berghaus Pipe Organ, which, with its 5067 pipes, is among the largest pipe organs in the Southwest. A reception will follow the hymn sing.

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Situation Report: Hurricane Fiona

Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to Hurricane Fiona through the Caribbean Synod. The synod is providing gift cards for people impacted by the flooding so they can purchase their immediate needs. As the damage from the hurricane is assessed, Lutheran Disaster Response and the Caribbean Synod will develop a long-term recovery plan. Additionally, Lutheran Disaster Response is funding a disaster response and diaconal ministry team for the synod.

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