Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly?
Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here.
Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here.
"While salvation is a free gift of God, discipleship costs everything." – Bishop Bill Gohl
Our final assembly day was filled with business before our closing worship. Some highlights include:
The Rev. Bernard Barber (All Saints, Baltimore) sent us off with a powerful word at our closing service, reminding us to remember whose hands we are in. "Two loaves of fish and bread in my hands are a couple of fish sandwiches...in God’s hands, they feed thousands."
Thanks be to God for our gathering this week!
Our final assembly day was filled with business before our closing worship. Some highlights include:
- Deacon Julie shared a “catechism moment” about the Apostles' Creed and how it connects us with other Christians, reminding us how much we have in common. Who has encouraged your faith in times of doubt? Take a moment and be grateful for them.
- Bishop Gohl offered his report. He started from a place of gratitude, for his family, for the staff, and for the servants of this church. The bishop asked for forgiveness for times when he has disappointed us, knowingly or unknowingly. The demands of the office are great. A challenge: we must live within our means. Mission support is a commitment to ministry we cannot do alone - we have to be our brother and sister's keeper. Unless we change, we will certainly die. "When our hope is in Christ and not in our bishop, our constitution, programs, or process...that hope will never disappoint us."
- Vice President Auger gave an enthusiastic report about his work this past year. Vision 2018 has four key components: Discipleship, Communication, Connectedness, and Leadership. The most important is Discipleship - everything else facilitates that. We are over our goal for Forward in Faith capital campaign with 18 months to go! So we are resetting the goal for $3.5 million. We need to embrace change boldly together!
- We adopted “A Resolution on Welcoming the Neighbor: Migrants and Refugees” and “A Memorial on Welcoming the Neighbor: Migrants and Refugees” (A resolution calls for work from our synod, a memorial calls for work from the wider ELCA and will go to the next churchwide assembly) You can read both documents on our website.
- Deacon Julie Stecker and Adam Fairchild shared a bit about Youth + Family Ministries in our synod. Youth events are the main way the synod does faith formation for middle and high schoolers. The leadership development work that happens through the LYO (Lutheran Youth Organization) is one of the best ministries we do together - and you can encourage students who will be in high school next year to apply now! Strong youth ministry strengthens congregations. Send your youth to the ELCA Youth Gathering next summer!
- 130 individuals and 82 congregations from our synod have invested $13.1 million in the Mission Investment Fund of the ELCA. Twenty-two congregations are supported by MIF loans in the amount of $9 million.
- We saw a video on LEAD (Living Every day As Disciples), a process that is allowing congregations to live fully into their practice as disciples in the world.
The Rev. Bernard Barber (All Saints, Baltimore) sent us off with a powerful word at our closing service, reminding us to remember whose hands we are in. "Two loaves of fish and bread in my hands are a couple of fish sandwiches...in God’s hands, they feed thousands."
Thanks be to God for our gathering this week!