Assembly Ambassador Monthly Toolkitj

Ministry Focus: Global Church

Thoughts from Bishop Jim:

One of the gifts we claim as the ELCA is our commitment to being a “Glocal Church” – that is, a church whose local ministry is always shaped by our global relationships and witness. This Glocal reality finds particular expressions close in our synod along the US/Mexico border in El Paso and Las Cruces. Our Border ministries embody our Glocal witness in their hands-on proclamation of the gospel, joining our five Rocky Mountain Synod Glocal Church teams and four ethnic specific ministries in providing concrete ways for us to live out our commitment to be Christ’s Church, Better Together deeply connected to all God’s beloved world!

Mission Moment: International Women Leaders Initiative

Faye Lee is beginning her junior year at Luther College through the ELCA’s International Women Leaders initiative, a project of Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA. Faye is double-majoring in political science and international studies and aspires to work with the United Nations. She represents her home church, the Lutheran Church in Malaysia, which she will serve after graduating. During the summer of 2018, Faye worked as an intern with ELCA Global Church Sponsorship, helping to tell the story of the ELCA’s work alongside global companions, including the International Women Leaders initiative.

“I didn’t understand at the beginning how important this ministry is to the church and to society and how much effort is expended to sustain this mission every single day,” says Faye. “The [International Women Leaders] program has shaped me to be an ally of feminism and gender-justice movements. Being comfortable with uncomfortable issues that face women all over the world today has been one of the key empowering breakthroughs I have experienced through the program.”

This critical initiative for women is thriving, thanks in large part to the faithful partnership of our ELCA colleges and universities. Educational partners now include: Augsburg University, California Lutheran University, Concordia College, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Luther College, Newberry College, St. Olaf College, Wartburg College, and Wittenberg University. We also depend on the program’s partnership with the ELCA global companion churches that have raised up these 15 scholars and who will welcome them back after graduation. We’re grateful to now partner with 15 companions in the work of the International Women Leaders initiative, spanning Brazil, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Tanzania, Thailand and Zimbabwe.

December 2018For use in your bulletins, newsletters, social media, and worship

Mission Moment Image:Faye Lee is entering her third year as an International Women Leaders scholar at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Hymn: ELW #819 Come, All You People (Uyaimose)

Prayer Petition: Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself. We praise and bless you for those whom you have sent in the power of the Spirit to preach the gospel to all nations. We thank you that in all parts of the earth a community of love has been gathered together by their prayers and labors, and that in every place your servants call upon your name; for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. (ELW Occasional Services, page 392)

Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself. We praise and bless you for those whom you send to witness in word and deed among the nations. Bless our missionaries in Madagascar, Rev. Kirsten Lauderach, and Rev. Themba Mkahabela in the work you have called them to do with our companion synods and with Young Adults in Global Mission , so that they may faithfully accompany those among whom they are sent, show your love to all people, and glorify your name;

Offering Connections (to include in the offering portion of worship)

December 2: Your gifts support the AMMPARO network, which accompanies unaccompanied migrant minors. In the RMS, Guardian Angels offer their presence and prayers at immigration hearings in Denver. December 9: The Rocky Mountain Synod Global Mission Committee, with your partnership, is working

to support current ELCA missionaries, and missionaries returning from service. December 16: In partnership with the Companion Synod Committee, your gifts support the training of

new pastors at Betela Seminary in Madagascar December 23: Your generous support of ELCA World Hunger means we are present in 62 countries, working until all are fed December 30: Peace Not Walls is working for justice in Palestine and Israel, in partnership with our companion church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

DECEMBER 2018