God's Work, Our Hands Resources

Next Sunday, congregations will join together for "God's work. Our hands." Sunday.

This annual day of service is an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the ELCA — one church, freed in Christ to serve and love our neighbor.

To help you plan for "God's work. Our hands." Sunday, we invite you to visit ELCA.org/DayofService for resources, including:

• An invitational video.
• 2022 planning tool kit.
• 2022 worship resource.
• "Service in the Time of COVID-19."
• Posters, postcards, and social media graphics.
• Spanish-language resources.
• Special hymn text, music, and recording.

The Virginia Synod is excited to announce that we are working hard to plan a full slate of in-person youth events this year. Lost and Found (our annual faith-sharing retreat for 7th and 8th graders and their adult advisors) will take place Friday, November 18th through Sunday, November 20th at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center in Lynchburg.

Lost and Found includes Large Group gatherings with lots of singing, energy, comedy, worship, and a presentation on our event theme. After each Large Group gathering, participants gather in a Small Group. These are made up of a handful of youth and a couple of adult leaders. In small groups, participants will get to know other Lutheran youth from Virginia and discuss life and faith and other topics that arise throughout the weekend.

The early registration discount ends Oct. 24, 2022!

Mother Hen Media Ministries:

Social Media Resources for Inclusive Ministries

All Places Together is launching a new outreach named Mother Hen Media Ministries. Mother Hen offers two types of social media subscription services to help busy church leaders stay inspired and stay on track in their online evangelism. Any congregation or ministry can sign up to get one month free to learn more about Mother Hen. Leaders can pick and choose which content they want to use. Feel free to contact Pastor Colleen Montgomery with any questions (allplacestogether@gmail.com). 

All Places Together is an online new start ministry of the Virginia Synod.

Planning, Pruning, and Planting for Growth

Mondays, Sept. 19 & October 3 - 7pm EST 

Taught by Pastors Colleen Montgomery and John Wertz Jr. 

Are you overwhelmed trying to plan for ministry in a world that was turned upside down? Are you unsure of what ministry opportunities to prune back? Are you having a hard time deciding which new ministry opportunity to plant? 

This two workshop series will guide you through a core values focused method of evaluating and designing ministry, introducing intentionality into your next season of onsite, hybrid, digital worship, and faith formation. This workshop will be particularly fruitful for leaders if pastors, deacons, and a portion of council leadership attend together. 

Participants will be asked to complete pre-work before the event as well as an assignment in between the sessions. Each Virginia Synod congregation will also be offering a follow-up one-on-one session with either Pastor Colleen or Pastor John to contextualize what they have learned and to keep the momentum going. 

Attendance at both sessions is strongly encouraged. 

Registration closes on September 12.

Hybrid Worship Consultations

Starting September 2022

Beginning in September, congregations can sign up for a consultation session with Pastor Colleen Montgomery, Director of Digital Ministries, to ask questions about their hybrid worship set-ups, troubleshoot issues, and get creative about how to improve the worship experience. Meeting times will be set at the convenience of the congregation and can be with worship committees, councils, or any worship leadership. Scheduling will be done in the order that congregations sign-up.  

Once a meeting time is set, congregations will fill out an initial inventory to help Pastor Colleen prepare for their time together.

This is for Virginia Synod congregations only.