Your congregation is invited to apply for an Open Doors grant to support your ministries as we resume in-person worship and gatherings.
May 14, 2021: Deadline to register in ELCA GrantMaker in order to fill out an application. May 19, 2021: Grant application closes.
Read MoreDear church, God loves us all. No matter how we are grappling, we are not alone; God is with us. Throughout May and beyond, we must seek ways to erase the stigma surrounding mental illness and continually love everyone compassionately as a child of God.
Read MoreAs part of the Faiths4Vaccines initiative, prominent faith leaders, including Bishop Eaton, explain how receiving the vaccine is an expression of love for one's neighbors. Learn more at faiths4vaccines.org.
Read MoreIn her May column for Living Lutheran, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton notes that music, like God’s love, is at the same time deeply personal, sounding deep within an individual’s soul, and universal, ringing out to an entire community. Read her column in English at https://bit.ly/3uBnRJy and in Spanish at https://bit.ly/3ty0oYb.
Read MoreELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response are ministries deeply rooted in the identity of the ELCA, and the mission to which God calls this Church.
So, we are happy to share with you that these two ministries are now joined together on a single team within the Service and Justice home area of the ELCA churchwide organization: the Building Resilient Communities Team!
As we introduce this new structure within the churchwide organization of the ELCA, we are excited to introduce, too, the members of Building Resilient Communities Team.
Read MoreThis week, Bishop Eaton shares an experience of witnessing true hospitality and generosity from her neighbor.
Read MoreThe Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer (they/their), San Francisco, Calif., was elected May 8 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Rohrer is the first transgender bishop in the ELCA, and noted as such in this New York Times article.
Read MoreIn the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EPES Foundation initiated a project with community health promoters and nutrition teams to cultivate home gardens. Learn more in this video and blog post.
Read MoreAbide in my love … you shall bear much fruit. It was the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and in turn, became an echo for this year’s National Workshop on Christian Unity (NWCU). After last year’s workshop in Houston was canceled due to the global pandemic, focus turned to 2021, and with it questions of how best to move the work of the NWCU forward.
Read More“I want to learn more about my faith.” We've heard this phrase a lot, so we invite all to stay tuned for more details about a special offering from Diakonia, intended to do just that - give you more information about your faith. The toolbox will be open to everyone in the Grand Canyon Synod. Stay tuned!
Read MoreThe rules of procedure to be adopted during the first plenary session of the 2021 synod assembly are available for review at gcsynod.org/assembly/rules. You can also view the rules of procedure as a PDF or a Word document.
Read MoreWe share an update from Pastor Sarah Isakson, with Faith Lutheran in Phoenix, who along with many others in our synod are part of the Cruzando Fronteras network.
Thank you for your support and prayers! More than 250 asylum seeking residents of the shelter are now crossing legally into the United States. Most have been working as community residents for over a year.
Cruzando Fronteras has speakers who are available to do Zoom presentations to your congregations all summer! Please contact: Paztorsarah@gmail.com.
Read MoreVoting members at the synod assembly should plan to attend one of three available “Tech Check” training sessions. All sessions are the same, we’ve provided multiple times and dates for your convenience. Register for these dates below.
Arizona 360 provides this news video on shelters along the Arizona border for migrants with Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) cases. Cruzando Fronteras is part of that support network.
“Across Arizona’s southern border, nonprofits and religious organizations continue to support asylum seekers who have waited months to present their cases in the United States. Tony Paniagua traveled to Nogales, Sonora where he visited a shelter providing aid and spoke to migrants about their journeys.”
Read MoreWe pray for The Rev. Deborah J. Royals and the people of St. Raphael in the Valley Episcopal Church, a joint Episcopal-ELCA congregation in Benson, part of the Sunrise Conference. Visit their site at straphael.azdiocese.org, and their Facebook page.
Read MoreWe pray for Rev. Beth Gallen and the people of New Journey Lutheran Church in Fountain Hills, part of the Northeast Valley Conference. Visit their site at njlc-fh.org, and their Facebook page.
Read MoreAs Lutherans we believe that science and religion come from the same source and that source is God. Religion and science are both ways of knowing God’s creation. Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine does not mean we are being less than faithful by trusting science rather than God.
Read MoreThe at-home guide for ELCA World Hunger’s “River of Life” Vacation Bible School program for 2021 is now available for download.
This at-home guide is a supplemental resource for the full “River of Life VBS leader’s guide and includes modified activities, suggestions for online and at-home VBS, links to new videos and tips for parents, caregivers and other adults leading VBS with children at home!
Read MoreLutheran Disaster Response and Lutheran World Relief are responding to the devastating situation in India.
Lutheran Disaster Response shares a situation update and Lutheran World Relief asks for help to deliver oxygen, ventilators, pulse oximeters and personal protective equipment to hospitals across India.
Read MoreWe pray for healing and recovery after surgery for Linda Nausin. Linda is the wife of Pastor Frank Nausin and mother of Pastor Jeremy Nausin, Holy Spirit Lutheran, Las Vegas.
O Lord, your compassions never fail and your mercies are new every morning. We give you thanks for giving our sister Linda both relief from pain and hope of health renewed. Continue in her the good work you have begun; that she, daily increasing in bodily strength and rejoicing in your goodness, may so order her life and conduct that she may always think and do those things that please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Read More
