"We've Hit 10K!"
A message from the Director of the ELCA Youth Gathering, Molly Beck Dean– 
I am thrilled to share with you that at the close of our early-bird registration we crossed over the 10,000-person mark for the 2022 ELCA Youth Gathering. It’s exciting and hopeful to know that even during an unusual and tough couple of years, thousands of you are preparing for the Gathering next summer. I know that thousands more of you are finalizing your plans and will register in the weeks to come...
Writing to Our Neighbors
There is a need for welcoming messages and kind words for people seeking refuge and safety in faith-based shelters in the U.S./Mexico borderlands. In partnership with Border Servant Corps, the Southeastern Minnesota Synod’s AMMPARO Team created a ministry for individuals and congregations to share the love of Jesus by creating a card with an encouraging word for migrant minors and their families.

Find ideas on how to get started, a resource guide to download, and more details at:
All-Community Read Event
The St. Olaf Lutheran Center is hosting an All-Community Read of Rev. Heidi Neumark’s Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory, and Faith. Hidden Inheritance details Rev. Neumark’s journey as she uncovers her family’s hidden Jewish heritage. This discovery leads to hundreds of questions: Did her grandfather really die in a concentration camp? How did she never know her grandmother was a death-camp survivor? Why had the family history and faith been rejected and hidden? Her search for truth turns into a spiritual journey and causes profound ponderings on her thirty-year vocation as a Lutheran pastor. 

Rev. Neumark will be visiting St. Olaf on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, with an evening event on Hidden Inheritance that will be open to the public.

Congregations are invited to participate in the All-Community Read to read and discuss Hidden Inheritance! Interested in involving your congregation? Fill out this Google form and Lutheran Center staff will be in touch with you.
Important Dates...
  • December 24-31: Synod office closed for Christmas
  • January 13-14, 2022: Faith Formation Retreat, featuring Dr. Terri Elton
  • March 20, 2022: Councils as Leaders in-person event (details TBD)
  • May 7: 2022 Synod Assembly (Mankato, MN)
  • July 24-28: ELCA Youth Gathering (Minneapolis, MN)
  • August 8-12: ELCA Churchwide Assembly (Ohio)
Prayer Calendar: December 5
  • Faith Lutheran Church, Delavan
  • St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Cannon Falls
  • Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mankato
  • Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Spring Valley
  • Muhintiri Lutheran Church, Tanzania
  • Maiwut Lutheran Parish, South Sudan