Northeastern Iowa Synod

Baptized in Tear Gas – Book Review

Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist is the story of ELCA Pastor Elle Dowd’s spiritual journey. It was a journey that would take her from the Des Moines suburbs to Sierra Leone where she adopted her daughters, to a protest in Ferguson where she was beaten, strip-searched, and locked up, to seminary, ordained ministry, and author.  She is currently a pastor of South Loop…

Community comes together after cemetery vandalism

On July 4, the Fredsville Cemetery was vandalized with more than 30 headstones damaged. Many of these headstones are historic dating back 150 years and include even a historic stone belonging to a baby who died during the 1918 flu pandemic.  One piece was an original from the Danish settlers who established the church back in 1871. Although it was devastating to see the damage, the community…

2021 Online Synod Assembly Wrap Up

On Saturday, June 12, 2021, some 300+ people gathered on zoom for a one-day online assembly under the leadership of Interim Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl. The theme of this Assembly, “Celebrating Renewal: Johannes Bugenhagen, Parish Pastor of the Reformation,” concludes a six-year synod wide theme linking renewal with reformers over the years. The event opened with a presentation by Rev. Dr.…

By the Rev. Steve Brackett, Assistant to the Bishop In my blog post last month (May 6, 2021) I wrote about Candidacy in the Northeastern Iowa Synod.  Candidacy is the process that accompanies and supports seminarians who are working toward ordination as a pastor or deacon.  We have worked hard in our synod to increase the number of students we have in seminary in an attempt to address the…

Little Free Pantry Grants Available

By Pastor Mark Anderson, Assistant to the Bishop Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Leland has given the Northeastern Iowa Synod nearly $600 to help congregations in the synod set up “Little Free Pantries” in their communities. This money will be shared as grants to congregations to defray the cost of building and installing a Little Free Pantry. Already, 18 congregations and ministries have…

New Edition of Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline

by Northeastern Iowa Synod Interim Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl Since the early days of our existence as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we have had guidelines for how we will interact with/behave towards each other.  Often these have been recognized as guidelines for ordained/rostered leaders, but in fact they are for all of us, for congregations, and they apply to all…

Everything you wanted to know about the 2021 Northeastern Iowa Synod Assembly.

At the time the Synod Council was beginning to make plans for the 2021 Synod Assembly, it was unknown what the situation would be with regards to the current COVID-19 Pandemic.  In order to assure the safety of everyone and include as many people as possible, the Synod Council voted to hold a virtual Synod Assembly. Even though vaccinations are widely available, the CDC still recommends even…

By the Rev. Steven Brackett, Assistant to the Back in 2000 I finally decided to answer the call to ministry that had been nagging at me for seven years.  The first non-family member with whom I shared this news was Pastor Janet Peele Wold, our pastor at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Rockford, Illinois.  She was very encouraging, of course.  As a graduate of Wartburg Seminary, she…

Congregations Encouraged to apply for ‘Open Doors’ ministry grants

By Interim Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl Easter season blessings to you as we continue to live into the meaning of Jesus’ gift of new life for us in these times. We are much closer to the ‘better days ahead’ than we have been for many months, though still proceeding with caution. We are leaning into our vaccinated lives, daring to gather with loved ones, and with careful protocols in place, to…

Endowment fund supports ministries for the young and old

Reposted from the April 2021 Star By Marcia Hahn Each year, partner ministries that serve the youngest and oldest of our community and are affiliated with the ELCA are encouraged to request a grant from the Northeastern Iowa Synod to fund a specific program. The Northeastern Iowa Endowment Fund was created by a synod council resolution on Sept. 7, 1996 and was funded with a gift of $1,394,994…

An Update on Call Process

By the Rev. Steven Brackett, Assistant to the Bishop It looks like we may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on the COVID-19 pandemic.  Responding to the pandemic has caused us to change the way we do so many things, and completely stop some of our normal activities.  As we emerge from the pandemic every ministry will be evaluating where we are and where we need to go. Some…

Iowa Lutherans Gather Virtually for 2021 Day on the Hill

While many traditional annual events have had to be cancelled during the COVID 19 pandemic, Lutheran Services in Iowa and the three ELCA Iowa Synods knew that the crucial work of advocacy on behalf of Iowa neighbors must continue.  So last Thursday, Iowa Lutherans gathered virtually to hear about the intersections of faith and advocacy, learn about the mechanics of advocacy during a legislative…

Little Food Pantries Making a Difference

By Pastor Mark Anderson, Assistant to the Bishop In late 2020, the Northeastern Iowa Synod was awarded a grant of $7,500 from the ELCA’s COVID-19 Fund to help families experiencing unemployment, poverty or other hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds were distributed to the 17 congregations that host “Little Free Pantries” to help keep them supplied. What is a Little Food…

Deciphering Online Worship Metrics or “Who is actually Watching?”

After a year of online worship, when the Annual Parochial Report came around, many rostered ministers and congregational leaders were caught wondering how to count online attendance?  It’s not like the ushers up in the balcony counting heads. The ELCA gave a guideline for the parochial report and that is to multiply views by 2.  For the sake of consistency this is probably the formula you should…

New ELCA Assignment Process

By The Rev. Steven Brackett, Assistant to the Bishop We have just completed the first round of the new ELCA First Call Process.  This replaces the ELCA Assignment Process that had been used for decades to assign seminary graduates first to one of the nine ELCA Regions, then to a Synod within that Region. The former process worked well for many years, but it became less and less efficient as the…

Vaccinations – We need healthy leaders in our congregation

By Interim Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl I continue to hear news of people sharing that they have received their first (of two) vaccinations for COVID-19. We hear daily news reports with updates about how many people have been vaccinated and in what categories. We understand this will take time, but I encourage you to be informed as to the protocols and categories for vaccinations in your…

Synod Assembly a time to listen for God’s Call

By Northeastern Iowa Synod Interim Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl The Northeastern Iowa Synod Council, meeting on Jan. 16, decided on a virtual assembly for 2021. The dates are June 11 -12. We anticipate about one and a half days of time rather than going into Sunday this year. Our broad-cast site will be Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, as that was our location if we had met in-person. Voting…