The Office of the Bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA is located on the traditional territory of the Chumash, Tongva, and Kizh people. The SWCA Synod rests on the traditional territory of over 11 different indigenous people. 

Here is a resource you can use to find out more information about the traditional keepers of the land on which you live, work or travel.

2023 Compensation Workbook (includes Salary Guides for Rostered Leaders and Supply Pastor Reimbursement)

Finding Our Way isn’t a podcast about answers. It is an exploration into ourselves, and the skills we need to create and embody the world we want.

The Discover and Invite Workbook guides transition teams as they work with minimal staff support to tell the story of their congregation in an honest and compelling way. If you think it might be helpful for your congregation, but you’d like to know a bit more, click here for a PDF.

Question? Contact Pr. Marj at marj@livingtheresurrection.com 

Visit Bishop Brenda's Facebook Page to see what she gets up to around the synod. Photo: Bishop Brenda, Rev. Jim Boline, and Vicar Natalie Benson at Theoasis (theological oasis) in La Quinta.

#B3SWCA

LRCC Outdoor Instructor: Lutheran Retreats, Camps and Conferences is looking for Outdoor School Instructors for our Spring 2023 season! Our season starts with a comprehensive training in March and ends in June (with the opportunity to work year-round if interested). Find out more at the link!

Email admin@socalsynod.org if you are interested.

The Southwest California Synod is a Reconciling In Christ Synod, making a public commitment to welcome, include and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people. For information about becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation or organization, please contact the Region 2 RIC Coordinator or the RIC office.

We are a Lutheran Restoring Creation Synod. Lutherans Restoring Creation is a grassroots movement promoting care for creation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, cultivating a community of dedicated stewards of earth and neighbor who proclaim God’s promise of hope and healing for all.

We are a Jubilee USA Network Synod. There are over 650 national and local faith groups that work with Jubilee USA to address the root causes of poverty and inequality. Congregations and faith communities are a critical moral champions on economic policies that impact our lives. Jubilee faith communities play a pivotal role in winning debt, tax, trade and transparency policies that protect vulnerable people and economies.

Assistant to the Bishop for Faith Formation & In-house Theologian

Assistant to the Bishop for Senior Adult Ministries

Assistant to the Bishop for Congregational Care

Youth Ministry Coordinator and Organizer

Properties and Facilities Manager

Like many feeding programs within the synod, Central, Van Nuys gives out food to people in their community every week. Central's weekly distribution went from an average of 200 family units, to over 350 at the beginning of the pandemic. Some weeks they serve almost 500 households, representing more than 2,200 people. They gave out 450 turkeys for Thanksgiving 2020, and well over 600 in 2021.

For food pantries, Holiday food drives bolster food stores, raise awareness of their work, build community relationships, and give an opportunity for volunteers of every level to find their servant’s heart. At Central, a team of high school and college age youth join congregation and community volunteers for twice-weekly food distribution. Due to inflation and supply chain issues, turkeys are up as much 75% this year - Central, through the LA Food Bank, has secured prices that are only 50% higher than last year. For $30 per household, you can sponsor a turkey and help Central cover the overhead it takes to distribute it.

When volunteers from My Friends House went to the LA Food Bank warehouse this summer to pick up a regular delivery of milk, they accidentally ended up with an entire pallet -- 430 half-gallons, and far more than My Friends House could accommodate. Volunteer Renee Brandt (Lutheran Church of the Foothills, La Cañada) had 150 half-gallons of milk on her hands that, because of this year’s record-breaking heat, had to be distributed FAST to feeding programs that had both the refrigerator space and enough people who could use it. 

Thanks to some calls around the synod and willingness to transport the load anywhere, Renee was able to deliver 25 gallons of milk to the NoHo Home Alliance at St. Matthew’s, North Hollywood, and 50 gallons to the ACTION Food Pantry in Covina. Cheryl Miller, Board Ambassador and a founding member of ACTION, said the unexpected delivery was a timely gift, as they usually don’t get fresh milk in quantity and are serving increasing numbers of families.

These outreach ministries need your assistance to go the extra mile this year – through prayer, volunteers (your hands, God’s work), and donations. Please consider supporting them – or find your local feeding program – both before as well as during Giving Tuesday (November 29 this year); food pantry needs increase before Thanksgiving, and any head start is welcome.

The mission of My Friends House, Inc. is hunger prevention and healthy living -- not only through their weekly food pantry, but also through the Parish Nurse and Creative Chefs programs. They serve seniors, the unemployed and underemployed, the working poor and others on limited incomes, women and children and the homeless - they also provide vocational training for youth moving out of foster care. You can support their programs here.

Since 2016 St. Matthews, North Hollywood has supported the NoHo Home Alliance, a weekly drop-in program for a rapidly growing homeless and low-income populations. Their outreach team also visits unhoused community members where they live to check in and make sure they are connected to important resources. You can see a list of their current and ongoing needs and donate here.

Area Congregations Together in One Name (ACTION) is an interfaith coalition supporting a food pantry, scholarships for coalition students, and other ministries in the San Gabriel Valley – like other feeding programs, their clients in need have doubled from pre-pandemic levels. You can help them continue their work, including this year’s Thanksgiving basket distribution, here.

Wakanda Forever Discussion

Our The Woman King film discussion a few weeks ago was a success and you asked for more of it, so we decided to host another conversation! You are invited - please share with others!

This conversation is hosted by: 

How has college education changed your family’s life? On Sunday morning, December 4th, we are putting on our college gear and walking/running in Redondo Beach, CA to help others with the gift of college education!

Please consider either participating or pledging to the first annual Walk/Run A Thon in support of an exciting new program, Lutheran Youth Impact (LYI). Putting a young person through college in El Salvador costs only $1500 per year, or $125 per month. For every student we send to school, we will make it possible for another leader to become a transformational leader in their church community! 

To register, click here: Walk/Run Registration 

You can also give to this cause as a unique Christmas gift in honor of beloved family and friends by clicking here.You might also consider joining with 4 of your friends to support one student. Each of you would give just $25 a month. 

For more event details, or information on the cause, please visit www.lyies.org. You can also contact Julie Jacks at jjjacks7651@aol.com or (310) 779-9989.