Session A 10:30 a.m.—11:45 a.m.
A-1: Asset-based Planning
The Rev. Ben Leese
Are you tired of the anxiety that comes with planning for the future, with the futility of trying to guess what people will need in 5 years or 10 years or 20? This workshop will introduce you to a new way of planning based on current assets that God has already given to you rather than on imagined, feared future events. Based on the work of Bob Sitze, this workshop will prepare you to help your congregation face the future with hope and confidence rather than fear.
A-2: Creating Space for Young Adults in the Church
Charlie Roberts
Is the trend of young people leaving the church and returning when they’re ready to get married or baptize their children still a viable one? No…at least not to congregations with a focus on faith formation, community-building, and service in Jesus’ name. To minister with and to younger adults, congregations need to move from merely talking about mission to taking actual steps to living into it in vibrant and accessible ways for this generation whose lifestyle rarely reflects that of its parents. It’s not as simple as offering “alternative’ worship, servant trips, or creating coffee house atmosphere. It’s about asking what God is up to and where the Holy Spirit is guiding your congregation. We will spend time looking at what we are learning about ministering to younger generations and discuss some practical steps for meeting the needs of this group.
A-3: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Caring for the Dying (before you need to know it)!
James Wise, diaconal minister
Everyone dies. The only question, other than when, is whether you and your loved ones will die well, or die badly! Today, death in our medically-savvy society is a “chronic illness” often played out in the home. Lack of preparation can lead to a bad death for all involved. But there is an alternative. Martin Luther delivered his most reprinted document, “Sermon on Preparing to Die,” in 1520. This workshop, intended for lay and clergy alike, follows Luther’s admonitions: What we need to do to prepare to die (Advanced Care Planning); what we can expect in dying (The Dying Process); and caring for the dying person as a primary care-giver (Care Giving 101) as well as caring for ourselves.
A-4: Facebook for Everyone
Chelle Huth, AiM
Not sure what Facebook is, how to use it, what to be aware of or what to avoid? Come to this workshop to learn more. You will also learn how to use Facebook as a ministry outreach tool. Open to all levels of user or non-users.
A-5: Feeding the Body by Fighting Hunger
The Rev. Matt Lenahan
Lutherans are known for their commitment to combating hunger globally and locally. This workshop will look at the Lutheran theological and experiential underpinnings for our hunger work, the realities and extent of hunger in Pennsylvania, congregational best practices in response to hunger and current advocacy opportunities to shape hunger policy.
A-6: Fertile Soil: Transition Time in a Congregation
The Rev. Virginia J. Cover
Together we will explore the opportunities and concerns that transition stirs up in our congregations: How does the call process work? How do we find an interim pastor? How can we make this time beneficial and growth-filled for the congregation? What are the concerns we face as congregational leaders in this time? This workshop is for all congregations—not just those going through transition at the moment!
A-7: God’s Work, Little Hands…Children Serving Those in Need and Sharing Christ with Others
Sue Orth, Carol Forbes and Michelle Shirk
Children want to help and serve those in need! This session explores hands-on and fun ways to get your children involved in outreach and evangelism. Presenters will share their experiences, including Bible school programs, outreach weeks and more. Don’t have a lot of children in your church? That’s OK, too! It only takes one person to serve others, and doing outreach with children will change their hearts forever. (offered in sessions A and B)
A-8: Have You Heard about Hope?
Jillian Forbes
For the past seven years, hundreds of members of our synod congregations have been discovering new ways to act out their faith, use their spiritual gifts, create lasting friendships and experience life outside of their comfort zone…in a good way! Hope in Haiti is a volunteer organization that is guiding this process. Experiencing faith and service on a global level is not just for long-term missionaries anymore. Through mission trips, service learning events, hosting international students, and Facebook, people in this synod are “living abundantly” in global service and friendship. Come to this workshop and learn how your congregation can be a part of this mission and service experience!
A-9: Health Ministry in Your Congregation: Getting Started
Members of the synod Health Ministry Committee
Discover the answers to the “Who, What, Why, When, and How” of starting a health ministry in your congregation. Hear firsthand accounts from volunteer health ministers and parish nurses serving congregations in this synod. Come prepared to share your thoughts about how your congregation might establish a vital health ministry in your setting or enhance an existing one!
A-10: Healthy Congregations
The Rev. Dan Biles and the Rev. Deborah L. Brumbaugh
Congregations today often face stress, anxiety, and conflict. This seminar will help pastors and laity understand the emotional processes in relationships, so they can better respond to anxiety and conflict. The key to developing healthy congregations is healthy leaders who provide calm, comfort, clarity, and challenge when the congregation is feeling anxious and uncertain.
A-11: HomeGrown Faith
Linda Staats
To nurture a faith in Jesus Christ that is deeply rooted and sustainable for a lifetime, it needs to be HomeGrown! The belief that home is the center for faith formation is based on scripture and core to who we are as Lutherans. Current research also informs us that it is in our homes where we learn to articulate our faith and form our Christian identity. Together we will explore the church-home connection, the top ten faith practices for the home, and some simple, old-fashioned recipes for a new life in Christ.
A-12 : Jesus, Should We Tell Him to Stop?
The Rev. Larry Hawkins
The title of this workshop is a loose paraphrase of the disciple John’s response to seeing a man cast out demons in Jesus’ name (Mark 9:38). With Jesus’ response to John’s question as the biblical context, this workshop is a conversation about the blessings and burdens of working with others congregations in ministry; as well as a time to share practical ideas for how your congregation can go out and establish partnerships with other congregations to do ministry.
A-13: Living Abundantly, Feeding the World: Your Congregation’s Mission
The Rev. David Fisher
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Your congregation has been given life and sent by God to be a vital part of the “Christ life-giving body” in the world. Your congregation’s mission has already been given by God; it’s not something we create. In this workshop, we will explore ways in which your congregation can identify unique gifts given for God’s mission and ways in which you can connect with each other, with your community and mission field, with other congregations sharing the same mission field, and with the life-giving source of God’s Word and Sacraments.
A-14: Living Into the Future Together (LIFT): Is Heavy Lifting Required?
Members of Synod Council
What do the LIFT recommendations mean for you and your congregation? What is LIFT, anyway? This workshop invites everyone into the conversation centered on the questions: “What is God calling this church to be and to do as we ‘live into the future together?’” and “What changes are in order to help us respond most faithfully?” The Synod Council has entered into a time of prayer and discernment in response to the recommendations and implementing resolutions adopted by the 2011 Churchwide Assembly. Join us as we ask ourselves and each other: “Who are we?” and “Why are we here?”
A-15: Making Sense of Scripture
The Rev. Dr. David Lose
Okay, tell the truth, how many of you have started reading the Bible with the intention of making it all the way through only to waste away in the wilds of Numbers or lose your way in the laws of Leviticus? But, what if reading the Bible didn’t have to be quite so hard? What if, in fact, you could find yourself in the Bible and see it not as an ancient tome but a contemporary story into which you are invited? Join us as we talk about how ALL of us can read the Bible with greater enjoyment, understanding, and confidence!
A-16: My Body, Our Body, One Body: Singing as Embodiment
Mark Mummert
When the church gathers—we sing. We bring our individual voices and join them to the other voices in the room, to voices across the church, to peoples around the globe and to saints who have gone before us. The act of singing also has an effect on us—it engages our breath, it enlivens our imagination, it awakens our ears and it rouses our bodies. This workshop considers the ways singing together forms us as persons, as a people, and as a church among the peoples of the world. All are welcome to this workshop—musicians, pastors, but also especially people who wonder why we sing in the church at all.
A-17: Plugging Your Congregation in to the ELCA Malaria Campaign
Chris Mummert
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly of 2011 resoundingly passed a resolution to raise $15 million by 2013 in the worldwide fight against malaria. This workshop will be focused on LEARNING why this campaign is so important and GIVING participants practical steps for their congregations to become an active part of this campaign. Multi-media resources and “how-to” information will be available to those attending this workshop.
A-18: Practicing Vocational Discernment with Youth
Sister Dottie Almoney
The Church has a responsibility to attend to the vocation of our youth, helping them to display God’s glory in their gifts and to use them to further God’s kingdom in this world. While our school systems place a high emphasis on occupation, there is little said about “vocation.” This workshop will help you practice vocational discernment with the youth in your congregations as well as help young people tend to and cultivate their gifts beyond the margins of our congregations. We will also discuss how to help young people use the fullness of their abilities in their faith journeys.
A-19 : When Body Image and Food Collide…
Robert E. Skelly, Ph.D
It’s been said, “A person’s view of things is more disturbing than those things.” Thousands of women and men look in the mirror every day and misinterpret (and therefore hate) what they see. This workshop is designed to foster an understanding of the connection between eating and body image; and to provide suggestions on how to help a friend or family member struggling with these issues.
Session B 1:00—2:15 p.m.
B-1: Breath, Beat, and Motion: Assembly Singing from the Ground Up
Mark Mummert
This workshop will consider assembly song and the basic elements of communal singing: breath, beat, and motion. Using examples of hymns and service music from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, we will consider the ways best to lead the great variety of assembly song today, think about instruments in the leadership of assembly song, and develop techniques for enabling the best communal singing possible in our worshiping assemblies. If you lead or love music in worship, this workshop is especially for you.
B-2: Dealing with Chronic Pain
The Rev. Doris Nolan
Do you suffer from chronic pain? Do you provide pastoral care to a person with chronic pain? We will share our stories of how chronic pain impacts and diminishes our lives. And, we’ll discuss the theological resources and spiritual disciplines that are available for us if we suffer from chronic pain or minister to those who do. We will also consider self-care strategies for caregivers to those who are afflicted with chronic pain.
B-3: Evangelism as Spiritual Wellness
The Rev. Brenda Ritterpusch
Engaging in evangelism as a normal, expected part of the life of faith is not only an act of obedience to our Lord and a service to all of His children, but it also helps us to grow spiritually strong and healthy. There are lessons and gifts that only come in doing evangelism. This workshop will talk about these lessons and gifts and how they relate to spiritual wellness. We will also share easy, doable evangelism strategies for disciples and congregations.
B-4: Feeding God’s Economy through Fair Trade
Tricia Allison and Linda Trout
Why choose Fair Trade products? Come explore how fair trade supports more than fair prices. Learn the “nuts and beans” of organizing a Fair Trade Fair in your congregation.
B-5: Feeding the Body by Providing Shelter
The Rev. Amy Reumann
The problem of hunger in our communities is exacerbated by the lack of access to and availability of safe, affordable housing. Explore the range of Lutheran homeless and housing ministries in the region, share experiences and learn about the latest public policy advocacy opportunities to safeguard housing programs that work.
B-6: From Treading Water to Swimming Forward
Chelle Huth, AiM
Feel like you’re just swimming in the same place in ministry? Come to this workshop to hear about important ministry paradigm shifts to help your congregation begin to move forward in its mission.
B-7: God’s Work, Little Hands…Children Serving Those in Need and Sharing Christ with Others
Sue Orth, Carol Forbes and Michelle Shirk
Children want to help and serve those in need! This session explore hands-on and fun ways to get your children involved in outreach and evangelism. Presenters will share their experiences including Bible school programs, outreach weeks and more. Don’t have a lot of children in our church? That’s OK, too! It only takes one person to serve others, and doing outreach with children will change their hearts forever. (offered in sessions A and B)
B-8: How Faith Informs Our Eating
The Rev. Sigrid Hipkiss
Food and water are the first necessities of life; our lives revolve, at a basic level, around having enough. Beyond survival, much of our life in community—in families, among friends, in churches, etc—centers on sharing food. We’ll look at things like the basic understanding that food is a gift, the role of food in community and in mission, and the way God in the Bible uses food to communicate grace.
B-9: Keeping It Real—The Only Way to Reach and Understand This Young Generation – NOTICE: THIS WORKSHOP IS CANCELLED! Please choose another workshop in Session B.
Jeff Engroff
Being yourself is the best way to be when reaching out to young people. This involves listening, learning and loving a young generation without losing them. This practical workshop will inform, question and help congregations prepare a place for young adults. More than stats and figures, we will discuss what works and doesn’t work when it comes to understanding a generation searching for something real.
B-10: Living a Life of Wholeness
George Bennett, diaconal minister
The ELCA Board of Pensions has developed a Wholeness Wheel and this will serve as a framework for our discussion on what it means to be “whole.” Wholeness is being all we can be, developing all the parts of us and keeping them in balance. Our goal is to be complete, not perfect, individuals. Please join us in discussing “living a life of wholeness.”
B-11: Our Greatest Challenge
Krista Pontius and members of the synod World Hunger Committee
The world recently exceeded seven billion people; agriculture’s greatest challenge is providing food for our growing world. ELCA World Hunger is a comprehensive and sustainable program which uses multiple strategies—relief, development, education, and advocacy—to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. ELCA World Hunger responds to neighbors around the corner and around the world. ELCA World Hunger has numerous resources to assist congregations in providing education, advocacy, and development to deliver support to our Christian neighbors across the world. Join us at this interactive workshop to learn what you can do to help us conquer “Our Greatest Challenge.”
B-12: Overflowing at Project SHARE Food Pantry
Elaine Livas
Project SHARE (Survival Help And Recipient Education) is an interfaith cooperative effort, begun in 1985, involving over 66 local congregations, schools, and civic organizations. Contributions of food, money, and volunteerism provide essential basic assistance to more than 1000 families each month. The Project SHARE gleaning program harvests donations of fresh produce from 36 local farms and growers. Church volunteers and food bank recipients work together in the fields to collect fresh, edible produce not gathered at regular harvest times. This workshop will share how being open to give AND RECEIVE highlights all that God is eager to share with us.
B-13: Please Adjust Your Own Oxygen Mask Before Assisting Others: Body Prayer
Sister Davia Baldauf
Our own fulfillment and nurture are important aspects in our mission to be as Christ for the world. Body prayer can be as simple as folding one’s hands. It can also be as complex as ballet, jazz or ethnic interpretations of the gospel. In this class we will explore how body movement empowers our prayer, informs our connection with God and embraces us in the gifts of peace and consolation. Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes. We will work standing and sitting. No physical abilities necessary.
B-14: Preaching Ourselves into the Biblical Story
The Rev. Dr. David Lose
By and large, most Lutheran Christians do not imagine God as a primary actor in the story of their lives or imagine themselves as participants in the ongoing biblical narrative. And our preaching often reinforces those tendencies. But what if we made a few small changes – to our view of preaching and ourselves as preachers – in order to invite our people more deeply into the Christian faith? Join us as we look at various ways by which we can move from a performative to a participatory style of preaching.
B-15: Seeing and Living Connectedness in the Body of Christ
The Rev. David Fisher
As congregations and denominations, we have often defined who we are by saying who we are not—dividing the body of Christ into “them” and “us” rather than appreciating the varied gifts God has given to different parts of the body. At a time in the North American church when “independent” congregations are networking, “connected” congregations like many in the ELCA are acting more independently. This workshop is for those who would like to learn new ways to raise awareness of the Body in their congregations and communicate what is happening in other parts of the Church, especially on the territory of this synod as well as in and through the ELCA.
B-16: So You Want to Plan a Mission Trip?
Jesse Woodrow
Have other mission trips left you wanting more? Have you ever wanted to plan your very own trip? LutheranHANDS is a ministry serving God’s community by connecting volunteers with faith-building service opportunities. Come and learn from Jesse’s experiences as LutheranHANDS Director of Domestic Operations in leading local, national and international mission trips. You will discover how you can take your congregation’s group on a mission trip! God is calling. You can now reply, “Here I am.”
B-17: The Body of Christ—A Circle of Blessing
Linda Staats
Too often the Body of Christ is separated and scattered rather than connected and gathered when at church. It takes all generations intentionally interacting with one another to nourish and pass on the faith. For an abundant life in Christ, the gifts of every age must be identified and utilized. In this interactive workshop you will become a Cross+Generational community and leave equipped to engage those across the life-span in God’s Story and in every aspect of your ministry.
B-18: The Way Back Seat—Bringing Church Conflict to the Front Seat
Jan Davis, AiM
Some of us remember the “way back seat” in station wagons, where we had to sit with our brother or sister when our parents had enough of hearing our whining voices! Using Frances Gench’s book, “Faithful Disagreement: Wrestling with Scripture in the Midst of Church Conflict,” participants will gain an understanding of how to more faithfully respond to conflict. While not an expert on conflict resolution, Jan has lived through many conflicts in her congregations. She will share her experiences, both good and not so good, in her desire to bring us from the way back seat to the front seat where we might see our journey more clearly.
B-19: Welcoming the Stranger: Forming a New Community Identity with our Hispanic Brothers and Sisters
Sharon Kaya
The gospels tell us that we are all brothers and sisters. Then, why is it so difficult to treat others as members of the same family when they look, think and behave differently than us? We will search the scriptures to see how we can be transformed without losing our own identity as we seek to create a greater identity as neighbors from the same “’hood.” We will look into the possibility of challenging ourselves to take risks in response to God’s call to live out the Gospel.