Bridge

The Bridge is a monthly congregational bulletin/newsletter insert from the Southeastern Minnesota Synod office.

The issues are designed to be used anytime within three years of when they are released (unless stated otherwise). Each issue is available in two layouts – a portrait, full-page layout and a landscape layout that can be used full-page or as a half sheet insert. They’re also available in plain text for you to copy and paste into your publication. Downloads are at the bottom of each story’s page.

Using The Bridge in your congregation’s newsletter or bulletin will help your congregation members understand the connections between the expressions of the ELCA – congregations, synods, and churchwide – and how they are a part of it.

Don’t see the issue you’re looking for below? Click here for a full list of issues. For issues prior to November 2010, contact livingood@semnsynod.org, 507-280-9457, or 800-426-6376 in Minnesota.

Building Mutual Ministry with Colombia

This Christmas tree ornament featuring a child’s name and photo was a fun craft for the Sunday school students at Root Prairie Lutheran Church, Fountain, and a way for their partners at San Marcos Lutheran Church in Colombia to get to know their partners in the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. (click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)

Nineteen years ago this synod started the process of developing a relationship with one of the most internally conflicted countries in the world. Rev. Natanael Lizarazo, then pastor at Community Lutheran Church, Geneva, Minn., encouraged the Southeastern Minnesota Synod to … Continue reading →

Mabel First Catapulted into New Idea of Mission

School children from the community grow vegetables to donate to the community food shelf hosted at Mabel First Lutheran Church. The structure in the top left is the pergola that the school’s shop class built. (click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)

Rev. Gail Klavetter has no idea where the new-found passion for mission in her congregation, Mabel First Lutheran Church of Mabel, Minn., came from. She does know that God is at work. Though God was already starting, Klavetter really noticed … Continue reading →

Celebrating 100 Years Side-By-Side in Tanzania

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It was repeated hundreds of times – “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.” That was the theme used throughout 2011 as the jubilee year of the Lutheran church in the Central Diocese of the … Continue reading →

Synods Walk Together

Hay donated from the Northeastern Iowa Synod was shipped to the Northern Texas - Northern Louisiana Synod. A financial gift from the Southeastern Minnesota Synod helped offset transportation costs. (click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)

The Greek word “synod” translates as “walking together.” From our doorsteps to our neighbors in the Red River Valley to the ranches of Texas to the historic byways of New England and even to countries around the world, we walk with other … Continue reading →

Supporting God’s Family

(click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)

Mothers, fathers, spouses, grandparents, children, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, godparents – families are webs of support for one another. They are an integral part of the way faith communities grow and thrive. The Southeastern Minnesota Synod cares about and supports all … Continue reading →

Making Malaria History

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Congregations are invited to reprint this issue of the Bridge in conjunction with a special offering, event, etc. to collect money for the 2012 Synod Assembly. Every 45 seconds a child dies from malaria, a preventable and treatable disease. The ELCA … Continue reading →

When Disaster Strikes, Lutherans Are There

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Imagine the terror of having someone knock on your door to inform you that you have 15 minutes to get out of town. Now imagine the devestation of coming back the next day, or several days later, to find your … Continue reading →

Building Up Healthy Leaders in the ELCA

Stretch and Pray 09CWA for web

When the ELCA Board of Pensions (BOP) reviewed the results of the 2006 optional online health assessments that their members took, they were concerned. The numbers showed that ELCA plan members were less healthy than the national average. They recognized … Continue reading →

The Church Joins to Nurture New Leaders

Amanda Jertson, the 2010-2011 Keyon area intern, took youth from the eight congregations and Trinity and Wanamingo Lutheran Churches in Wanamingo canoeing. This unique internship involves ministry to specific congregations as well as combining ministries as needed. (click on the image for a higher resolution image for use in print publications)

You expect your doctor to practice before performing a solo surgery and your teen to get behind-the-wheel experience before getting a driver’s license, so why not your pastor? The ELCA requires seminarians to participate in an internship experience during their … Continue reading →

Working ‘Hand in Hand’ with Missionaries

Jacob Dalager is one of several young adults from this synod that have served as missionaries in the Young Adults in Global Mission program. He served in Malaysia in 2009-2010. Mission work is a family affair for the Dalagers. His parents, Rev. Karl and Holly Dalager, served as missionaries in Colombia when Jacob was a child.

In the ELCA Hand in Hand Global Mission blog, missionaries share what they have learnd: the joy a young boy in the United Kingdom can find in an educational card game, the leadership skills a teenage Palestinian girl learned through her … Continue reading →

Telling the Story of God’s Work, Our Hands

Shirley Gangstad, the synod’s Mission Interpreter Coordinator, introduced 2011 Synod Assembly participants to a couple of resources for stories of the church. These include Being Lutheran, a prototype for a potential quarterly magazine, and Stories of Faith in Action.

Lutherans sometimes have a reputation for being humble. We’ll give anyone a cup of coffee, but don’t ask us to brag about ourselves! Shirley Gangstad, Mission Interpreter Coordinator for the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, is trying to “cure” members of the … Continue reading →

Coming Together at Churchwide Assembly

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Every two years over 1,000 individuals gather for the Churchwide Assembly. The Churchwide Assembly is designated as the “highest legislative authority” in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). That means that the assembly deals with the purposes, functions, and … Continue reading →

A Report of the 2011 Synod Assembly

God's work. Our (Lutheran) hands.

Print-Ready Versions Portrait (full 8.5″x11″ page printed double-sided) Landscape (half sheet, 5.5″x8.5″, finished size to be printed on a full sheet, double sided and folded in half) The “Lutheran hands” of the 503 voting members of the 2011 Southeastern Minnesota Synod … Continue reading →

Supporting Evangelism: Congregational Communicators

Ron Jenson, a member at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester, volunteers his time and talents to expand his congregation’s communication. He attended the 2010 ELCA Communicators’ Conference thanks to a partial scholarship from the synod office.

Office staff, rostered leaders (pastors and Associates in Ministry), and volunteers from throughout the synod share a commission to communicate the message and ministry of this church to their congregations’ members. Of course this is carried out through the work … Continue reading →