Greetings, Blessed Siblings in Christ,
I am discovering what a joy it is, as your bishop, to spend time out and about in our synod, meeting with congregations, installing new pastors, visiting with our leaders, and worshiping with our communities of faith! Our synod is filled with incredibly faithful people—babies to seniors—all gathered to pray and praise God every week. We are blessed.
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6 For it is the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
As I travel and share what I think God is doing with the church. I am aware that it is not the easiest time to be the church. As lives get busier and the world around us experiences more stress, the place of the church in our society has slipped from the center of many lives and communities. But I think God is bringing us back to our roots, back to a time when Christians gather in joy around a table filled with good things, knowing that God gives us a spirit of hope for our future. We are being rebuilt for mission, and the next few years are crucial.
Toward that end, we will be engaging in some important work in the coming year.
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We will ground ourselves in God’s word through renewed and meaningful worship, drawing us deeper into the love of God and love of neighbor.
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As a synod, we will identify new opportunities for collaboration between congregations, ecumenical partners, and community organizations to explore ways we can travel the way of Jesus and proclaim the Gospel.
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We will develop a comprehensive framework for training leaders of all kinds, emphasizing lay leadership, calling upon the gifts of our laity for teaching, worship, care for each other, organizing, and ministry with children and youth.
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We will also work to train rostered ministers for mentorship, a role that will be invaluable as we move into this new era of church.
We invite you to support this work in a number of ways. Please help us identify lay leaders who would be willing to serve in a variety of capacities. Please pray about whether you are one of those people, or a rostered minister who would like to mentor our new leadership cohort.
Finally, we invite your financial contributions to this work and the work our synod staff and leaders are doing to face and respond to this time in our life together.
We welcome your prayers for us and for each other. In a challenging time, we look to the one who shines in the darkness for hope and guidance.
In the peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
The Rev. Dr. Donna Simon,
Bishop, Central States Synod
