Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins University, renowned for its hospitals, clinics and research facilities. But despite their proximity, some of the city’s African American residents have struggled to fight the coronavirus pandemic, said Louis R. Tillman IV, pastor of St. Philip Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Baltimore.
Throughout the pandemic, the historic African-descent congregation has ensured that masks and other safety items reach anyone in need.
Read MoreEnergy Star for Congregations (energystar.gov/congregations) is a federal government initiative to help congregations cut their energy use, save money and protect the environment. Resources include an Energy Star guide for congregations.
Read MoreIn the first decades of the 20th century, African Americans faced grinding poverty and harsh racial restrictions. Many African American leaders fought against these evils and worked to bring justice to their communities.
One such leader was Rosa Young of Alabama, whose drive and determination enabled her to spearhead the development of Black Lutheranism in the South.
Read MoreThis year has been bittersweet as a youth director at Shepherd of the Hills in Flagstaff. As a youth director just starting out in my call in the last few years, in March of 2020 I felt as if I was just getting some traction under my feet when, like for all of us, it was yanked away.
Read MoreIn conjunction with the amazing audio/video technicians at Community Lutheran in Las Vegas, we are exploring the idea of a virtual choir as part of the 2021 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly.
Interested in sharing your voice with others around the synod? Visit our interest form page, or use the form in this post. Besides carrying a tune, you should be comfortable singing along to a track, filming yourself, and sending the video file.
Read MoreThe Arizona Faith Network invites all faith leaders to use their voices to help promote the vaccination in their communities. Faith leaders are critical and trusted voices throughout this state. All faith leaders are invited to sign the Arizona Faith Leaders’ Statement and Pledge Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine to help promote vaccinations throughout Arizona.
Read MoreArizona clergy are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccination under Phase 1B. The vaccination process is currently in prioritized Phase 1B, with the full Phase 1B group (which would include clergy) opening towards the beginning of March. Info about vaccination can be found at azhealth.gov/findvaccine.
Read More“We’re good at talking about this, and good at doing small, one-time acts of service toward climate justice. There are awesome folks who want to push the church but they’re hesitant to take bold risks. We should be challenging our synods to be carbon neutral.”
Read MoreRead the provisionally-approved minutes from the synod council meeting on January 16, 2020, in PDF format.
While not formally approved, we are trying to get our minutes available as soon as possible to the synod.
Read MoreEven with recent falling numbers, residents in all counties of the Grand Canyon Synod are at an extremely high risk for contracting Covid-19 right now, according to an analysis by public health experts. Use this New York Times interactive guide to show the risk level and specific suggestions for your community.
Read MoreAs we celebrate and honor Black History Month, we’ll be continually updating this page with related news from our blog and events from our calendar.
It also has an archive of posts from our blog concerning racial justice and selected resources from ELCA.org.
Read MoreThe Stewardship Team of the Grand Canyon Synod invites you to a presentation on “Building an Effective, Productive and Faithful Stewardship Team", Tues. Feb. 23rd at 7pm MST, 6pm PST.
We will share the rationale and strategies for your congregational stewardship team to engage in effective year round ministry. Please register here.
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Charles Newman and the people of Crossroads Lutheran Church in San Tan Valley, part of the Rio Salado Conference. Visit their site at iamcrossroads.org, and their social media pages on Facebook and YouTube.
Read MorePastor Pam Reynolds will be ordained by Bishop Hutterer at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Sun City West, on Saturday, February 6, 2021. Watch the service on their YouTube page, posted within 24 hours.
“The whirlwind of directional change around my first call has been amazing and there is only one entity responsible: God,” says Reynolds.
Read MoreDuring Lent, California Lutheran University and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary are offering a short daily devotional email from our students, staff, faculty, alumni and friends.
Our theme this year is: Power. Privilege. Presence. To sign up to receive these short daily emails, click here.
Read MoreDr. Myisha Cherry presents “Racialized Forgiveness,” in which she explores how we can practice forgiveness differently.
February 16, 2021, 2:20pm-1:20pm MST, 11:20am-12:20pm, PST. Registration Link: tinyurl.com/HSClecture (free lecture, but registration in advance is required).
Read MoreMembers of all Grand Canyon Synod congregations and ministries, including active and retired leaders, are welcome to our online spring gatherings.
Our most consistent response from spring gatherings is how much people enjoy meeting folks outside their congregation. Knowing this, we’ve created plenty of time for discussion. We gather Saturday morning, 2/6/2021, Tuesday evening, 2/9/2021, and Tuesday afternoon, 2/16/2021.
Read MoreI ask you consider what our church is missing when all the members of God’s world are not represented in our church. We are not whole when our church becomes a wall to our neighbor.
We are created in God’s image, and to see the pageant of humanity around the globe is a way to glimpse God.
Read MoreKnowing the numbers for hunger and poverty can go a long way to helping us talk about the issues accurately and craft effective, forward-looking responses. For those who share with their congregation information about hunger and poverty, these numbers can also be helpful in putting together presentations or workshops.
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Timothy Nybroten, Rev. Greg Wenhold and the people of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Oro Valley, part of the Santa Cruz Conference. Visit their site at orovalley.org, and their social media pages on Facebook and YouTube.
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