Effective Practices for Innovative Congregations (EPIC) is a one-day leadership development conference that is designed to strengthen congregational leaders for their ministry in the congregation and in the world. There will be four separate opportunities to attend the event at four locations spread throughout the Synod, including one hybrid event.

• September 14 – St. Paul, Hampton - Registration closes on Thursday
• October 19 – Muhlenberg, Harrisonburg (Hybrid)
• November 2 – St. Luke, Richmond
• November 16 - St. Michael, Blacksburg

The event will feature times of worship and large-group presentations as well as small-group workshops designed to strengthen the ministry of your congregation. We are hopeful that attendees will also share ideas and resources with one another for some holy cross-pollinating!

Click the event brochure below for more information including workshop descriptions.

Contact Pr. Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org with any questions.

Lost and Found is our annual faith-sharing retreat for 7th and 8th graders and their adult advisors. Our 2024 event will take place Friday, November 22nd through Sunday, November 24th at Eagle Eyrie Conference Center in Lynchburg.

Lost and Found includes Large Group gatherings with singing, worship, and presentations of the event theme. After each large group gathering participants will gather in small groups, made of a handful of youth and a couple of adult leaders. There is some free time and the annual talent show.

The early registration discount ends October 28, 2024! 

When packing for my trip to Papua New Guinea, my husband Steve handed me a thick spiral-ring notebook. In case you want to keep notes, he suggested, you know, keep a journal. Oddly enough, I’ve never had much success at journaling, but OK, I told him. I’ll try. And so, I did. Between journaling and my attempts at daily social media posts, here are some tiny glimpses into the trip of a lifetime was truly.

August 12: We are here, at least part of us! I boarded in Roanoke on Sunday at 2 PM and landed in Cairns at 12:05 PM on Tuesday. Happy Australia! Yes, we have been on an airplane or in an airport for over 40 hours. Our rooms aren’t ready; there isn’t any water, and a helicopter hit the hotel last night? I’m really trying to stay positive.

August 13 & 14: Rest and recover, get to know the entire super-talented and fun ELCA delegation (all 16 of us), and explore a bit. Who knew Australia has the oldest surviving rainforest in the world? 

August 15: My alarm sweetly awakens me at 3:30 am for departure at 4 am. Our layover from Port Moresby to Lae was scheduled for 3 hours, becomes 4 hours, then 5 hours, and our fingers are crossed…you know it’s all about the journey.

Applications for the 2025 Lay Ministry Academy cohort are open now through September 9. This is the formation process for Commissioned Lay Preachers and Synod Authorized Ministers (SAMs) for the Virginia Synod. 

The Lay Ministry Academy offers to those discerning a call to serve in worship and ministry leadership a community, and the education, training, support, supervision, authorization, and continuing education to enable them to serve. Applicants can indicate whether you feel called to serve as a lay preacher or a SAM or are unsure.

Commissioned Lay Preachers are persons who have been equipped and formed through the Lay Ministry Academy to formally proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in the congregations of the Virginia Synod. They serve at the endorsement and commission of the bishop, after completing training and practicum work. They provide occasional worship leadership and preaching to congregations and worship communities; not serving as the essential pastor or deacon of the congregation. Commissioned Lay Preachers may share their gifts in both their home congregations and in other worship settings.

Synod Authorized Ministers (SAMs) are identified and equipped persons for service in congregations as described by the ELCA constitution (7.31.09) and administered by the ELCA Conference of Bishops. SAMs are assigned by the VA Synod bishop and authorized for certain leadership functions in specific synod-related locations for a specified length of time. SAMs are paired with a supervising pastor for as long as they serve. SAMs must attend annual boundary training, complete continuing education, and abide by ELCA guidelines.

Click below to learn more about the LMA and to apply!

Feeding the Multitude:

World Hunger 50 Bible Study 

Led by Pastor Kelly Bayer Derrick

September 16 & 23, 2024

7:00pm - 8:15pm ET on Zoom

“Everyone ate until they were full. They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. About five thousand had eaten.” (Mark 6.42-44 CEB)

All four gospels writers record the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes - with just five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish! From the everyday staples of bread and fish, provided by the crowd from what they already had, Jesus fed the multitudes - with food, with compassion, and with community. God is a God of abundance! 

Join Pastor Kelly as we engage this miracle story together. Let’s explore the ways that Jesus invites us into this great picnic, joining in God’s mission of abundant life as together we also share food, compassion, and community. 

World Food Day: Celebrating 50 Years of ELCA World Hunger

Zoom webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m. Central time

Join ELCA World Hunger for a celebration of World Food Day and the 50th anniversary of ELCA World Hunger!

This special online event will be hosted by the Rev. Amy Current, bishop of the Southeastern Iowa Synod, and Imran Siddiqui, vice president of the ELCA.

Tune in on Oct. 15 to hear firsthand stories from partners at ELCA World Hunger projects — including Educación Popular en Salud (EPES), a community health organization in Chile that was founded over 40 years ago, and more recent starts such as Tapestry Farms, a Midwestern urban-farm system in the “Quad Cities” of Iowa and Illinois. You’ll see the impact of 50 years of ELCA World Hunger work and get excited and equipped to be part of the next 50 years!

Register at the link here to receive reminders, event information, World Food Day resources and the event recording.

Season of Creation Worship Resources for congregational use between September 1 and November 3.

The Northern Illinois Synod Care of Creation team created the 'Let the Whole Creation Cry' resources for use during Year B. The Virginia Synod gives thanks to the members of the Northern Illinois Synod for creating and sharing these resources with the whole church.

Not Too Late Book Study

Care for Creation Tapestry Thread

Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23 

7pm - Zoom

You’re invited to join the Care for Creation Tapestry Thread in reading Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility this October. The book strikes a balance between defeatism and overconfidence, written about by folks who genuinely want us to better know what we are talking about when we talk about climate change. This study will deepen participants’ understanding of climate change. 

Climate is an issue that touches everything. Its study involves history, culture, economics, law and justice issues, race and gender politics, and so many branches of science. There are so many facets to look at, from the state of the climate movement, the shift to renewable energy, and the policy issues being decided at every level of government. This book touches on many of the topics in timely fashion with information that we need now, especially heading into the voting booths this November.

Join us in reading the material and come with questions of your own! The discussion sessions will be recorded, but will not be immediately ready for review the next week. The moderators will be Dr. William Franz and Sr. Phyllis Cox, Care for Creation Tapestry Thread Co-Leaders. Participants are responsible for purchasing their own book.

Registration will close on September 26 at 12 noon.

A Cup of Unconditional Love: 2024 All Lutheran Women's Retreat

Our world feels more divided than ever. Polarization, racial violence, and inequity leave us asking, Is it even possible to heal? Award-winning author and theologian Dr. Jacqueline A. Bussie believes it is. The retreat will focus on her book Love Without Limits – Jesus’ Radical Vision for Love with No Exceptions. She challenges us to practice a love so deep it subverts the social order, so radical it scandalizes the powerful, so vast it excludes no one.

Pastor Colleen Montgomery will be the retreat chaplain.

This retreat will take place on November 7-9, 2024, in Glen Allen, Virginia.

Registration deadline is October 11.

Free Mental Health First Aid Training

Behavioral Health Services at Sentara in partnership with Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Sentara Foundation invite you to a free training that will equip you to better care for the community. The event will be offered from 8 AM- 5 PM online or in-person in Hampton or Richmond. Click the link below for dates offered and registration information.

Resources for Estate Planning and Wills

Now is the perfect time to reflect on your estate plans. The ELCA Foundation offers several helpful resources to guide you through every stage of the estate planning process. Here are some of our favorites:

• Save time and set yourself up for estate planning success with “Estate Planning Starters.”
• Get a handle on your estate plan with “Estate Planning You Can Do at Home.”
• Learn what goes into a will — and who should be involved — with “A Guide to Making Your Will.”
• Write your will at any time with Giving Docs, our online will-writing tool. Free, secure access is yours for life.

Lifelong Learning Offering: Certificate in African American Lutheran History, Theology, & Praxis

The Richard Stewart Lifelong Learning Certificate in African American Lutheran History, Theology, & Praxis

This exciting new program features nine different presenters speaking to the various aspects of Lutheranism’s place in the story of African American Spiritual Formation as part of the narrative that shaped these United States and her territories.

There will be three presentations in the fall and additional presentations will be offered in Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2025. All sessions will be online. The certificate offers a total of 40 continuing education credit hours with a total of 36 presentations.

There are options for congregational participation (non-certificate) or individual participation (certificate). Use link below to learn more or to register.

Have you ever wondered about theological education? The ELCA seminaries would like to help you learn more about your seminary options and explore with you where God might be calling you next. Join all seven seminaries of the ELCA on Sunday, September 15^th from 4:00-6:30 (ET) for a Joint Virtual Discernment Event. Click here to learn more and register.

Forgotten Luther Symposium:

Discipleship in a Democracy: Responding to the Threat of Christian Nationalism

Scripture gives us a dramatic and eloquent description of the tension between loyalty to gods of particular nations, ideologies, races, places, on the one hand, and loyalty to the one God of universal justice on the other. Yahweh holds a great council and summons the gods of injustice (the gods of blood and soil, country and color, family and race) to account. As the logo for this series proclaims from Psalm 82, the verdict is in: Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all nations belong to you.

The Forgotten Luther Symposium will gather speakers like Amanda Tyler, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, and Paul Wee to discuss a Lutheran response to Christian nationalism. For more information or to register, click the link below.

New FREE Arrangement from Lutheran Summer Music by Anne Krentz Organ

Download a new FREE arrangement from Lutheran Summer Music 2024 by Anne Krentz Organ: The Ash Grove for a solo instrument with keyboard accompaniment. The Ash Grove is a theme and variations based on the beloved Welsh folk tune and is this year’s installment in the LSM Hymn Tune Project. Free sheet music download: LSMacademy.org/resources 

Marty's Autumn Motorcycle Retreat

Join men and women for a motorcycle fellowship weekend at Lutheridge Conference Center in Arden, NC on October 4-7. Enjoy group rides on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Tail of the Dragon, and other mountain roads during the beautiful autumn colors of the season. The retreat includes worship, Bible study, campfire, and 6 meals (breakfast and dinners - with lunches out of pocket on the road).