In person synod meeting
Click here to read the summary of the synod meeting held April 27-29, 2025.
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Coaching Directory
The Synod Committee on Transforming Communities/Vital Leaders is compiling a dynamic list and directory of people who are trained coaches and are open to serving more people. This directory will be posted on the Synod website and information will be shared with every presbytery about the availability of coaches for pastoral leaders.
Are you a trained coach who is open to working with more people? If so, we would like to add you to an upcoming directory of coaches that can be used by pastoral leaders in the Synod. Please give us some basic information by completing this form to be included in the directory.
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Nonviolence, fear and hard questions
What if God actually meant, “thou shalt not kill?” — Laurie Lyter Bright
“Allowables,” a brief poem by the great Nikki Giovanni, tells the simplest of stories: the speaker encounters a “papery” little spider, which scares her, though she knows it poses no danger. She smashes it in her moment of fear. She ends the poem by wondering whether one is permitted “To kill something / Because I am / Frightened.”
The line between poet and prophet is thin, sometimes nonexistent. Giovanni reveals something shameful and difficult about the impulses of humanity: when we are afraid, we cause harm. For Christians, nonviolence takes to heart the refrain of Jesus Christ to “fear not!” To practice nonviolence is to overcome our inclination to harm in the face of threat. To practice nonviolence is to see fear for what it is and to disallow its rule over our beliefs and actions. Read more
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Where can we go this summer that has something for everyone?
Synod School!
Choose from a variety of classes: Bible exploration, faith and culture, creativity, congregational life, literature and much more. There are programs for children and youth planned for each age group. Daily intergenerational worship, evening activities for all including tie dyeing, and no cooking for a week (unless you take a cooking class 😊). Visit our website for more information.
Come join us!
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‘His name is George Floyd’
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Samuels delivers a riveting talk at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis
LOUISVILLE — Robert Samuels, a national enterprise reporter with the Washington Post and the winner, along with co-author Toluse Olorunnipa, of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, drew a large and appreciative crowd to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis Tuesday [May 13] to talk about “His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.” Samuels’ talk was part of the Westminster Town Hall Forum’s Arc Toward Justice series.
Samuels was introduced by R.T. Rybak, a former Minneapolis mayor and now the president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation. Watch Samuels’ compelling talk and the questions that followed here. Rybak introduces Samuels at the 42:20 mark.
Samuels described “a big curiosity” about how Floyd ended up at a convenience store called Cup Foods on the day former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, a white man, murdered him almost exactly five years ago by kneeling on his neck for nearly 10 minutes. Samuels said he begged a friend from college to take him to the apartment building where one of the woman who was with Floyd that day lived. She asked Samuels, “You’re really writing about Floyd?” “I said, ‘I want to make sure we do it the right way,’” Samuels told the woman. She responded, “I want to do my part to make sure it’s right.” Read more
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Day of Learning: Storytelling, Stewardship, and Generosity
Join the Presbyterian Foundation on Thursday, June 26 for another informative online Day of Learning, designed for churches, mid councils, and ministries to learn more about how to use the power of storytelling to increase stewardship, planned giving, and generosity. You’ll hear from experts who have worked with hundreds of congregations just like yours. This event is FREE, and we will be happy to take your questions. Sign up even if you can’t attend in person; we’ll provide resources and recordings following the Day of Learning. Register
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Rural Ideas Conference
A gathering where every single person lives and works in a rural area or small town.
This summer Town Square Collaborative will launch the first annual Rural Ideas Conference. This inaugural 3-day event from July 16-18, 2025 is offered free of charge through the generosity of the Lilly Endowment for Religion. It will create a space which focuses exclusively on rural congregations and offers opportunities for leaders and congregants to share opportunities and challenges in a place designed uniquely for them. To register for the conference, or to learn more about the Town Square Collaborative, we invite you to visit our website.
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Nearly two-thirds of Stillman College’s Class of 2025 graduates with honors
Google Vice President Melonie D. Parker addresses the 121 graduates and their many well-wishers
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Stillman College, founded in 1876 by the Presbyterian Church, celebrated its 2025 Commencement on Saturday as 65% of graduates earned honors, showcasing the institution’s unwavering commitment to academic excellence.
The ceremony, held in Birthright Alumni Hall due to inclement weather, celebrated 121 graduates and highlighted the growing partnership between Stillman and Google, which presented a $30,000 gift to the college. Read more.
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Stillman College is a Historically Black College affiliated with the PCUSA.
Jim Koon, Director of Financial Services for the synod, serves on the Board of Trustees.
Stillman Professor Gordon Givens and Jim Koon will be teaching together at Synod School.
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CAMP: A Planning Retreat for Clergy
Are you a worship planner or preacher looking for sacred space to prepare for the coming year? Consider joining us at CAMP, August 17-21, in Alta, Wyoming.
Creative theologians will lead you in preparation for the upcoming worship year through biblical and musical support. CAMP is structured enough to provide opportunities for shared learning and preparation, and loose enough to feed the spirits of those seeking study, sabbath, and play in the backyard of the Grand Tetons. Learn more
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Native American Artist
Fern Cloud
ST PAUL, Minn. — Decades of history can be found in a single painting.
Fern Cloud is a Native American artist who shares her peoples' stories by preserving the way her ancestors told them: through hide painting.
“My passion, I guess, is to preserve what our ancestors created in terms of buffalo hide paintings,” Cloud said. “Preserving that intellectual knowledge sort of speak of traditional methods using buffalo bones brushes, willow sticks, natural paint pigments.” Read the rest of the KARE11 article and watch the video by clicking here.
Cloud is a Teaching Elder in the Presbytery of Dakota, the non-geographic presbytery of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, and serves as the presbytery's Stated Clerk. She will be the Artist-in-Residence at the PW Gathering in June. Photo credit Fern Cloud.
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The Sower
Newsletter for the Presbyterian Women in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, May Issue
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The LeaderWise Learning Hour
Each quarter in 2025, join LeaderWise at no-cost to learn from an expert about a topic, to share conversation with peers, and to download helpful resources for your files. We know that ministry leadership is more difficult now than ever and that many leaders feel they are alone.
Learn more
3Practices Circle
Discovery Circle: What's drawing us together instead of driving us apart?
Throughout 2025, emilie boggis, LeaderWise consultant and trained 3Practices referee, will lead a monthly 3Practices Circle for our community to give us space to practice staying in the room with difference. Feel free to invite a friend. Rather than reaching agreement, the goal is to gain greater clarity about one another. You can attend as many Circles as works for your schedule, next session is June 6 at 11:00 CT, one hour. Information & Registration
CrossForm informational session
CrossForm is a unique approach to equipping congregations for 21st century ministry. Congregations form a team of participants. The program is designed around five immersions over a 15-month period with monthly minister group coaching via zoom. Information session June 10, 1 hour, starting at 1:00 CT. Information & Registration
Faithful Leadership in Times of Economic Uncertainty
This is a three-part workshop for faith leaders who may feel derailed, overwhelmed, or unprepared in dealing with church financial issues. Build awareness and skills to remain confident and calm in conversations about money, however conflictual and stressful they may be. Learn how to strengthen faithful leadership by exploring your own relationship to money, consider how financial stressors may shift your behaviors as a leader, and strengthen your own capacity to manage stress in these conversations. July 10, July 17 & July 24. Learn more
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‘Good Morning America’ anchor Robin Roberts announces children’s book honoring her late mother
Roberts family matriarch, Lucimarian Roberts, was a beloved ruling elder in the PC(USA)
LOUISVILLE — Joyfully remembering her mother Lucimarian Roberts — whose gentle presence and angelic voice graced many Presbyterian spaces throughout her lifetime — Robin Roberts announced the release on Tuesday of a new children’s book celebrating her late mother.
In a Tuesday [May 14] Facebook post, Robin Roberts described “Lucy Sings on Lucy Street,” written by her siblings, Sally-Ann Roberts and Lawrence “Butch” Roberts, as “a beautiful book about how momma shared her passion for music and the impact it had on her life.”
Read more
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Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network
2025 Conference - Bridging Generations
Navigating Difficult Conversations and Embracing
New Opportunities
September 16-19, 2025
Frasier Retirement Community, Boulder Colorado
Register by August 10 for Early Pricing on registration and hotel.
We welcome ministry leaders, chaplains, and lay leaders to learn fresh perspectives on older adult ministry. Come ready to be inspired with new ideas to implement. Leave with tools to deepen your spiritual connection to serving older adults in your faith community.
The workshops will help you address emerging challenges and needs of older adults, caregivers, and faith communities. Click here for conference details.
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Next Synod Meeting:
Sep. 28 & 29, Zoom
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"Murphy the Boss Cat of Little Earth"
Murphy makes his home at Little Earth community center, Minneapolis. The story explores the bond between Leech Lake elder Calvin Nicholas and the cat Murphy, and how their friendship developed while living at Little Earth.
“[It’s about] caring for each other, about caring for our four-leggeds, about how we gain strength from the love of others,” Author Roxanne Biidaabinokwe Gould
Find out more.
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