Eastern North Dakota Synod

A Missional Spiritual Discovery Journey for Congregations

Re-rooting in God’s Mission is a renewal journey and process for congregations seeking to move from maintenance to mission and from survival to striving.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

9:30 am – 3:30 pm
Olivet Lutheran Church – Fargo, ND

About the Journey:

Re-rooting in God’s Mission is a process designed to unfold over an 18 to 24 month period of time. The process involves four or more Saturday equipping events (9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) sprinkled throughout these months. These equipping events will revolve around listening to God through prayer, scripture, each other, our neighbors, and three key ingredients for congregational renewal:

1. Discovering a shared purpose for participating in God’s mission locally and beyond
2. Willingness to change for the sake of the Gospel
3. Shared leadership between pastor and congregational leaders

(an ELCA research study identified these 3 key ingredients for renewal)

This process of renewal seeks to engage and involve the whole congregation. It begins and continues with prayer and in-depth engagement with God’s word. A team of at least four, including pastor, selected by the congregation and pastor, attend the training opportunities in order to be equipped to engage their congregation in a renewal process focusing on:

• Attending to God in prayer and scripture
• Accompanying one another in following Jesus and being the church
• Asserting and agreeing on some mission action and implementing it
• Acting on the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor and the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, using holy mission experiments
• Assessing and learning from setbacks and successes

The illustration (below), attempts to describe the cyclical, ebb and flow nature of this congregational renewal journey being facilitated by our Synods’ Renewal Team.

Preparing for the Journey:

• Prayer and discussion with congregational leaders involving an overview of the process and suggestions for how prayer and conversation might actually happen in the congregation
• Congregation commits to taking journey and allocates $300 to cover costs (e.g. materials, meals, etc.)
• Congregation and pastor assemble a team (at least four, including pas- tor) to accompany their congregation and shepherd the process
• Congregation’s team enters into a time of prayer and reflection on the Book of Acts in preparation for the first equipping event on February 25, 2012

Teams attending can expect to:

• Be immersed in prayer and God’s word
• Receive tools, best practices, resources, and be equipped to utilize and adapt them to their congregation’s context
• Be accompanied by a coach throughout the whole journey
• Receive additional training as needed, tailored to specific issues along the way

Registration Deadline: February 10, 2012

For more information contact: Pastor Keith Zeh @ 218-299-4447 or keith.zeh@elca.org

Download brochure: ReRooting in God’s Mision info