News & Events: Bishop Installation Photos

September 21, 2026

Portico Benefits Webinar

Monday, Sept. 21 - 7 p.m. | Online

Join us for a 2027 Portico Updates Webinar with Rev. Tim Schroeder, Region 3 Portico representative. This webinar is intended for rostered ministers, lay staff, congregation council presidents, and anyone who uses EmployerLink from the ELCA Region 3. We’ll share important Portico updates for 2027, highlight what’s new, provide helpful information about benefits and EmployerLink, and offer an opportunity to ask questions and prepare for the year ahead. Note: This webinar will not be recorded. Register here.

Addressing Hunger:

Speak Up and Care

for the Children

by Vernita Kennen - Incarnation, Shoreview

Few of the world’s children will find themselves approaching the school year or vacation as well-nourished as they have been in the past. While Minnesota provides school lunch for all, this is not the case in all of our states. A recent report from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says the number of children who have benefited from SNAP has fallen by 1.5 million since July 2025. As SNAP has been reduced by administrative and congressional cuts, it seems unlikely that reduced need is driving the decline in SNAP participation.…

And it is not just our U.S. children who are hungry; hunger has become a persistent humanitarian crisis with wars and armed conflicts as the primary driver today. The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises by United Nations agencies, the European Union and partners found that in 2025, 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished, including nearly 10 million suffering from severe wasting. Compounding the hunger problem, 93 million school-aged children are out of school because of war, conflict or displacement. The future does not bode well for them.…

It seems as if it is OUR responsibility to feed hungry children and provide education for future generations. In this time of budgeting (moral documents budgets certainly are), let’s remember this and urge our elected officials to remember it, too.

Read Vernita's full blog post.

Safer Together: Beyond
the Gun Control Debate

Tuesday, Oct. 27 - 6:30-8:45 p.m. | Transfiguration Lutheran Church, Bloomington & Online

Minnesota and the U.S. continue to face an epidemic of violence and harm involving guns. Too often, public debates around firearms devolve into a standoff between personal rights and government control. This pattern fails to address the many ways that each of us can act to reduce gun-related violence and trauma in our homes, workplaces, schools and communities. As Lutherans, how do we respond to this ongoing reality? What does our social teaching say? How might we foster the kind of moral deliberation and call to action that can lead to meaningful change?

The Region 3 ELCA synods of Minnesota and North Dakota are offering a time of shared learning, discernment, and collective action toward solutions to the harms of gun misuse. We hope to move beyond the gun rights-gun control debate and to promote safer communities with the conviction that we are safer together. This event is for lay leaders and rostered ministers.

The presentation and conversation will be led by Dr. Jillian Pederson, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University and the executive director of The Violence Prevention Project. Dr. Pederson will reflect on her research into mass shootings as a public health concern. Following her presentation, participants will discuss the ELCA’s Social Message on Gun-Related Violence and Trauma and the unique ways their own communities are impacted by gun violence.

Congregations may wish to organize local gatherings and individuals are welcome to attend in person or online. We hope that this event can be part of a movement across our region for moral deliberation and collective action that will reduce gun violence in our communities and contribute to communal healing and the common good. Register here.

National Day of Remembrance

Wednesday, Sept. 30 - 6 p.m. | Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis

At our 2025 Synod Assembly, the Saint Paul Area Synod passed a memorial and the ELCA Churchwide Assembly subsequently resolved, for all churches to recognize the National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, on Sept. 30 of every year.

Following on its memorial in support of this movement, our synod is a Community Sponsor for this year’s Day of Remembrance, hosted by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. A candlelight vigil on Wednesday, Sept. 30 in Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis will honor Indian boarding school survivors and those who never returned home. It is a remembrance walk recognizing the strength, resilience, and enduring spirit of those who attended boarding school. There will be remarks from guest speakers, survivors, and community leaders. Together, we honor survivors, remember those whose lives were forever changed, and reaffirm our commitment to truth, justice, and healing. Learn more.

How else can you get involved? The Truth Seeking and Truth Telling Initiative within the ELCA is a grassroots movement to account for our parent denominations’ involvement in the Indian Boarding Schools era, and to educate our congregations on this legacy. Visit the resources page.

Guatemala Gala

Sunday, Oct. 4 - 4 p.m. | Town & Country Club, St. Paul

Join us as we celebrate how we are woven together with our siblings in the Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala (ILAG). This fundraiser includes a social hour with music, a marketplace and other activities. The plated dinner features recipes from the cookbook of local celebrity chef Amalia Moreno-Damgaard. Pastor Karen Castillo, Diego Gil Castillo and Valeria Gil Castillo from the ILAG will be present in person with us to share exciting updates from our companionship. A representative from the synod’s health ministry team will discuss its inaugural visit next year to help improve health for entire communities. Bishop Justin Grimm will also share a word. Your support helps continue and expand the ILAG's life-changing work in education, health, leadership development, music and SEED ministries! Registration closes this Sunday. Learn more and register.

Our three Guatemalan guests will also be sharing informal updates on Thursday, Oct. 1 - 7 p.m. at Christ on Capitol Hill, St. Paul, and Saturday, Oct. 3 - 1 p.m. at Augustana, West St. Paul. All are welcome!

Spiritual Gifts Retreat

Saturday, Oct. 10 - 9 a.m.-4 p.m. | Lutheran Church of Peace, Maplewood

Who has God created me to be? This retreat will provide you with an opportunity to look deeply at who you are and how God has uniquely blessed you with certain gifts. Using spiritual gift inventories, conversation and other tools, you’ll go home with a better sense of who you are and how you might best serve your faith community and the world! Retreat leaders include Pastor Kirsten Fryer of the Saint Paul Area Synod, Deacon Nina Joygaard (Faith, Forest Lake) and Pastor Wendy Steger (All Saints, Eagan). The cost is $30 per person and includes lunch. Register here.

Fall Joint Ministerium

Thursday, Oct. 29 - 9 a.m. | Christ Lutheran, Blaine

Rostered leaders from the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area synods are invited to gather for community, learning, and worship at this year's Joint Ministerium, Heaven Opened: Dreams for the Church. The Rev. Kenneth Wheeler, the featured speaker, will reflect on scripture, challenge us to confront white Christian nationalism, and look toward the dream of a new heaven and a new earth where all God’s people are seen, known, and loved. Rev. Wheeler, a retired ELCA pastor, is a guest lecturer on pastoral leadership in the 21st century at Wartburg Theological Seminary, where he received a Doctor of Divinity Degree honoris causa. He is also the author of US: The Resurrection of American Terror (2022). Register here.

The Welcome (Back) event includes a devotion, a mixer or two, coffee and treats. Enjoy community-building time and share resources with others in similar ministry settings. Register here.

Youth Lock-In

Bring your 8th-12th grade youth for an overnight (or late-night) event at Roseville Lutheran Church on Friday, Oct. 2. This event is especially for those interested in attending the ELCA Youth Gathering next summer. There will be games, worship, youth messages and tons of fun with youth from all over the Twin Cities. Interested adult leaders can sign up here or email Deacon Ashley Greenwood with any questions. Download the poster.

Opportunities for Discernment

If you or someone you know is considering a call toward ministry, there are several upcoming opportunities to help with that discernment:

ELCA Seminaries are offering a virtual discernment event on Sunday, Sept. 27, 3-5 p.m. with representatives from all seven ELCA seminaries. You'll meet representatives from each seminary to learn about a variety of affordable and flexible degree and certificate programs, and to ask questions about discernment, seminary life and next steps. Learn more.
Luther Seminary is holding a Seminary Sampler Weekend Oct. 9-11. Visit with seminary staff, faculty and students as you explore if Luther Seminary is right for you. Learn more.
The ELCA synods of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota are hosting "Discerning Your Call: Exploring Your Next Faithful Step" on Nov. 7 to help you discern what's next and what God might be calling you to. Bring a conversation partner or come on your own. It's offered in six locations on the same day including Mankato and Rogers. Download the flyer.

ELCA Church Property Resource Hub Webinar:

Land Back as Property Stewardship Ethic

Thursday, Sept. 24 - 6 p.m. | Online

Honoring our commitment as a church through the social policy resolution, Supporting ELCA Land Back Efforts and Indigenous Ministries, this webinar is focused on land return. Indigenous leaders from within and beyond the ELCA will share about the Land Back movement and repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery. Participants will also hear from congregations and synods taking part in land return and reconciliation efforts. Register here.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

Let the Children Come Initiative

With support from the Lilly Endowment©, Duke Divinity School is exploring how congregational worship can help nurture children’s faith. Through its Let the Children Come Initiative, they are looking to partner with congregations that are interested in welcoming young people more fully into the worshiping community. Together, we hope to learn from one another and discover ways to support children as they grow in faith through praise, prayer, and life together before God. Applications are accepted for this cohort through Oct. 16; participants begin meeting via Zoom in January. Learn more.

Why We're Always Working Upstream:

A New Story of Drugs for Faith Communities

Wednesday, Sept. 30 - 12-1 p.m. | Online

If you've spent years helping people in crisis, fighting apathy, and combating stigma, but feel like you are always fighting an uphill battle, you're not alone. Presenter Rev. Timothy McMahan King will make the case that faith communities have developed powerful resources for responding to addiction but have been missing the foundation that makes that work sustainable: a theology of what drugs are actually for. He is the author of What Are Drugs For? An Exploration of Stolen Fire, which is being released this month. This webinar is for clergy, counselors and people of faith who are already doing the work and want to know why it keeps feeling so hard and what a different starting point might make possible. Register here.

Free Community Naloxone Training

Addiction is in our neighborhoods, our pews, our families. Be ready to save a life! Naloxone can quickly reverse an opioid overdose and provide critical time for help to arrive. Participants will learn how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose, how and when to administer naloxone, what to do until help arrives and how to store naloxone and keep it accessible. Those who register in advance will receive a free naloxone kit. Free training is available:

Tuesday, Sept. 22 - 6 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Woodbury
Saturday, Oct. 10 - 9:30 a.m. at Elim Lutheran Church in Scandia
Thursday, Nov. 12 - 6 p.m. at First Presbyterian in Stillwater

Lutheran Campus Ministry Gathering + Fundraiser

Thursday, Oct. 8 - 5:30-7 p.m. | Campus Club at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Join LCM for a fun evening of hearty appetizers, a cash bar and inspiring stories from students and alumni. Together, we'll celebrate the transformational work of Lutheran Campus Ministry-Twin Cities and invest in its future through this special evening of community and generosity. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35. Learn more and register.

Community Singing Workshop

Saturday, Oct. 17 - 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. | Saint Anne's Episcopal Church, St. Paul

Music that Makes Community invites all who love to sing, lay and skilled, to a one-day workshop to learn a way of singing together that can enliven worship in small and rural congregations and strengthen our commitments to welcome all people. Explore the riches of paperless singing and experience leadership practices and songs that build and strengthen the community! Learn more and register.

PREACH Conference

Oct. 18-21 | St. Andrew, Eden Prairie & Online

For rostered ministers. The world isn't waiting for the church to find its footing. Our communities are experiencing real strain, and leaders need spaces not just to be inspired, but to be equipped and sustained. PREACH 2026 is gathering pastors, deacons, lay preachers, and worship leaders for a multi-layered learning experience. Move beyond passive listening and step into interactive tracks on digital engagement, storytelling, and collaborative sermon planning with a phenomenal lineup of speakers. Brought to you in collaboration with Convergence and Church Anew. Among the impactful voices at the conference will be Winnie Varghese, Paul Drees, Eric Barreto, Michael Chan, Brian Evans, Mariah Tollgaard and many more. Learn more.

Stories That Heal

Sunday, Oct. 18 - 6:30-8:30 p.m. | St. Andrew, Eden Prairie & Online

Note: this public event will be held the evening prior to the PREACH Conference. Many call this time a "season of moral injury" with communities living in fear and uncertainty. We've also witnessed collective resistance, shared song and mutual aid with people of faith standing together to support neighbors. This evening event is a time of interfaith storytelling from local leaders, moments of music and reflection and a liturgy for healing led by New York Times bestselling author and poet Cole Arthur Riley. Learn more and register.

United Theological Seminary's Homecoming & Lecture

Monday, Oct. 26 - 10:45 a.m. & 2:15 p.m.

United Theological Seminary is hosting its annual United Days—rebranded this year as Homecoming—on October 26–27. As part of this event, they are welcoming Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes as their Picard Lecturer on Environmental Theology and Ethics. He is an earth thinker, theologian, liturgist, performer, artist, and author. Learn more and register.

Baseball Retreat

March 16-20 - Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center, Carefree, Ariz.

Back by popular demand, Play Ball & Connect features morning activities: spirituality and sport dugout conversation and in the afternoons, spring training games. Evenings are devoted to classic baseball movies. Enjoy warm days, delicious food, fun and fellowship by the pool. All are welcome. Spaces are limited; register here.