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2019 Bishop's Convocation on Mental Health and Faith
Guest Speaker:
The Rev. Dr. Hollie Holt-Woehl, Adjunct Professor, Luther Seminary
Saturday, January 19, 2019 - 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
418 8th Ave NE, Brainerd, MN

This Convocation is open to all people; you may invite friends who are asking questions about Faith and Mental Illness.
Please register by clicking here or call the synod office: 218-724-4424

The Rev. Dr. Hollie Holt-Woehl holds a Ph.D. in Pastoral Care and Counseling with particular emphasis on the congregation. Her dissertation, "Congregations as Trinitarian Communities: Accepting, Welcoming, and Supporting People with Chronic Mental Illness," explores congregations who have welcomed people with mental illness into the life of the congregation. She teaches the course “Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families.”

2019 Congregational Information Form

We do appreciate each and every volunteer and employee our churches have working with us. Please keep us informed of your church's leadership by filling out the Congregational information form. There are mailings that go to Presidents, Treasurers and Pastors on a quarterly and annual basis. It is important we are getting that information to the correct people.
You can download the 2019 Congregational information form by clicking here. Please print, fill it out, email or mail it back to us at the Synod Office. Thank you!

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”
– Amos 5:24

Lutheran Bishops issue statement of solidarity to the Jewish Community on the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht

On November 9, 1938, the organized beginning of the Holocaust of the Jewish people was carried out by the Nazi rule in Germany. On that night, and into the next day, 267 synagogues were burned to the ground, 7500 Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed and looted, 91 people were murdered, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of what became known as Kristallnacht, or “The Night of Broken Glass” – a turning point in Nazi anti-Semitic policy. It is an anniversary that we, as Lutherans, must pay special attention to, because Martin Luther’s later writings were used to justify such actions towards Jews.

In 1994, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted a declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community. In that declaration it states:

“The Lutheran communion of faith is linked by name and heritage to the memory of Martin Luther, teacher and reformer. Honoring his name in our own, we recall his bold stand for truth…In the spirit of that truth-telling, we who bear his name and heritage must with pain acknowledge also Luther’s anti-Judaic diatribes and the violent recommendations of his later writings against Jews.”

At the heart of our theology is the care for our neighbor— we are freed by God’s grace to live out our vocation as “neighbor”. In light of the recent attacks in Pittsburgh, and the rise of anti-Semitic speech and actions, we as followers of Christ must live out God’s commandments to love God with our whole being and love our neighbors as ourselves. For it is in the neighbor that we see the face of God.

We, as bishops of the ELCA across this region, invite members and congregations of our synods to:

Renounce and oppose violent, hateful, or anti-Semitic language or actions.
Engage in dialogue with neighbors of other faiths, beliefs, cultures, and worldviews that are not explicitly religious.
Accompany our neighbors in times of suffering.
Pray. Pray for our communities, our states, our country, and for our church that we may have a better understanding and cooperation between our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community.

Signed:
The Rev. Jon V. Anderson, Bishop, Southwestern Minnesota Synod
The Rev. Thomas M. Aitken, Bishop, Northeastern Minnesota Synod
The Rev. Terry A. Brandt, Bishop, Eastern North Dakota Synod
The Rev. Steven H. Delzer, Bishop, Southeastern Minnesota Synod
The Rev. Patricia J. Lull, Bishop, Saint Paul Area Synod
The Rev. Brian D. Maas, Bishop, Nebraska Synod
The Rev. Mark Narum, Bishop, Western North Dakota Synod
The Rev. Rodger C. Prois, Bishop, Western Iowa Synod
The Rev. Ann M. Svennungsen, Bishop, Minneapolis Area Synod
The Rev. Lawrence R. Wohlrabe, Bishop, Northwestern Minnesota Synod
The Rev. David B. Zellmer, Bishop, South Dakota Synod

"Bishop's Duluth News Editorial on Voting"

Local View:
Choose love, decency over division
By Thomas M. Aitken
Nov 3, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Duluth News Tribune
I lament the use of cruel, degrading, and violent language, which we've become accustomed to, from our leaders on down. There is no doubt in my mind that a culture of hateful and violent verbiage directed at other people, allowed to permeate our lives, leads to violent behavior. And so we have witnessed it.
But hurtful words do not need to win the day. What is needed to combat this is for each of us to stand up and to say, "Enough is enough!" In the home, at the coffee shop, at school, at work, and elsewhere, we can lift up respectful ways of talking about those we disagree with. This is not only possible, it is not difficult to do. We just held a "Respectful Conversations" event in northern Minnesota where 60 people came to learn about, discuss, and even disagree on divisive social issues — respectfully and with empathy for the other. The end result was life-giving rather than furthering hate and division.
People are not merely genes with appetites. We are precious, endowed with dignity by our creator and granted the gift of love that seeks the benefit of our neighbor. And this kind of love is not mushy or sentimental; it is a power that brings ethical courage, transformation, and renewed joy to our lives.
We have choices. We can step out courageously and share goodness or we can bottle up until it dies. But it is there to be used, for the good of all.
Please use the lens of love and decency for all people, no exceptions, when stepping into the voting booth Tuesday. Let that lens help you make decisions on who might best serve the public good.
Thomas M. Aitken of Duluth is bishop of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Currant for Curran
Update November 5, 2018

There is currently a shortage of oil, diesel, and gas in Liberia which is causing a 5% increase in cost from September to October. This makes the need for the solar array at Curran even more acute.
We have raised about $250,000 of the needed $750,000. The reason for the large cost is that this system will include battery storage which was not included in the Phebe array.
We have submitted grant requests to several foundations such as the Wallace Global Foundation, Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association and Bridgestone, but have not heard if we have been awarded any of them.
The design for the system and needed infrastructure upgrades is complete
Attempts at securing dollars from federal agencies such as USAID Power Africa or the US State Department have not been successful. If you know of anyone with connections to these agencies please have them contact Jason Edens at RREAL.
We are working hard to secure a Rotary International Grant which would provide about $30k in Rotary dollars. Again if you have a Rotary connect please contact Jason.
RREAL is an amazing partner. Their end of year fundraising push is focused heavily on Current for Curran, and the intention is to build this no later than November of 2019. That means we need to raise an additional $500,000 between now and July 31, 2019. Please join them in the effort to raise these funds.

Blanket Exercise
with link to bulletin inserts

The Blanket Exercise is a teaching tool that uses participatory education to raise awareness of a history of the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples that most people never learn. The exercise is designed to deepen understanding of the denial of Indigenous people’s nationhood and human rights since the first contact originating in the Doctrine of Discovery in 1452 and continuously institutionalized in the most fundamental laws, policies and programs of nation building. This exercise is a way to open or continue, the conversation about decolonization. Trinity Lutheran Church invites you to join us for this interactive experience Wed Nov 7th 6-8 pm at Cass Lake Senior Center, 129 2nd St NW (corner of Cedar Ave and 2nd St, kitty corner from Western Bank). All are welcome!
CLICK HERE FOR INSERTS

ELCA Vision
Claimed by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we are a new creation through God’s living word by the power of the Holy Spirit;
Gathered by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we will live among God’s faithful people, hear God’s word and share Christ’s supper;
Sent by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we will proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus, and strive for justice and peace in all the world.
ELCA Mission
Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the world. This is the mission statement of the ELCA. As members of the ELCA, we believe that we are freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.

ELCA Advocacy
Website: ELCA.org/advocacy
Email: washingtonoffice@elca.org
Social Media: /ELCAAdvocacy
ELCA Racial Justice Ministries
Website: www.ELCA.org/Our-Work/Publicly-Engaged-Church/Racial-Justice-Ministries
ELCA Young Adult Ministry
Website: www.ELCA.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Young-Adult-Ministry
Social Media: /ELCAYoungAdults

How one Lutheran congregation moved out of “building mentality”
https://youtu.be/trgt28JGPes
New Life Lutheran Church, Texas

ELCA Conference of Bishops statement on East Jerusalem hospitals

In early September, members of the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were saddened and dismayed to hear reports that the U.S. government was planning to discontinue financial assistance to Augusta Victoria Hospital and five other East Jerusalem hospitals.
We appreciate and strongly affirm ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s Sept. 6 letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, calling for the “release of $25 million of U.S. FY 2017 funding that will help to ensure that there is no interruption in the treatment of Palestinians at the East Jerusalem hospitals, especially the most vulnerable cancer and kidney patients referred to Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) from Gaza and the West Bank.”
She noted that, as an institution owned and operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), “Augusta Victoria Hospital is able to operate because of the support of LWF member churches, like the ELCA, and long-standing partnerships with countries like the United States. In the last decade the U.S. government, through USAID, has invested nearly $10 million in AVH to bolster its capacity as a cancer center. In addition, the U.S. government has provided over many years tens of millions of dollars in aid to help cover the costs of the cancer patients and others referred to AVH and the other East Jerusalem hospitals.”
Eaton stressed the urgency of U.S. government action, saying: “The delay in the disbursement of the 2017 funding for the East Jerusalem hospitals is contributing to an acute and severe cash-flow crisis for AVH and the other hospitals,” and that immediate release of the funds is necessary “so that AVH can make payments to pharmaceutical suppliers of cancer medications, pay staff and avoid any interruption in the treatment of patients.”
In the past several weeks, neither the LWF nor the ELCA have received any official announcement about the status of this funding and, therefore, we appeal to President Donald Trump to instruct the U.S. Department of State to release this vital funding so these patients will receive the treatment and care they need.

https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/7950
---
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.5 million members in more than 9,300 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
773-380-2877
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org

From the ELCA; Four Ways to Use "Stories of Faith in Action"
Click HERE

2018-2019 Young Adults in Global Mission
from the Northeastern Minnesota Synod

Another year has come, and another cohort of Young Adults in Global Mission program (YAGM) volunteers have recently accepted the call into service, beginning in August. As you may know. the YAGM program has seen significant growth since it began in 1999, and this is especially true since the start of the Campaign for the ELCA. In the past five years the average number of volunteers sent into service each year was 30 more than in the years prior to the Campaign. This growth has only been made possible through generous individuals, congregations and synods who support this program and the faithful young adults who answer God's call to service. And with approximately 35% of YAGM alumni entering seminary, it's also a strategic and timely investment.
Among the 80 newly called YAGM volunteers, three of them have named a congregation, campus ministry, ELCA Camp, or ELCA college/university as a faith home within the Northeastern Minnesota Synod. They are:

Annika Johnson

Karissa Vetsch

Maddie Lindahl

Annika Johnson -First Lutheran in Duluth, MN. She will be serving in Madagascar and you can reach her by clicking here

Karissa Vetsch-Bay Lake Camp in Deerwood, MN. She will be serving in Australia, and you can reach her by clicking here.

Maddie Lindahl-Lutheran Campus Minstry-Twin Cities University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. She will be serving in Senegal, and you can reach her by clicking here.

The YAGM volunteers will be sent to serve in 14 countries in 11 country programs alongside our companions in Argentina/Uruguay, Australia, Cambodia, Central Europe (Hungary and Serbia), Jerusalem/West Bank, Madagascar, Mexico, Rwanda, Senegal, Southern Africa, and the United Kingdom. Young adults serve in a variety if areas, including congregational ministry, human rights work, development projects, healthcare, education, and youth work. A year of service through YAGM program helps young adults to think more critically about their own identity, God's work in the world,and their place within it all.

We want to make sure you are aware of the newly called YAGM volunteers in this synod and hope you will consider sharing widely the news of their service. Life them up in your websites and newsletters, sharing their blogs and newsletters throughout the synod. YAGM volunteers are often eager to share newsletters, blogs, make Skype calls, and participate in presentations during worship or education hour. We invite your prayers as they prepare for their journey, and as they continue to discern their call in their lives.
These volunteers may reach out to you and request financial support from your synod and from local congregations. Each volunteer commits to raising $5000 to support their year of service, and additional contributors to the ELCA help to support the additional $10,000 per young adult in program costs. The total $15,000 is the average cost per YAGM, which covers all costs associated with their service. We would love for you to consider the ways that you can support these YAGM, financially and otherwise.

Thank you for the support that faith communities within your synod provide for these young adults, who have discerned God's call to serve globally. Your prayers and encouragement are greatly appreciated.

Together in Mission,

The Reverend Raphael Malpica Padilla
Executive Director ELCA Global Mission
and
Andrew G. Steele
Director ELCA Global Church Sponsorship

Please go to the following link to help:

Refugee Resettlement Partners

National Council of Churches
Laments Opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem, Deaths of Palestinians

WASHINGTON: The National Council of Churches laments the move of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We have previously warned that such an unwise and prejudicial action would make a peace settlement even more difficult to achieve and would indeed lead to violence. Today’s deadly violence bears out the truth of this warning.

At the time of this writing, at the border between Israel and Gaza, at least 61 Palestinians who were protesting the opening of the embassy have been killed by Israeli forces and 2,700 more have been injured. This is in addition to dozens already killed and thousands more wounded in recent weeks leading up to this move. The National Council of Churches condemns this violent and disproportionate response by Israeli forces. We consider it an illustration of the failure of Israel, the United States, and the international community to address the injustice of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and the inability to conclude a two-state solution.
Moreover, we are deeply chagrined that Robert Jeffress, a Southern Baptist minister who has condemned Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, and others to hell led prayers at the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. We are further disappointed by the presence of evangelical pastor John Hagee, a proponent of the misguided theology of Christian Zionism, among the invited speakers. Their unfortunate participation in today’s ceremony reflects the reality that yesterday’s event in Jerusalem represents pandering to a segment of evangelical Christianity here in the US rather than an affirmation of the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and prayers of Christians who live in the Holy Land.
Finally, the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem illustrates the increasing isolation of our country within the international community when it comes to policy in the region. In failing to help constructively address the prolonged crisis in Syria, and after unilaterally withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, today’s event in Jerusalem reflects the United States’ apparent abdication of its role as an honest proponent, broker, and partner for peace.

ELCA presiding bishop's pastoral message on situation in Gaza
5/15/2018 2:45:00 PM
May 15, 2018
Like so many here in our country and around the world, I am appalled and saddened by yesterday's escalation of Israeli military action against protestors in Gaza. Many reports indicate that at least 60 Palestinians, including six children, have died and more than 2,000 have been injured as a result of Israel's disproportionate use of force. Our church will support a planned medical mission from The Lutheran World Federation's Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem to Gaza to assist the wounded.
I join Bishop Sani-Ibrahim Azar of our partner church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), who today said:
We mourn with the families of the dead and dying and pray for the recovery of the injured. We believe that violent actions against the Palestinian civilians will hinder the potential for peace and reconciliation efforts between Israel and Palestine and will only lead to more violence and bloodshed.
I endorse his call "upon the Israeli government to show restraint and to pursue negotiations with Palestinian leaders rather than choosing violent action against unarmed protestors."
Yesterday's events should also be seen in the context of the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. When that decision was announced late last year, I said:
This unilateral action would not support the cause of peace and a two-state solution but rather would unnecessarily create further tensions and possible violence that would make efforts to bring them back together for talks much more difficult.
I also support the ELCJHL's long-standing position, affirmed by Bishop Azar today, that "any final status agreement will include Jerusalem as a shared city for Jews, Christians and Muslims with free access to holy sites for all and that it must serve as capital of both Palestine and Israel."
Always, but especially in this time of deep distress, I urge us all to join his call to "continue to pray, advocate and faithfully work towards a peaceful and just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
God's peace,

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

+Bishop Thomas M.Aitken

Bishop Aitken's Message for:
Lutheran Social Service
Center for Changing Lives

“...As the Father has sent me, so I send you”
(From John 20, the Gospel Lesson last week for Pentecost)

I'm proud of the 67 ELCA congregations all over our synod, for other congregations and church groups, for the city of Duluth, for assistance through grants and individual donors who helped to build this 3-story building to house life-giving services to homeless youth. We did it together because just as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus has sent us out to love others. Serving 800 youth each year in Duluth, we are pledging to put an end to youth homelessness through the programs that will operate out of this Center for Changing Lives because no child or teenager should be without a bed and roof over their head or hope for their future - ever.

Common characteristics of the young people who end up in Duluth from all over the State and who will be served through this Center:
100% of them are our youth, our brothers and sisters, loved by God!
100% of them scared, not scary
90% come from low income/poverty
80% come from abuse, including sexual abuse
85% have parents with chemical dependency
85% are disconnected from their primary caregiver during their formative years.
(Read: Kicked out of the house because of lack of proper parenting skills)

A quote I like:
“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security”
-Pope Francis, Evangeli Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel (p. 49)

What these life-giving Services are:
1st Floor:

Teen Health Center: care to low-income, at-risk, and homeless youth ages 13-24, walk in health care
Truancy Action Office: LSS works with 300 plus kids in three local school to catch truancy problems early
LSS Together for Youth: Supportive and safe place for LGBTQ youth
Oh No Eighteen: Supports youth ages 16-21, so they can live on their own after the age-out of foster care; life skills, job searching, budgeting and renting as well as the Leadership Council which is comprised of former foster youth who promote and educate others about foster care.

2nd Floor:

10 low-income apartments for you 18-23 who meet MN guidelines for homelessness.
Youth receive life skills, employment, mental health care, addictions and trama help

3rd Floor:

10 Transitional Housing bedrooms - not apartments. For youth ages 16-21 for up to 18 months with support in education and employment goals. 2 of these beds are emergency Self-Referral beds for youth in immediate danger.

Contact Us:

Follow @NEMNSynod

Northeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA
1105 E. Superior St., Upper Suite
Duluth, MN 55802
Office Hours:
M-F: 8:30am-4:30 pm
Telephone: 218.724.4424
Email: info@nemnsynod.org
Fax: 218.724.4393

Want to go to Honduras in 2019? Click here for more information!

Resources
from
Bishop Aitken

Bishop Aitken always has an abundance of good information to be shared. Now, instead of finding it at the bottom of the home page, he has an entire page dedicated to sharing these resources. it will be found under the home drop down list or by clicking this link.

One of Bishop Aitken's greatest joys as a Bishop, is the Bishop Visitations to Confirmation Students and parents in our Synod. He takes the Teaching Office of Bishop both seriously and joyfully and loves to be part of youth faith formation in this way and has been able to personally connect with so many across our Synod. If you would like, you may supply the names of those being Confirmed to the Synod Office and he will send a pastoral letter to each one, reminding them that they are joined to Christ forever, and encouraging them in their continued journey into the gift of faith.
You may send names and addresses to info@nemnsynod.org

Bishop's Online Reflections : Veteran's Day

On This Veterans Day I remember the words of Jesus from the gospel of John: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) I’m thankful for our Veterans, and I honor their courage and love for others, even to the point of putting themselves in danger for another person’s sake, knowing they might die. Veterans of war live among us, twenty-five million in this country alone. Many of them find themselves unable to talk of the horrors of war. My own dad, like so veterans from WWII did not talk about his experience, it was too hard. To witness violence up close does damage to your soul. I understand now. I hope that each of us will share our respect and love for the Veterans in our congregations, in our community. I hope that we will learn from those among us who understand PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that so many of our Veterans live with. We can honor Veterans by thanking them personally, praying for them, and by encouraging our our leaders to provide for their care when then return. And we can honor them by working for peace.

Prayer: God of all Creation, lover of all people, we give you thanks for Veterans, and all who model the willingness to serve their neighbor, even to the point of losing their lives. Stir up your Holy Spirit among us, to work for an end to war, as the prophet Isaiah, and your Son Jesus taught us. Set free the gift of love and courage you’ve given us in our baptisms, through hearing the Word, and through Holy Communion that we might work to combat fear, hatred and violence in our world, and instead lift up the unconditional love that brings harmony and peace.

STATEMENT IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

March 5, 2018

As part of our work together , the bishops of the ELCA , this past week at the Conference of Bishops, discussed our precious young people, and the relentless violence that happens to them in this country, and the peaceful Kingdom God has called us to create in our personal and corporate lives together. Please read our Statement and share it widely, for we are called to be light to the world.
-Bishop Thomas Aitken, Northeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA
CLICK HERE FOR FULL STATEMENT

My Neighbor is Not for Sale

We are pleased to present our sixth congregational discussion guide, “My Neighbor is Not for Sale.”Joining our previous studies – “My Neighbor is Muslim”, “My Neighbor is on Medicaid”, etc. – “My Neighbor is Not for Sale” brings congregations the facts, figures, and stories of the insidious world of sex trafficking of children and youth in our country. It also represents our first collaboration with Cherish All Children, a 10-year-old Lutheran social ministry, which has recently become a service of LSS of Minnesota.
It has been a shock to so many of us to learn that, what we used to call prostitution, has been quietly and quite creepily replaced by an Internet-driven industry of luring kids into phony relationships, controlling them, and selling them in the sex trade right under our noses in communities everywhere.
The images we grew up with of adult women on the corners of the “red light district” soliciting men has been replaced with an invisible web of adults preying on children and youth. Our new awareness has also made us question whether those women in the “red light district” ever really had many choices in life themselves.
Over the past couple of years, the State of Minnesota has contracted with LSS and others to offer “Safe Harbor” services in several communities that reach out to youth trapped in trafficking, help them escape the life, and support them in getting back into strong and healthy lives, utilizing our years of experience working with homeless youth.
Our new affiliation with Cherish All Children adds a rich dimension of congregational outreach and education and a focus on helping our children and youth protect themselves from trafficking by teaching them to beware of the signals that they are being lured into the danger zone.
I wish you blessings on your journey of awareness and enlightenment.
Jodi Harpstead, CEO
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
MY NEIGHBOR IS NOT FOR SALE download pdf

+Bishop’s Visitation to Confirmation Students
Bishop’s Visitation to Confirmation Students and their parents
Bishop Aitken invites you to request him for a Bishop’s Visitation to your Confirmation Class. What works best for his schedule is to schedule so these visitations are to clusters of congregations. He encourages parents to come that night as well so he can meet them and include them in the teaching time. He will teach the gospel, talk about Christian Vocation, the role of the Christian in our world, our call in Christ and end with Communion and Commissioning for service with Anointing oil from Palestine.

Bible and Brew Study Retreats

Believing and Having Faith
Bishop Aitken is open to leading a Bible and Faith Study for men’s, women’s or mixed men and women’s Retreats around the theme Belief and Faith. He uses the Gospels as well as other Biblical texts around the meanings of trust, fidelity, faith and believing. You could arrange with one of our Camps (where he has done these already) or at a location of your choosing. He presents a Biblical understanding of what faith and belief really are, and in particular, as a Lutheran Christian.
You may contact the synod office to make arrangements with him.

Minnesota Council of Churches Response to Executive Order on Refugees ..click here

"Evangelicals join Letter denouncing President Trumps order on Refugees" click HERE

ELCA on Gender Identity Discrimination
Click Here

Star Tribune feature: Crosslake Lutheran!
Click here to read the article!

2018 Compensation & Benefit Guidelines
2019 Compensation & Benefit Guidelines

Just what are Your Congregation's Intentions?

Lutheran Disaster Relief:
How you can help! click HERE

East Jerusalem Hospital Advocacy Update
The Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem has faced periodic financial challenges due to lack of payments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the treatment of patients referred to the hospital by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. To learn more about the background of the issues facing this Lutheran World Federation (LWF) run hospital see this Peace Not Walls blog.Earlier this year, the situation reached a critical level when the hospital had to turn patients away because it was running out of vital medication to treat those who were critically ill. While the PA at that time made promises to resolve the situation, in effect it has failed to do so. For further details see the latest LWF Advocacy Update.

Having been alerted to this crisis situation, on October 13 ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton wrote a letter to the PLO Ambassador in Washington, Dr. Husam Zomlot, appealing to him to bring the situation “to an immediate, positive conclusion.” You can read her letter here.

Contact your elected officials today at the ELCA Action Center, and ask them to convey these concerns to Ambassador Zomlot as well.

Ever wonder where your gifts to the church go?
see the following video.....and think about how you would like to give to mission support.
Get your intent form by clicking HERE.

Click to go to ELCA.org

Accepting Donations!

If you wish to donate to Mission Support click the donate button

A Pastoral Letter regarding
our Neighbors and the Gospel

May 31, 2018

To: All Northeastern Minnesota Synod Congregations
Greetings to you in Jesus’ name:

     You are a member of a church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Together, we are able to tackle difficult social issues with grace and courage. This is because we have been set free by the gospel. The core biblical and theological truth of God’s love in Christ, demonstrated through Jesus’ teachings, healings, the cross and resurrection, gives us confidence that we are justified by God’s amazing grace that sets us free to live like him.
    Over the past couple of years, many of you engaged deeply in the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Sermons were given all across this synod about Martin Luther’s incredible and life-changing biblical insights which free us from worrying about whether God really does love and save us. Like Luther, we are so empowered by this truth that we now use our lives and energy to love the neighbor; whoever that neighbor may be.
    With God’s love, we can courageously love and serve our neighbor and even learn to reconcile differences regardless of whatever religion or creed. In the culture we live in right now, we all know how dangerously volatile the attitudes are of some toward Muslims, Refugees, People of Color, Native Americans, LGBTQ persons and other marginalized individuals. Christians offer a different model to the world in how to deal with our neighbors.
    I commend all of you who have been in or are engaged in utilizing bible studies from our partners at Lutheran Social Service: And Who is My Neighbor? My Neighbor is Muslim, My Neighbor is Not for Sale, Not Even One Night (homeless youth). All resources are downloadable and can be found on the LSS Minnesota Website.
    “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”                                                                                                                                                                               -2 Corinthians 5:16-21
   You are empowered by Jesus to live like him. This is the promise of our baptism and the Holy Spirit’s work. His courage is in us. His gifts of compassion are already planted in our hearts. Be bold in the good work of compassion, understanding and blessing. Offer the world around you an alternate way of dealing with people who are different from you rather than the racism, bigotry, degradation, misrepresentation, fear and hatred we so often hear. Offer the way of the Christ who lives in you.
In Christ our Lord,

+Bishop Thomas M. Aitken

Current for Curran Fundraising Idea

This idea came from the East Central Wisconsin Synod women. The object is to “sell” each rectangle for $20. A filled board generates $500. To generate additional funds “sell” the rectangles more than once and/or get someone to provide matching dollars.

Purchase a 20”x30” sheet of black poster board.
Use narrow gray duct tape to divide it into 25 rectangles and also wrap the edges with the duct tape.
Use a gray Sharpie pen to make the vertical broken lines.
Create a description sheet, a cute sun and purchase some stickers of the sun. The stickers can be used to show that a panel has been purchased. If you have enough donors to fill the board more than once just put more stickers on each panel. Have fun with it.
Contact Mary Jo Mettler at djmjmettler@gmail.com and she will send you an electronic copy of her description and sun plus a vendor for stickers.

Current for Curran....

Dear Friends
As you know the solar project at Phebe Hospital is successfully generating power. In November 11 of us traveled to Phebe to celebration the formal dedication dedication of the system. It was an awesome event. As part of the trip we traveled to Curran Hospital in ZorZor, which is about 45 miles north of Phebe, but takes about 3 hours to travel to.That gives you some idea of the condition of the road. ZorZor is about a 30 minute drive from the Guinea border so many of the patients Curran treats come from there.

Curran will be the next recipient of a solar array similar to the one at Phebe. The solar panels for the array have been donated by First Solar, over $40,000 has been received from Women of the ELCA through the generous donations at the Triennial events in Minneapolis and just this week a donation of $2,000 was given that required a match before it would be received. Generous folks came forward and donated over $3,400.

We need to raise an additional $200,000 hopefully by Easter (86 days) Attached is a simple fundraising idea I got when I gave a presentation for the East Central Wisconsin Synod Women of the ELCA in November. I hope you will consider using it in your church or organization. Perhaps you can even find donor(s) who will match a portion of the donations collected.

Blessings on your day
Mary Jo Mettler

Bishop Aitken's Online May 7, 2018

A sincere thanks to all the Synod assembly planners, my Staff, the musicians, speakers, pages , Synod council, our vice president and secretary and all those who helped make the assembly a success! I just received a video from Pastor Konstatin from Cheboksary, Russia (one of our Companion Partners), please watch it!

Bishop Aitken's Response to President Trump's words and actions

I have not been able to ignore nor abide our president's recent remarks about people from other lands: Africa, Haiti etc...
When Christians recognize that our life in Christ calls us to joyful and ultimate loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ, and his alternate life-style of unconditional love and courage, we cannot but stand against bigoted statements and the systemic racism we live in. Our God-given faith calls us to engage the very underlying assumptions of the cultures of vulgarity, supremacy and bigotry. Jesus would be surprised by followers of his who do not see in every person someone that God loves whether near or far away from us. We who live "in Christ" as the New Testament declares over and over have been given the good and holy task of loving each person and coming to the aid of the marginalized. We are empowered already by the Spirit of God to boldly live into God's dream for the world which doesn't include demeaning others but as St. Paul says, lives joyfully into the reconciling work of Jesus.
Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord.
And open our lives to the courage of Jesus.

A Prayer of Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)
Grant to me, O God,
to know what I ought to know,
to love what I ought to love,
to pray what delights you most,
to value what is precious in your sight,
to hate what is offensive to you.
Do not allow me to judge according to the sight of my eyes,
Nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of the foolish;
But to discern with true judgment between things visible and spiritual,
And above all things to pursue what is the good pleasure of your holy will,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.