A Reason to Get Up in the Morning

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At our recent Synod Council meeting, we approved a new strategic plan that paints a compelling picture of who we are as the Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After all the listening and discerning, amid a plethora of data and details, a common mission for our life as congregations, ministries and leaders emerged:
Together we proclaim and embody
God’s unconditional love
for the sake of the world

Read that through a few times and tell me whether that’s not an excellent reason to get up each morning and to do so with a renewed commitment to live as Christ’s Church, Better Together! Certainly that’s the impact it has had on me. As your bishop, it’s life-giving to engage each day knowing that whatever I might be doing, it is intended to contribute to our shared mission of proclaiming and embodying God’s unconditional love for the sake of the world. When that’s the focus, everything else falls into place.

Our plan identifies four specific ways that we will engage in this mission together. We will do so by:

Claiming our gifts allows us to recognize and live from the distinct theology and practice, legacy, and understanding of church that is ours as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. At this historical moment when commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, claiming our gifts doesn’t separate us from others but allows us to partner more authentically in proclaiming and embodying God’s love.

Connecting in ministry and witness renews our commitment to deepened communication and collaboration, recognizing that no one congregation, leader or ministry can operate effectively in isolation from the rest of the Body.  We are called to God’s mission together.

Equipping all leaders recognizes that healthy and vibrant ministry depends up our willingness to grow and to increase our respective capacities. This area of our strategy will give particular focus to comprehensive leadership development as well as generosity and stewardship.

Accompanying one another into God’s future imagines how we can live as the church in these changing times with creativity and flexibility, while remaining accountable to one another for our life together in Christ. It commits us to seeking the kind of leadership and structures that will best serve our calling as the church for future generations.

For more details, you can visit the Strategic Plan page on the RMS website. There you can review the plan summary or engage the more comprehensive plan document. 

As the Office of the Bishop staff, we’ve already begun discussing our particular roles in implementing the goals and objectives, knowing that this strategic plan is a living document that will change and evolve as we live into its vision together.

At the end of the day, what this strategic plan so helpfully offers us is shared perspective on what it means to live and witness as Christ’s Church, Better Together. And for me, that includes a pretty good reason to get up in the morning.

May it be so for you as well!

Yours in Faith,
Bishop Jim

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