In This Edition
Featured Blog Post
Registration Deadline for Synod Assembly
Coaching for Leaders
Portico Benefit Services Updates
Clergy & Ministerial Ethics Online Training
Online Memorial Service Guide
Weekly Online Gatherings for ELCA Leaders
Upcoming Events
Featured Blog Post
Dear NT-NL Leaders:
Christ is Risen, Christ is Risen Indeed, Allelluia!!!
With this shout, either in a sanctuary, outdoors, parking lot, streamed into and responded in a home (or at least one I saw from a beach) across our territory the good news is proclaimed. The grave once again defeated and new life proclaimed for God’s creation. This is the holy message with which we have been Entrusted and you, faithful leaders, proclaim and share now into the 50 days of Easter Joy.
In this time of Easter we are looking forward to our 2021 online synod assembly 9am-3pm on April 24th. We are pleased to see so many have already registered. If you have not please do so by April 11th so our staff can adequately prepare. A reminder that visitors can observe the assembly online streamed to our Facebook channel.
During the 2021 assembly we will be electing voting members for the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to be held August 8-12, 2022 in Columbus, OH. For this assembly our constitution dictates we need to elect 6 individuals: 2 lay (male/female), 2 lay young adult (male/female under 30 at time of election), and 2 rostered (male/female). At least one of these elected must be a person of color/primary language other than English. If you wish to nominate yourself or someone you know, please ensure they are able to attend the assembly and then have them fill out a vita form online.
I realize that after the work of Lent/Easter I bring you today more things to think about. Given all we have experienced in the last 13 months as leaders in the church you are rightly tired. Tired not just physically but emotionally from the constant barrage of questions and decisions to be made, navigating the competing expectations of your community and family, and leading in a divided and divisive time. So I pray you are taking some time for sabbath rest on a regular basis. While we may have hoped 2021 would bring less challenges than 2020 the reality is you are in a new season of leadership in church and society. For you to thrive in this time, to care for yourself and those you have been Entrusted with, you will need to build margin into your daily and weekly routines. This is what the law of Sabbath is to be for us. A reminder that daily/weekly space, rest, care for self and others, is an essential part of your life so that you can lead effectively.
We are Entrusted with a great many things. At our assembly you will hear more from Bishop Mike Girlinghouse about how you can honor the past and yet look towards God’s future. To take the time needed to recognize grief and loss as keys to moving into the future. To claim nostalgia not as an anchor of the past but as strength for the journey ahead.
For all you have done over the past many months to lead your community faithfully into the future I give thanks. As we celebrate Easter and look towards the season of the church, Pentecost, I have great hope. The mission field is before us, we have been Entrusted with God’s mysteries, God’s grace is given for you.
In the Risen Christ,
Bishop Gronberg
Registration Deadline for Synod Assembly
Registration for Voting Members ($50) closes April 11:
https://tithe.ly/event-registration/#/3176027
Registered Voting Members will receive a Zoom Meeting login link the week of Assembly.
Visitors will be able to participate via Facebook (no account required). Registration not required.
Details will be updated on the event page here: https://www.ntnl.org/event/2021-synod-assembly/.
Coaching for Leaders
Do you know what Coaching is and why we keep talking about it? Here’s a short video that explains it:
Interested in learning more? https://www.ntnl.org/ministries/coaching/
We also have coaches who have trained in grief, loss, and end of life (including living losses).
To request a coach to journey with you, contact jason@ntnl.org, who will coordinate with Bishop Gronberg and ELCA Coaching.
Portico Benefit Services Updates
Stress is a pain in the neck: If you’re literally feeling the effects of too many hours staring at a computer screen, sitting in a not-so-ergonomically-correct chair, or carrying a year’s worth of pandemic worries in your shoulders, Members with ELCA-primary health benefits now have access to SWORD, a virtual therapy program for joint pain available at no out-of-pocket cost. Watch this short video for an introduction, and learn more about SWORD on myPortico.
Get the best rest. Good sleep is as much a factor of whole-person well-being as diet, exercise, and prayer. Check out the small steps you can take to set yourself up for healthy sleep on 2021 Live Well. Focusing on sleep for part of your Lent journey? ELCA-Primary members, both Being and Learn to Live offer more in-depth coaching and tracking that can help you make meaningful, lasting change.
Clergy & Ministerial Ethics Online Training
Safe Gatherings is now offering Clergy & Ministerial Ethics online training, which meets the ELCA boundaries training requirements for rostered leaders. Now you can complete your abuse prevention and clergy ethics training all in one convenient place.
This 2-hour, 6-module online course tackles the tough topics of clergy and ministers today. You will learn:
· The top ethical issues faced by leaders, including technology, sexual misconduct and abuse, addiction, narcissistic behavior, plagiarism and more
· The need for written ethical codes of conduct in churches and congregations
· Scenarios and common situations that provoke thinking about personal behavior
· A roadmap and guidance to ethical behavior
· The importance of ethics training and review on a regular basis
This course is available for just $22 per user. Call 1.888.241.8258 to get started.
Online Memorial Service Guide
This FREE tool from our partners at Reimagine (and Quaranteam) includes a guide, checklist, and customizable templates for an online memorial service.
It is based on research with others who have lost friends and family members during the COVID-19 pandemic and the online memorials they have created.
This was designed by experts in the end-of-life space in partnership with technologists and is based on the inspiring real stories of those who have hosted their own memorials during crises.
Weekly Online Gatherings for ELCA Leaders
BEING CHURCH
Wednesdays, 1PM Central
Login information is shared here: https://www.elcacoaching.org/
This month’s schedule:
April 7 – Life of Faith: Trusting Jesus. Serving Our Neighbors. – Craig Nessan, Dwight Dubois
April 14 – The Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent-Important Matrix) – The Rev. Dana Peterson, DEM for the Rocky Mountain Synod
April 21 – Growing Young: Prioritize Young People (and Families) Everywhere – Rachel Alley and others
April 28 – (Likely the final online gathering, at least for a while)
You are invited to join this weekly online gathering designed to provide encouragement and support for ELCA leaders across the church. Participants will hear topical presentations related to how we are called to be Church, as well as have an opportunity to be in small group discussions with an ELCA group coach facilitating the conversation. This is where the magic happens. All of this is designed to help us process our emotions and thus create a space where we can each name our next most faithful step forward in our unique context. You are welcome to share this invitation with any other ELCA leader, rostered or lay. #ELCAChurchTogether
How have we been church, with individuals and with communities? How are we being church? How are we called to be church with all people, with creation, and in an ever-changing world?
We understand a number of folks are unable to make this day and time each week. We record the main session and the wrap-up time. We share each recording with supporting documents here by the following day: https://www.elcacoaching.org/being-church.
Upcoming Events
With the ever-changing guidelines and recommendations in our world right now, as we maintain physical distance in social solidarity, please keep in mind these events may be moved online, postponed, or cancelled:
- Apr. 7: Weekly Online Gathering for ELCA Leaders – Life of Faith: Trusting Jesus. Serving Our Neighbors. with Craig Nessan, Dwight Dubois, Zoom
- Apr. 8: Weekly NT-NL Leadership Prayer, Check-in, Zoom
- Apr. 10: Public Witness Team meeting, Online
- Apr. 11: LAST DAY TO REGISTER FOR SYNOD ASSEMBLY
- Apr. 14: Weekly Online Gathering for ELCA Leaders – The Eisenhower Matrix (Urgent-Important Matrix) with Rev. Dana Peterson, Zoom
- Apr. 15: Weekly NT-NL Leadership Prayer, Check-in, Zoom
- Apr. 17: PLMA, Spring 2021, Course 2, Online
- Apr. 18: EcoFaith Summit 2021, Zoom
- Apr. 21: Weekly Online Gathering for ELCA Leaders – Growing Young: Prioritize Young People (and Families) Everywhere with Rachel Alley and others, Zoom
- Apr. 22: Weekly NT-NL Leadership Prayer, Check-in, Zoom
- Apr. 23: Synod Council and Deans Meeting, Online
- Apr. 24: 2021 Synod Assembly, Online
- Apr. 28: Weekly Online Gathering for ELCA Leaders – TBA, Zoom
- Apr. 29: Weekly NT-NL Leadership Prayer, Check-in, Zoom
For a complete list of upcoming events, you can access our Calendar of Events online.