Inspiring Generosity: NT-NL Stewardship Team Highlighted in Living Lutheran

Our synod is featured in this Living Lutheran article: Inspiring generosity: New stewardship project engages toddlers to centenarians.

…In the years since its introduction, the Generosity Project has grown legs, expanding from Alaska to Delaware and points between.

In the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod, the resource has taken off in a big way, particularly in the Latino community. Rev. Irma Bañales, the synod’s director for evangelical mission, helped launch the initiative in the Panhandle Conference. The response was so positive, she suggested they take it to other Spanish-speaking congregations, reaching as far as Chicago, where she helped launch a pilot program.

Bañales sees the resource not only as a means to open eyes and hearts to stewardship, but also to connect congregants who can bring something special to each other’s lives. She relates her own experience of not having a close relationship with grandparents, and those of members whose children and grandchildren live far away, filling a void in their lives through the cross-generational fellowship.

“It’s another way to experience the pieces we haven’t had in our childhood,” Bañales added. “And the children have the opportunity to feel really welcome and like, ‘They care about us.’ It’s not a lecture—it’s really listening and putting it into practice in the moment with games and activities.”

Bañales is working with Staats and others to create a Spanish version of the Generosity Project to launch later this year….

Click here to read the full article.

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The Church’s Identity

What’s really causing church decline … and what we can do about it? Watch the insightful keynote address from Luther Seminary’s Faithful Innovation Summit this past summer:

Dwight Zscheile (VP of Innovation, Luther Seminary) and Michael Binder (Affiliate Professor at Luther Seminary and Co-Lead Pastor at Mill City Church, Minneapolis) ask what we can do to renew the church’s identity and help it join God’s work in the 21st century in this keynote address from the Faithful Innovation Summit, July 24-26, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Download Slides from the Presentation.

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Season of doubt | Temporada de dudas

In her November column for Living Lutheran, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton compares doubt to winter—it can seem long, cold, barren, isolating and lonely. But she reminds us that doubt is part of faith—and God will carry us through the winter. Read her column in English: Season of doubt o lee su columna en español: Temporada de dudas.

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Save the Date

Bishop Gronberg:

Men in Mission, Our Saviors Smorgasbord, Briarwood Hoops and More: #Milesandmiles

(https://www.ntnl.org/men-in-mission-our-saviors-smorgasbord-briarwood-hoops-and-more-milesandmiles/ – published Nov. 9)

Rick Steves at SMU: Travel as a Spiritual Act

(https://www.ntnl.org/rick-steves-at-smu-travel-as-a-spiritual-act/ – published Nov. 11)

Campus Ministry Fundraiser at Briarwood

(https://www.ntnl.org/campus-ministry-fundraiser-at-briarwood/ – published Nov. 14)

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Where in the world is?

Bishop Gronberg:

• Nov. 17: Trinity, Posey and Grace, Slayton
• Nov. 20: ELCA Churchwide Leadership Director Interviews
• Nov. 21: Joy, Rockwall Church Council

Pastor Totzke:

• Nov. 20: First Sagrada Familia council meeting, Garland
• Nov. 21: Lutheran Campus Ministry Thanksgiving dinner

Pastora Bañales:

• Nov. 20: Ministry Review
• Nov. 21: Stewardship Team meeting