Today's Top Stories:

Coming soon: Fall Theological Conference Information.
Power and Boundaries Training event
WHEN: Thursday, August 24th, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
WHERE: Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Cloquet, Minnesota
COST:  $20 Covers registration, materials and lunch.
Presenters: Pastor Kevin Olson and Pastor Karen Bockleman.
REGISTRATION: CLICK HERE Or call the synod office at 218-724-4424. Attendance for Pastors and Deacons is expected, as always.
We will learn about risky behavior that leads to misconduct.

Our synod office keeps a record of attendance at Power and Boundary Training Events and we file a certificate of completion in your file upon completion of the training.
All rostered leaders are expected to participate in one of these workshops at least every three years.

From Scripture: I Peter 5:2-3
“Tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it – not for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge but be
examples to the flock.”

Words taken from our vows as Rostered Leaders: “Care for God’s people, bear their burdens and do not betray their confidence. So discipline yourself in life and teaching that you preserve the truth giving no occasion for false security or illusory hope…………..Grant that in all things he/she may serve without reproach, that your people may be renewed and your name be glorified in the Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.”

From Vision and Expectations: “The Evangelical Lutheran church in America has high expectations for those who serve within the ministry of this church. It does so because it recognizes that when offense is given by (a rostered leader) the witness of the gospel may be impaired and the ability to carry out public ministry is threatened.

Bless you in the ministry you have accepted and live out so well by God’s grace,
Bishop Tom Aitken

God's Work. Our Hands. Sunday Sept 10, 2017

Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota has a few projects for God's Work.Our Hands. Sunday. Click here for more information

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.

Resources
from
Bishop Aitken
Bishops Online August 14, 2017
Charlottesville, racism and the new life in Christ 
 
For all the blatant hatred and violence, for all the tribalism, small-mindedness and racism imbedded in this past week-end in Charlottesville, I know that racism and prejudice runs deep in this country.  Like you, I have been angry and saddened at the death-dealing results of hatred in Charlottesville.  The past four days with bishops and spouses of Region 3 took us into racially stereotyped areas of the Twin Cities.  Fear and hatred of those who are different from us doesn't happen just in other states, it happens in this state, and in my town and yours. Even in our own hearts.
 
  I realized during the devotions at All Nations Indian Church last Friday that I needed to take my own inventory not simply the inventory of others.   I needed to re-learn that racism is not confined to a few individuals but that it is systemic and part of the fabric of our country, and I am complicit in it as well.  My own heart needs cleansing; my own eyes need to see more clearly my white privilege.  Racism is not confined to those who are holding torches, spewing racial slurs, driving into people and carrying out violence in Charlottesville.  
 
 But there is also something else going on in the midst of this evil.  The people at Redeemer Lutheran and All Nations Indian Church in Minneapolis, and Zion Lutheran in St. Paul, decided to do evil’s opposite:  To work in their neighborhoods to cultivate understanding, peace,  and concrete acts of love. The Holy Spirit moves among people, everywhere.  We who were joined to Jesus' death and resurrection in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Romans 6) have been given this Spirit.  It's a gift that is yearning to get used in us, for the purposes of God.  It is in you, like yeast in the dough, like the seed in the soil, like a treasure in a field.  Let us be bold to use it in our daily conversation.  Let us live into God's dream, God's intent, God's Kingdom (reign)  and into Jesus' alternate life of courageous love.
 
This week, I ask you to join me in paying careful attention to the second and third Petition  of the Lord's Prayer, the “Jesus” prayer Christians pray daily:
 
​".....Thy kingdom come
       Thy will be done,
        On earth as it is in heaven....."  
And, may it also come through us.
 
+Bishop Thomas M. 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.

2017-2018 Young Adults in Global Mission
from the Northeastern Minnesota Synod

Lars Anderson:Concordia Lutheran Church in Duluth, VLM and Zion Lutheran, Cloquet.  Lars will be  Serving in Jerusalem/West Bank
to email, click here             

Lauren Elwell: First Lutheran,Duluth. She will serve in Madagascar.
to email, click here

Hannah Sackett: Worked at Wilderness Canoe Base, located north of Grand Marais on the Gunflint Trail. She will be serving in Rwanda.                 to email, click  here
Great article in the Star Tribune featuring Crosslake Lutheran!
Click here to read the article!

Update on PV for Phebe: Click HERE

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+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

2017 Compensation & Benefit Guidelines
2018 Compensation & Benefit Guidelines
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Click to go to ELCA.org

Contact Us:
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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

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