Assistant to the Bishop for Evangelical Mission Rev. Craig A. Miller

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1 230 Assistant to the Bishop for Evangelical Mission Rev. Craig A. Miller Taking time to look back over the previous year seems to me almost as exhausting as looking toward the tasks ahead. Last year I was just getting to know this synod and my place in it. Bishop Collins asked me to join her staff because of how well we agreed that a synod had to be directed toward mission and relationships. What I had not expected was that my past experience had also made me able to become an advisor on policy and financial matters. I have learned over this past year that relationships can be healthier and stronger when good guidelines and policies are in place to govern those relationships. I have also learned that our congregations are often hungry to learn those policies and to have good administrative practices. This learning came about because of my work with congregations in transition, conference deans, the Fiscal Management Team, and Synod Council. In each of these relationships I strive to offer encouragement to seek best practices. We continue to improve our practices as synod and to help our congregations do the same. Some accomplishments I can point to from the last twelve months include Updated the call process guidelines that help congregations navigate the anxious time between regularly called pastors; Assisted congregations in the call process; Worked with the conference deans to revise the Ethical Practices for Rostered Leaders that has been proposed to the assembly for adoption; Participated in development of a Gift Acceptance Policy and Investment Policy with the Fiscal Management Team, and assisted in the budget process; Worked with the Constitution Committee to review constitutions from congregations and the synod constitution; Convened meetings of Interim pastors & multi-point pastors to facilitate sharing of joys and challenges; Planned the annual LARC Vespers and Day of Dialog with ecumenical officers from our partners; Drafted policies for the USS Fund for Leaders and the USS Rostered Leaders Seminary/Education Debt Relief Fund; Facilitated the work on our synod strategic Mission Plan. In this year I plan to continue convening Interim and Multi-point pastors. Bishop Collins and I are visiting congregations to personally thank them for their Mission Support partnership. We also want to meet with pastors, taking the opportunity to talk with them about their personal stewardship and discipleship practices. Last year you gave me a wonderful start to my relationship with this synod. We concluded the calendar year with Mission Support above our projections. While we are lagging somewhat this year commitments are almost $117,000 below budget I think we can make similar positive results. We still need thirty of our congregations to send in their Mission Support Commitments. Our Mission Support Table will plan for at least two Stewardship workshops during this year. I will work with any congregation that wants help to build up congregational stewardship so that they can more easily make and achieve their commitment. With several congregations having reduced their commitment from last year we will have to tighten our budget for synod operations.

2 Bishop Collins and I will continue our efforts to build up our mutual relationships in spite of this. 231 As you will see in the following reports, our synod is actively pursuing a Mission Strategy. This assembly will give our members an opportunity to participate more deeply in this process. It gives me great pleasure to facilitate this process and I eagerly anticipate the outcome a plan that will guide us to our future in Mission. Finally, I expect to continue refining the congregational transition process, including finding ways to build up the strengths of congregations as they experience changes in pastoral leadership. At our bishop s retreat this spring we gathered under the theme What we need is here. I truly believe that God has given us, our synod and our congregations, enough to carry out our Mission. Our task is to discern our purpose and discover the resources God has placed in our midst and in our vicinity. Some of our congregations have engaged in this conversation already. I will continue to work with these and others with hope for a stronger church that will bring blessing to our synod.

3 232 Mission Strategy Table The Mission Strategy Table includes members of the Mission Table and Mission Support Table. Its responsibility is to discern and recommend strategic directions for our synod as we seek to live into God s mission for our church in these 10 counties. Around September of 2017 it became apparent that this group had energy to work toward a multi-year strategic plan. In several meetings we discussed methods for creating this plan. We soon decided that we needed to involve many more in our efforts: thus, we decided to engage congregations in an exercise designed to give us an idea of how our synod is perceived by our members, followed by what our members would like us to become. Many of you responded to the two questions we asked: When you hear Upper Susquehanna Synod what word or phrase comes to mind? When you hear Upper Susquehanna Synod what word or phrase would you like to have come to mind? From the answers we received from over 40 congregations we developed two word clouds that began to reveal a direction to us. We clearly saw that our members often have little idea what our synod is or does. Others imagine synod (and ELCA churchwide) as hierarchical authority, making demands on congregations seemingly arbitrarily. These contrasted with the desire for a synod that provides support, aid, and assistance to congregational ministries and fosters community among our Lutheran congregations. Looking at the word clouds we found we had more questions arise that we couldn t answer through a similar process. Instead, we decided to continue the conversation at our synod assembly. Hence, we worked with Bishop Collins to develop a plan for three conversations on Saturday that will deepen our understanding of our members as we listen to their responses. Of course, we will participate in the conversation as well. From our deeper listening we will then draw up recommendations to the synod council for a five to ten year strategic plan for mission in the Upper Susquehanna Synod. Once approved by the synod council we expect the plan will be announced to and affirmed by the 2019 assembly. Mission Table The Mission Table, through regular conversations, seeks to discern ways for our synod to help congregations carry out Mission, and endeavors to connect congregations to each other and the wider church. The Mission Table includes members of the Small Church Mission Team, the Transformational Ministry Team, and the Missional River coaches. Because of its work with the other mission-directed tables, the Mission Table met only a few times in In early 2018 the Small Church Mission Team met to review two Small Church Grant requests and awarded grants to St. John s, Richfield, and Zion, Turbotville.

4 233 Small Church Mission Team o Reviews grant requests and makes recommendation to Synod Council for action. o Monitors active grants. Four congregations received grants in 2017: United In Christ, West Milton funds a part-time coordinator and programing for ministry to senior citizens. Applied to continue grant for St John s, Richfield providing food for needy children through their Tiger Treats program. Grant continued for St John s, Potts Grove funds supplies for their ministry to senior citizens. Zion, Turbotville funds advertising and other expenses for developing a new worship service. Grant continued for o Arranges for presentations on issues related to small congregations. Transformational Ministry o Helps congregations to look outward, beyond church walls, to see how they can impact their communities Missional River o Building on Transformational Ministry, assists congregations to develop relationships among members and with their surrounding communities for the purpose of growing in mission. Mission Support Table The Mission Support Table is responsible for recommending strategies to encourage congregational Mission Support. In addition, the Table assists congregations and the synod in the understanding and practices of Stewardship Last year the Mission Support Table joined the Mission Table and Mission Strategy Table in meetings to develop a strategic mission strategy for our synod. Mission Support in our synod in 2017 demonstrated the value we place on our shared ministry in the three expressions of the ELCA (congregation, synod, churchwide). Over 95% of our congregations submitted annual Mission Support Commitments ranging from $0 to $43,575. By the end of the year 85% of our congregations had met or exceeded their commitments. Only 19 congregations fell below their pledge. Commitments for 2017 totaling $829,388 were exceeded by over 2¼% as congregations gave $848,334 in Mission Support to our synod. This was almost $19,000 higher than expected, and nearly $20,000 above our budget projection for the year. On top of regular Mission Support our congregations, individuals, and organizations gave $313,340 toward ELCA ministries, such as ELCA World Hunger ($116,488) Disaster Response ($138,704), and the Campaign for the ELCA. A report from the Mission Advancement unit of the ELCA states that the Upper Susquehanna Synod has fewer congregations than the ELCA median, a significantly

5 234 higher proportion of which worship 50 or fewer compared to the ELCA average. These congregations share a higher than average percent in Mission Support with the synod and share a higher than average percent in benevolence (excluding Mission Support). In that same report is a note that our members give less per person than the ELCA average. However, our congregation operating costs per active member are lower than average. A challenge our Table faces in this year is to seek ways to bring our synod s proportionate share of Mission Support to the churchwide expression back to 50% or greater. To do this we will need a comprehensive Mission Support Plan that includes working with all our congregations to lift up Stewardship and giving as critical discipleship practices. To accomplish this we want to offer Stewardship and Discipleship workshops around our synod. Through these workshops we will seek to bring best practices in these areas to share with each other. Another target for our Table is to seek better ways to communicate the stories of our church at work in our neighborhoods and in the world. We encourage congregations to use Stories of Faith in Action and to share their own stories with our synod through the Ark and other media.

6 235 This table includes late receipts from congregations for 2017 Mission Support Congregations are listed by conference

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