Assembly Highlights
Synod Council meeting
The Synod Council approved the updates to the synod constitution from the actions at the 2016 Churchwide Assembly to be brought to the NT-NL Assembly for a vote of acceptance.
The Synod Council approved San Mateo, Waco, as a Synodically Authorized Worshipping Community.
The Synod Council recognized the closing of Common Grace (a shared ministry with the Episcopal church), Stephenville.
The Synod Council approved SAWLs Jose “Frank” Salvador and Edy Santos (pictured here with their families, Bishop Gronberg, and Al Staggs as Martin Luther) to be the Fund for Leaders scholarship recipients for the 2017-2018 school year.
Ecumenical guests
We were honored to welcome four ecumenical guests to present to our 2017 Assembly leading up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation:
The Rev. George Mason, Senior Pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church
Fr. Robert Williams, Ecumenical Officer of the Roman Catholic Dallas Diocese (on behalf of Bishop Burns)
The Rev. George Sumner, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas
The Rev. Mike Thompson, Associate General Presbyter (on behalf of General Presbyter, The Rev. Jan Devries)
We highly recommend watching the recordings of their greetings. They were certainly a highlight for our attendees.
DEM Installation
We officially installed The Rev. Irma Bañales as the ELCA Director for Evangelical Mission, deployed to the NT-NL Synod.
Resolutions (in the order they were presented and passed)
Resolution #1: Supporting Undocumented Persons Among Us
Resolution #3: Creation Care, Climate Change, Support for Science
Churchwide Presentation
ELCA VP Bill Horne has graciously given us permission to share the slides from his presentation. To help explain those slides, see the following articles in Living Lutheran:
The Campaign for the ELCA: What you need to know (part one of three)
The Campaign for the ELCA: A look at domestic initiatives (part two of three)
The Campaign for the ELCA: A look at global initiatives (part three of three)
There were phenomenal workshops, a large number of displayers and vendors, including one with a working Gutenberg Press, and much more! We recorded most of the Assembly and will work to have that available soon.
Mark your calendars now. Join us next year, April 27-28, for our 2018 Assembly at Mayborn Conference Center in Temple, TX.
Website Update
Did you hear our exciting announcement from Assembly?! Coming soon to a browser near you. We will be bringing you new features to enhance your NT-NL online experience.
Our team has been hard at work behind the scenes developing a new NTNL.org. The website’s new look and improved functionality will give you a better user experience with seamless integration between your desktop / laptop computers and all mobile devices. We are paying extra attention to making all aspects of the website user-friendly, so the switch will be a breeze. Despite the improvement, we know change can be tough. We believe you will be just as pleased as we are with the final result.
The website is being given a tune-up:
* A new, modern look and feel
* We are integrating new search functions throughout the website. Everything will be faster and easier to find.
* We want to highlight again that our site is being rebuilt with responsive design, which means the site adjusts according to the screen size of your computer / mobile device or the window size of your browser
* Our online calendar is being upgraded and has several new features. For example, you will have the ability to export events from our synod calendar into your own online / mobile calendar with the click of a button.
* Each NT-NL ministry will have a dedicated set of pages (versus going to separate websites) – ministries like the Mission Endowment Fund, Public Witness Team for Peace and Justice, Parish Lay Mission Academy, and more!
* Each NT-NL worshipping community will have a dedicated and customizable info page that also can link to your website, social media accounts, and rostered leader(s) profiles also on our website
* Each NT-NL rostered leader will have a dedicated and customizable profile page with the option to have a photo as well
* And so much more!
Please note: This is a work in progress. We often make improvements in the background to support stability and performance to provide you with a more intuitive, secure, functional, and reliable web experience. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this process over the coming months.
Leadership Blogs
As part of the new website, we have begun to publish blogs by your Bishop, Bishop’s Associate (BA) for Leadership Formation and Congregational Care, and Director for Evangelical Mission (DEM). For now, you can access those here:
Once we upgrade to the new site, they will be featured on the home page and be included in the menus at the top and bottom of each webpage.
Featured Resource for May
Reformation 500 Anniversary Resources (by Augsburg Fortress)
October 31, 2017, will mark 500 years since the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation, spurred by Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-Five Theses. This is an important anniversary and one that deserves to be lifted up not just on a global scale—as it will be—but in your congregation and community as well.
Through several avenues, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Augsburg Fortress will be highlighting a wide range of ideas and possibilities from various sources with ways to mark and observe this milestone.
Save the Date
Benefiting LCM students at University of North Texas and Texas Women’s University
Where in the world is?
Bishop Gronberg:
- May 1-3 – Office closed
- May 4 – Assembly unpacking and debrief with staff
- May 5 – Church of the Damascus Road
- May 6 – Briarwood Gala
- May 7 – 75th Anniversary celebration, Trinity, Fort Worth
Pr. Totzke:
- May 1-3 – Office closed
- May 4 – Assembly unpacking and debrief with staff
- May 5-6 – Candidacy Committee meeting, Briarwood
- May 6 – Briarwood Gala
Pra. Bañales:
- May 1-3 – Office closed
- May 4 – Assembly unpacking and debrief with staff
Upcoming Events
- May 4-6: “Go Baptize, Make Disciples” Catechumenate Training Institute
- May 6: Briarwood Annual Gala
- May 7: Golf Outing & Fundraiser for Lutheran Campus Ministry in Denton
- May 13: Public Witness Team for Peace and Justice monthly meeting
- May 13: BRIDGES Book Club (joint event)
- May 20: PLMA Spring 2017 Course 3
- May 20: Mission Endowment Fund board meeting
- May 28 – Jun. 2: Spanish Language and Hispanic Ministry Intensive I
- Jun. 3-4: Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) National Celebration
- Jun. 10: Public Witness Team for Peace and Justice monthly meeting
- Jun. 11-16: Building Congregational Capacity for Hispanic Ministry (Intensive II)
- Jul. 8: Public Witness Team for Peace and Justice monthly meeting
- Jul. 13-16: “all anew” Women of the ELCA Tenth Triennial Gathering
- Jul. 21-23: The Bold Gathering (Lutheran Men in Mission)
Access our full online Calendar here. Updates made regularly.
Do you have news or announcements to share? Please submit to the Synod office (MissionOffice@ntnl.org) for consideration for our next NT-NL News.
Looking for information in past NT-NL News? Find NT-NL News archives here!