Mission of the Month: Accompaniment—A Life of Sharing
ELCA missionaries walk hand in hand with their brothers and sisters in the global church. It’s a life of sharing rather than leading.
“[We] walk with the people in our new communities, to share their sorrows, their victories, their lives for the short time we cross paths,” says Rachel Swenson, who is spending a year in South Africa as part of the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program.
“We are not sent to fix, to change, or to rectify. We are sent to live, sent to grieve with our brothers and sisters, sent to find God in seemingly hopeless situations,” she says.
Find out more and download this month’s bulletin insert here!
Get involved! Gifts to YAGM provide young adults the opportunity to grow in their faith and work hand-in-hand with our global neighbors. Learn more at www.ELCA.org/YAGMsupport
Have you signed up for Equal Exchange’s Red Cherry Challenge yet?
The Red Cherry Challenge is a one-year initiative to help coffee farmers confront some of their most urgent agricultural challenges. While coffee farming is always unpredictable, new and threatening challenges have emerged in recent years as a result of climate change. Now, farmers need our help to protect the future of coffee.
From June 10, 2014 to May 31, 2015, you can take the challenge and pledge to bring more fairly traded coffee to your community over the next year. By doing so, you ensure that farmers get the fair price they need to survive and build a future for themselves, their children and their farms.
When you make a pledge, Equal Exchange will donate 10 cents per pound of coffee you purchase through May 31, 2015 to the Red Cherry Fund. You won’t pay more for your coffee — all we ask is for your willingness to bring more coffee to your community. Our goal is to raise $15,000 for the Red Cherry Fund and help strengthen farmers in this time of challenges and changes.
Download a PDF of the flier here, or check their website for more information.
It’s a Christian rock festival in the middle of west Texas, Thursday Aug. 7-Saturday, Aug. 9. Wanna go? Need a place to say?
Christ’s, Hope, and Midland Lutheran Churches want to welcome you! Bring a sleeping bag, rock out with great music and chill out with great friends.
For more information, contact Richard Lamb at 432-385-4022 or ricalamb@grandecom.net. Download a promotional flier here!
The Name Gathering Project
Help Lutheran Campus Ministries collect names of new and returning college students for The Name Gathering Project. This is a nation-wide ELCA project—whether your young adults are staying close to home or heading to the opposite coast, please click here to submit their name and contact information, so local Lutheran Campus Ministries can invite them to “Come and See!”
For more information on NT-NL’s Lutheran Campus Ministries, please contact Pastor Celene Welch at pastor@lcmdenton.org.
Join the Rev. Judith Spindt, Director of Evangelical Mission for the Southwest Texas Synod, for Boundary Awareness Training on Tuesday, August 19 from 10:00-4:00 at Briarwood Retreat Center. The seminar will address how to establish and maintain personal and professional boundaries when dealing with coworkers, with parishioners, and with youth.
This one-day seminar is strongly recommended for all leaders in the church, rostered and lay, employed and volunteer. Most church insurance plans strongly recommend congregation leaders and staff attend this training; rostered leaders are expected to complete this training at least once every three years.
All staff and volunteers who work with youth and children should attend.
Cost for the seminar is $12 for lunch. To register (to attend in person or via live stream) please email Pastor Jane at jane@ntnl.org.
The NT-NL Mission Area will observe Global Church Sunday on Sunday, Sept. 21.
Congregations are invited to celebrate our church’s connection and common mission within Christ’s global church by sponsoring a Global Church Sunday. Celebrate by taking a special offering for an ELCA missionary or global ministry, hosting a coffee hour with treats from around the world or including global songs in your worship service.
A toolkit of these and other ideas for congregations will be released this August. For more information, contact globalchurch@elca.org.
Upcoming Events in the NT-NL Mission Area and Beyond:
- Jul. 18-20: Lutheran Men in Mission’s Triennial Gathering, “Guys, Guts, and God’s Glory”
- Jul. 24-27: Women of the ELCA’s Ninth Triennial Gathering, “Of Many Generations”
- Jul. 28-30: Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Region 3 Summer Conference
- Aug. 19: Boundary Awareness Seminar
- Sep. 7: “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday
- Sep. 12: Briarwood Golf Outing
- Sep. 21: Global Church Sunday
- Sep. 23: NT-NL Table Talk: Moral Injury
- Oct. 2: Luther Then, Bonhoeffer Now – Dr. Larry Rasmussen
- Oct. 5: NT-NL’s Definitely-Abled Sunday
- Oct. 10-12: NT-NL Synodical Women’s Organization Convention (Abilene, TX)
- Oct. 11: MEF’s Seeds that Change Dinner
- Oct. 27-29: Bishop’s Convocation
- Apr. 21-May 8, 2015: In Search of Paul: An Aegean Odyssey A LEAD pilgrimage for rostered leaders and church professionals
- Apr. 24-26, 2015: NT-NL Mission Assembly