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On December 12, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lodi had their Virgen of Guadalupe Celebration!
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First Lutheran Church of Orland hosted a live nativity! There was a beautiful cooperation and participation of the church, community, and local farmers!
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Joseph Haletky, Chair of the Global Missions Advocacy Team, and Sue Hertless, President of the Sierra Pacific Synod WELCA, represented our Synod at the gathering of the South and Central American and Caribbean Lutheran Church, and US companion synods in Houston.
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Exciting Updates from the Office of the Bishop | |
The Synod staff in the new office space! | |
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The Synod Office is Moving!
With the start of a new year, the synod office will be going to Seminary! We are thrilled to announce that we are moving in and sharing space with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in downtown Berkeley. For those of you familiar with the space at the PLTS, our suite of offices will be to the left of the reception desk. We couldn’t be more excited. Imagine the partnership and synergy made possible by this arrangement. It is a concrete example of the partnerships and collaborations we hope to see among Lutheran partners throughout our Synod.
Many people held this vision at the same time. It became possible thanks to the hard work of Vice President Simon Wong, Bishop Jeff Johnson, Rector Ray Pickett of PLTS, and Associate Vice President of Planning and Services Ryan Van Ommeren of CLU.
We believe that this might be the first time in our Synod’s history that the Synod Office will be easily accessible by public transportation, with the downtown Berkeley BART station just a block away. A paid parking garage is also located across the street if you drive in.
Our new address will be:
Sierra Pacific Synod, ELCA
2000 Center Street, Suite 200
Berkeley, CA 94704
Mailing Address
PO Box 119, Berkeley, CA 94701
Job Postings for Two Positions in the Synod Office
We also want to announce that the Synod Office is seeking qualified applicants for two highly responsible positions. The Managing Director will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Synod, and an Executive Assistant will assist the Bishop directly with managing his administrative schedule and duties. Both positions will work on-site at the new Synod office in downtown Berkeley.
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Upcoming Synod-Wide Events | |
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Pulpit Supply
Are you a Rostered Minister of Word & Sacrament who is available to do pulpit supply on Sundays? Please sign up here and let us know so that we can share your name with congregations in need of occasional service: https://forms.gle/8TzGUx7FWBcncgRt7
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Leadership Discipling Team Survey
The Leadership Discipling Team of the Sierra Pacific Synod is prayerfully and comprehensively examining the method by which we set and use compensation guidelines. These guidelines are recommendations of our whole synod as approved in assembly. We want your input on our synod’s compensation guidelines as they apply to your congregation and context.
If you are a clergy person, these questions may not be phrased for you, but we value your input.
The information you submit for this survey will go to the members of the Leadership Discipling Team. We will use it to inform our work on the compensation guidelines that will be submitted to the synod in assembly for consideration and vote. We will also share this information anonymously (without congregation names or identifying factors) and in aggregate in a future synod newsletter.
You can complete the survey here: https://forms.gle/mGsgq7cTowThBPHd7
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LSM Musical Advent Calendar
December 3-24
Since the nineteenth century, households and congregations have marked the days before Christmastide with many kinds of Advent calendars. The season of waiting and longing for the “already-but-not-yet” incarnation of Jesus unfolds amidst waning daylight in the Northern Hemisphere, a time of yearning for hope, joy, and peace.
Join Lutheran Summer Music, December 3-24, for our third-annual Musical Advent Calendar–a daily moment of music and reflection on our Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages as well as archived on our website:LSMacademy.org/acal
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Lutheran Social Services of Northern California Holiday Gift Drive
Lutheran Social Services of Northern California invites you to make the holidays a little brighter for the most vulnerable in our region. We’re asking for donations of toys or adult gifts. Perhaps your parish or social ministry would like to “adopt” one of our sites or programs for the holidays (sponsor a meal, host a holiday party, create gift baskets)? We have this opportunity as well. And with winter coming on, gifts of hand-knits for adults are always welcome.
Please get in touch with us at development@lssnorcal.org for questions or more information.
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Installation of The Rev. Andreas Pielhoop
Hope Lutheran Church of Rossmoor invites you to the installation of their pastor, The Rev. Andreas Pielhoop
When: January 7, 2024 at 1:30pm
Where: In the Fireside Room in the Gateway Complex of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek
Clergy are asked to vest in red
Refreshments will be served following the service.
Please RSVP with first and last names by January 5 so that the security gate personnel can be informed to let you pass. The RSVP is extremely important as this is a gated community, and unlisted guests are not permitted.
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Ordination of Kyle K. Schiefelbein-Guerrero
By the grace of God and the call of the church Kyle K. Schiefelbein-Guerrero
will be ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at 3:00 pm, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (1111 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco). A reception of light refreshments follows the liturgy.
Your prayers and presence are requested. All pastors and deacons are invited to process, the color of the day is red. Kyle has been called to serve in his current professorship at Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon.
Livestream: https://smlc.live/kylelivestream
Bishop: The Rev. Jason Zinko, Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario Synod
Preacher: The Rev. Elizabeth Ekdale
Please RSVP at: https://smlc.live/kylersvp
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New Opportunities Available!
Are you looking for something new? We have amazing congregations looking for someone like you! Check out our job posting page for open positions throughout our Synod.
If your congregation has a position posted that has been filled, please be sure to let Mandi know, so we can keep the page updated.
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Updates and Resources from ELCA Churchwide & Beyond | |
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It's Annual Report Season!
Download Annual Report covers here.
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December Portico Updates
Give Yourself the Gift of Resources
Amidst the joy and celebration – and, yes, stress – of this season, your body can use all the help it can get. Whether it’s treatment for a pesky cough, a listening ear to help process impostor syndrome or budget worries, or ideas for a new healthy holiday tradition, check out Portico’s curated list of resources to support you and your family this season (and Advent blessings to you!)
December FSA Countdown
Still have a balance in your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) – either for health or dependent care expenses? Be sure to spend those dollars by Dec. 31, 2023, so you won’t lose them. Check your balance on myPortico, and submit receipts via the link to Further. Need ideas on what you can use your dollars for? This list can help.
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Guess Who is Turning 50?
We have so much hunger work to celebrate!
Join the Sierra Pacific Synod Hunger Network for an hour with Peter N. McLellan, PhD, ELCA Program Director for Hunger Education and
Rev. Dr. Everdith Landrau (Evie), Program Director, World Hunger Networks & Engagement. We will explore ways to celebrate ELCA World Hunger turning 50
in our congregations.
When: Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm on Zoom
Everyone’s Invited! Register now!
Email Edie Lott at thelotts@gmail.com with your name, city, and congregation to register.
You will receive a Zoom Meeting Invitation during the week before the event.
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ELCA Fund for Leaders Scholarship
Every year the Fund for Leaders provides approximately 30 full-tuition scholarships to future ELCA pastors and deacons who attend ELCA seminaries. In spring 2024 the Fund for Leaders will once again offer scholarships to seminary students — and we need your help to spread the word!
The application window for full-tuition scholarships will be open from
Dec. 1, 2023, through Feb. 23, 2024.
Here are a few key facts about Fund for Leaders scholarships:
- Eligible candidates must be planning to enroll in fall 2024.They must have received a positive entrance decision or at least begun the process of seeking candidacy for rostered ministry in the ELCA.
- Candidates may begin the Fund for Leaders application process before they have been accepted to seminary. Candidates are encouraged to apply to seminary and a Fund for Leaders scholarship simultaneously.
- Recipients of Fund for Leaders scholarships may apply their full-tuition scholarship to any ELCA seminary that has offered them admission.
- Scholarships are awarded to students for the duration of their required seminary coursework, provided they remain in good standing with their seminary and in their candidacy process.
- Current ELCA seminary students who have completed no more than one semester of coursework before the start of the 2024-2025 year are also welcome to apply.
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Christmas Shopping That Makes a Difference!
Giving ELCA Good Gifts make a life-changing difference in the world! ELCA Good Gifts are a creative, meaningful way to support the ministries of the ELCA that mean the most to you and your loved ones. Each Christmas, how much of our time and attention is devoted to giving things to people who already have everything they need and most of the things they want? Instead, think how exciting and freeing it can be to give gifts that make a huge difference for our neighbors in need. The online ELCA Good Gifts Catalog lists over 50 gifts you can choose from.
Here’s How It Works:
- Go to the online catalog.
- Choose a gift.
- Get a card.
- Make a difference this Christmas!
If you have questions, contact Edie Lott, Team Leader of Sierra Pacific Synod Hunger Network, at thelotts@gmail.com.
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Excellence in Leadership
In response to this truth and the desire to raise up courageous, resilient, and faithful leaders, the Rocky Mountain Synod, ELCA, has created a leadership ministry called Excellence in Leadership. The coursework is a 13-month investment, meeting 2 times each month which will provide tools and resources to last a lifetime, and deep relationships with leaders from around the country to accompany you on your journey in your local community.
At the heart of this ministry is the belief that effective leadership begins with the individual and is honed in community. This ministry helps each person learn how to appreciate who they are, how they are embodied, and manage the way they personally respond to challenges and conflict. Through engaging in this work, individuals are then able to show up more effectively in places of anxiety, conflict, and frustration. When leaders show up in healthy ways, they are better equipped to help the people and systems they work in and with to also respond in healthier ways.
By engaging deeply in the studies of adaptive leadership, vulnerability, emotional intelligence, family systems, Theory U, and spiritual practices, we will be stepping forward to meet the future boldly. We are inviting participants from all regions and walks of life – lay or rostered, young or old. That includes you! The next cohort will begin on January 5, 2024, and will meet twice per month on Friday mornings from 9:00am-12:00pm Mountain Time, with a commissioning on January 17, 2025.
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ELCA Youth Gathering Update
It’s not too late to register your group! And as an incentive, the next 5 congregations to register (new congregation groups, not just adding people) from the Sierra Pacific Synod will get priority registration pricing if they register by February 14, 2024. That’s a $50 savings per person in your group! Remember your group can be made up of folks from more than one congregation — you just need to register using one congregation ID number. This is a great way for smaller congregations to attend the Gathering.
Save the Date — on Saturday, April 20th all of the adults and youth attending the Gathering will meet up at St. John’s Lutheran Church in midtown Sacramento for a pre-Gathering BASH to include lunch, fun activities, and adult leader training. A couple of details are still being nailed down, but I wanted you to get this on your group’s calendar. More details coming in February.
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The Ministry of Housing Conference
DCG Strategies is pleased to invite churches to a conference series they are hosting for congregations interested in taking the next step in learning about real estate development on their properties.
The first conference will be for san Francisco, Marin, and Peninsula Churches on January 18 hosted at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church San Francisco (ELCA). The second conference will be for East Bay Churches on February 15, hosted at Glad Tidings Community Development Corporation.
In addition, they are offering Pre-Development Analysis to select congregations who apply to Ministry of Housing: Pre-Development Program, which is funded by the San Francisco Foundation.
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YAGM Volunteers
The ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program is ready for new volunteers! The YAGM team must find the next cohort of young Christians ready to step out into the future. Do you know one? If you know such a young adult, aged 21 to 35, this is the time to reach out. Applications are now accepted on a rolling basis, year-round. Those who apply by Feb. 1 will be considered for the service year beginning the following August. Priority will be given to those who apply before Jan. 15.
Talk personally to these young people about what this opportunity will mean for their faith, identity, career and understanding of God’s work in the world.
YAGM volunteers who apply by Feb. 1, 2024, will begin their service in August 2024.
Learn more at ELCA.org/YAGM.
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Connect with Synod Staff & Your Conference Dean | | | | |
