Registration Open until May 15
We look forward to seeing you at the 2024 Synod Assembly on Saturday, June 1 at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Fairfax, VA.
Come ready to learn all the ways the Holy Spirit has empowered congregations, rostered ministers and lay leaders to live out the Gospel in various ministry contexts!
Update: Registrations received will incur an additional $15 fee per registration.
Questions?
Please contact the synod assembly planning team chair, Pastor Alex Stall, by emailing synodassemblyteam@metrodcelca.org.
Worship Resource
Blessing for Assembly & Voting Members
All congregations are invited to utilize this pre-assembly blessing of voting members and the assembly in a worship service prior to the assembly on June 1.
Click the link below to download a Word doc to your device.
Below is an outline of the draft agenda for our time together. Please note this is subject to change as details and speakers are finalized.
7:45-9:00 AM | Registration
8:00-9:00 AM | Welcome Breakfast
8:00 AM | Chapel & Childcare
9:00 AM | Opening Worship
10:00 AM | Plenary Session 1
11:50 AM | Lunch & Workshops
12:55 PM | Lunch & Workshops
2:00 PM | Workshops
3:05 PM | Plenary Session 2
4:20 PM | Plenary Session 3
4:45 PM | Plenary Session 4
5:30 PM | Closing Worship & Installations
Assembly Reports
Everything you need to reference and review prior to Synod Assembly is available in the report document below.
Items in this report include:
- Reports from synod leadership
- Reports from synod ministries
- Memorials & resolutions to be voted
- Candidate information forms for nominations to leadership
This is a living document and will be updated as reports are received.
Accepting Nominations for Consultation Committee & Churchwide Assembly
Each year, the assembly votes to elect new members to serve on synod Council and other important synod tables. Below is a list of the positions still open for nominations.
- Consultation Committee - Rostered (2 positions, 6-year term)
- Churchwide Assembly - Lay (1 position, male)
No Longer Accepting Submissions
The synod assembly provides an opportunity for voting members to present Resolutions or Memorials for consideration.
Resolutions adopted by the synod assembly will be acted upon locally or passed to the appropriate units of the ELCA for action.
Memorials adopted for consideration by the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly will be forwarded to the Churchwide Assembly Memorials Committee for consideration and inclusion in the advance materials along with memorials from other synods of the ELCA.
The memorials and resolutions that will be presented at the assembly will be made available soon.
This year, we will be offering the following workshops at Synod Assembly.
Due to the limited space available, registered attendees will be assigned to a workshop in advance of the assembly.
To provide registered attendees with the opportunity to choose the workshops of most interest to you, please complete the survey below.
We will do our best to try to assign everyone to two of their top three workshops.
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Hearing on the Draft Social Statement on Civic Life and Faith
This hearing is a special opportunity to respond to the text of the draft statement and to hear the perspectives of others, as well. Pr. Lamar Bailey, who is a member of the ELCA Task Force on Civic Life and Faith will be present for the discussion. NOTE: Prior reading of the draft statement is expected of all participants.
Sponsor: ELCA Task Force on Civic Life and Faith / Rev. Lamar Bailey
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Decisive Moments: Deciding to Go, Deciding to Stay, and Deciding to Start
Based on her new book How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington will lead this workship on decisive moments.
Sponsor: Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
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A Conversation On Servant Leadership As A Model for Rostered and Congregational Leaders
This conversation on servant leadership will provide rostered and congregational leaders with an overview and awareness of servant leadership and the values of servant leadership in their congregational ministry or organizational workplace settings. Participants will develop an understanding of different leadership styles, explore the history and principles of servant leadership, understand the values of servant leadership in our ministry settings, and learn skills for applying servant leadership principles in our ministry or workplace.
Sponsor: Rev. David Anglada, ELCA Representative
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A Taste of Sacred Ground
Sacred Ground is a film/readings-based, facilitator-led dialogue series on race, grounded in faith, offered by the MetroDC Synod via the Racial Equity Team to all synod congregations. This workshop describes & reviews the small group process that sojourns participants through America’s history focusing on Indigenous, Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific American stories as they intersect with those of European Americans. After an overview of topics and approach, the workshop will present exercises to engage participants in the process at their level of comfort. Sacred Ground is open to all and designed to help people discuss these topics with others. Participants will be invited to reflect on this as a continuing dialogue, to engage in discussing our present challenges and divisions – grounded in our call to faith, hope and love.
Sponsor: Racial Equity Team
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How Mission and Vision Drives Your Generosity
In this workshop, participants will learn how the mission, vision and purpose of their local congregation and the Synod can help support and encourage their own financial generosity. Participants will be able to more fully understand their congregations' mission and the vision of the Synod, and how this connects with the ways they use their financial resources for the present and the future.
Sponsor: Stewardship and Mission Support Table, Rev. Jason Shank, DEM Metro DC Synod, Rev. David C. Shank, ELCA Foundation
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Resourcing Congregational Vitality
Is your congregation seeking to be a vibrant and vital ministry? Learn about the ministry of the synod's New & Renewing Mission Table, grants that are available for vitality and growth, healthy leadership, developing congregation partnerships, campus ministry and more. Be inspired through impact stories shared by grant recipients, and leave equipped to apply for a grant.
Sponsor: New and Renewing Mission Table
Welcome Bishop Budde!
Workshop Title: Decisive Moments
Mariann Edgar Budde serves as spiritual leader for 86 Episcopal congregations and ten Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. The first woman elected to this position, she also serves as the chair of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which oversees the ministries of the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral schools.
A passionate believer in the gospel of Jesus and the Episcopal Church’s particular witness, Bishop Budde is committed to the spiritual and numerical growth of congregations and developing new expressions of Christian community.
She believes that Jesus calls all who follow him to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. To that end, Bishop Budde is an advocate and organizer in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation.
Welcome Dr. Marci Vandiver
Dr. Marci Vandiver is an Associate Professor of Education at Towson University in Baltimore County, Maryland. She received her B.S. in Middle Grades Education from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. After her undergraduate studies, she worked as a teacher for Atlanta Public Schools and received her master’s in Educational Policy and Leadership from Georgia State University. She later received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Vandiver’s research interests focus on issues of diversity and inclusion, anti-racism, and educational equity for marginalized and historically underserved
students.
As a woman of faith, Marci has a heart for God's children and believes that education – even during the Sunday School hour – is a transformative practice. It is Marci’s firm belief that education (in all forms) necessitates important conversations on social justice and inclusion. Marci is happily married to Rev. Dr. Kevin Vandiver, the senior pastor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Capitol Hill. They are the proud parents of two toddler boys.
Welcome ELCA Representative
Pastor A. David Anglada
Workshop Title: Servant Leadership as Model for Congregational Leaders
Pastor A. David Anglada (he/his) serves as the Senior Director for Leadership within The Christian Community and Leadership, home area-ELCA.
David has been an ordained Pastor of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for 27 years. David has served numerous parishes throughout New York City. He has also served as Assistant to Bishop / Director for Evangelical Outreach in the Metropolitan New York Synod, the Florida-Bahamas Synod, and Program Director for Multicultural Leadership, ELCA, Chicago, Ill.
David is the proud parent of Aaron-David Anglada and his daughter-in-law, Ninan Anglada. He is also Francesco-David Anglada's grandparent. His life mission is to build multicultural bridges across the differences of race and cultural traditions. David is also a Jazz/Latin Jazz enthusiast.
Land Acknowledgment for Synod Assembly
The Metro D.C. Synod wishes to acknowledge and honor the Piscataway peoples upon whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well all our Indigenous siblings who have and continue to care for this place – this land – and call it home.