Dear Partners in Mission:
Sunday night a fast moving line of storms crossed over the NT-NL territory. With it came rain, lightning, and thankfully very few other weather related issues. It also brought lower temps and hopefully fall is now here to stay. As we are fully into the fall activities in our churches and communities it can be hard to think about next year. Yet that is important as well. 6 months from now we will be gathering for assembly, we pray the first one in person since 2019, at the campus of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, April 29-30, 2022.
We also are planning for and working on the 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering. This amazing event occurs usually every 3 years, this time delayed to 2022 but again happening in Minneapolis, MN. As we did in 2018 we will have a bishop’s group for congregations with 3 or few youth attending. We will provide the planning, adult sponsors, and transportation for a fixed cost to allow these young people to attend. Information about that and the gathering is included below.
But before we get to that, this Saturday we have a big event to celebrate and raise funds for our Mission Endowment Fund. Over the past few weeks you have seen 20 inspirational videos shared by leaders across our synod encouraging you to be generous in supporting this mission and ministry of the NT-NL synod. We are blessed to have an endowment that enables our synod to be innovative and adaptive. This resource helped us in 2020 by supporting congregations unable to get PPP loans in the wake of the pandemic. It annually supports over $80,000 in mission and ministry new offerings as well. I encourage you to take part in this online event Saturday and be generous in your gifts. https://giftedandgiving.org/
Fall reminds us to give thanks. This fall I give thanks for you and the work we do together.
In Mission Together,
Bishop Gronberg