Welcome to the web site for the 2008 Alaska Synod Assembly
Workshops

HOME    AGENDA    WORKSHOPS    OUR HOSTS    BIBLE STUDY    FORMS    Synod Home  

Appreciative Inquiry is a way of asking questions, collecting stories and information (not just facts), and a way of creating vision for congregations, agencies, and institutions. Guiding principles behind AI include:

1. We will be appreciative. Our primary goal is to value the positive.
2. Leaders lead (and model) change.
3. We bring people together around our stories: Biblical, Personal, congregational, Cultural/community
4. We seek to discover stories revealing God's presence in congregational life.
5. We listen to, learn from, and share these stories to find common themes and positive images on which we build our renewed vision for mission.
6. What we learn becomes what we do.
7. What we begin to do becomes "normative" for our congregation.
8. The Holy Spirit will "provoke us" as we discover what God calls us to do.
9. AI is collaborative. Those who gather information are also participants.
10. Help members rediscover what God has done (#3), what God is doing now, AND, what God promises to do (built on our Biblical foundations).

Pastor Jim Drury, Sitka Lutheran Church, is a member of the Alaska Synod Council, Dean of the SE Cluster, and is in the first steps of working toward certification as an AI Practitioner. This will be the second and third workshops he has offered to introduce AI as a way to look at the future in mission.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders-Discussion beyond what it is

Spiritual Direction is an increasingly popular option for people to help with their faith walk, spiritual direction offers the opportunity to have another person walk with us and give us suggestions, prayer support, and companionship along the way. Spiritual direction can take on many different forms, depending on the people involved. The Rev. Marcia Wakeland, who has served as a Spiritual Director and Retreat Leader for many years, will explain some of the basics about what Spiritual Direction may offer for our journey of faith.

Mission Interpreters The message of the Good News we share is far more than one person (the pastor) can possibly accomplish. Mission Interpreters are lay people who have been trained to share the powerful message of what we are accomplishing together as the Body of Christ, giving examples and telling the stories of individuals touched by the work of our congregations and the ELCA as a whole. These stories put a human face on the gifts and offering we give, on the ministries in which we engage, and the work we share in the name of Jesus. Mark Kissel will lead this exploration of this important ministry of being a Mission Interpreter.

AFACT Anchorage Faith & Action • Congregations Together (AFACT) was created in 2003 by eight congregations to organize, empower, and mobilize local faith communities to address quality of life issues affecting their community. Since then, AFACT has grown in numbers and influence in the community and serves as a model of positive action by coordinated congregations.  Angela Liston, Executive Director of AFACT will share some of the highlights of the vision, training, and impact of AFACT.

Discovering New Ways to Live Full Lives What happens when a disability—vision loss in this case—interferes with someone’s ability to live a whole, full live?  In this workshop you’ll have a chance to learn what it feels like to be visually disabled and build confidence to interact with people with visual and other disabilities effectively and without embarrassment.  You’ll also discover both simple and high-tech tools and training that help people work, live, and participate in the community successfully and have an opportunity to consider how you and your church family can welcome and support people with disabilities.

Social Statement

What is a synod hearing?
Many synods, although not all, sponsor “hearings” as a public place to share comments and hear what others are saying about the draft. They are not designed for statement and rebuttal but offer participants about an hour and a half to share their comments about the text as it now stands. A task force representative is present at each hearing as a listener; a synod recorder also takes notes. The task force will receive their reports as part of the process for revising the draft for 2009.

What is a social statement?
ELCA social statements are teaching documents that assist members in forming judgments on social issues. They are meant to aid in communal and individual moral deliberation and moral formation. They also set policy for this church and guide its advocacy and work as a public church. They result from an extensive process of deliberation, and are adopted by a two-thirds vote of a churchwide assembly.

How are social statements used?
ELCA members are encouraged to use social statements for teaching and moral guidance regarding social issues. Social statements govern church policy and state the official position of this church. Not all members are expected to agree with all parts of a social statement.

The 2001 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America mandated that this church engage in studies on human sexuality. The first emphasis was to be on questions about the blessing of same-gender unions and the rostering of persons in committed gay or lesbian relationships. The second effort was to lead to the development of a social statement on sexuality. These two closely intertwined efforts have been joined under the banner, "Journey Together Faithfully." This is both a call and a goal. Some are eager to do this work. Others are not. Many are apprehensive. However, the 2001 Churchwide Assembly has called upon every member to share in this journey and to pray that it will be a faithful expression of our unity given in Christ.

What is the Book of Faith?
The Book of Faith is an initiative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Book of Faith initiative invites the whole church to become more fluent in the first language of faith, the language of Scripture, in order that we might live into our calling as a people renewed, enlivened, empowered, and sent by the Word.

The Bible is a book of faith
The Bible is the written Word of God that creates and nurtures faith through the work of the Holy Spirit and points us to Christ, the incarnate Word and center of our faith. The Bible invites us into a relationship with God, making demands on our lives and promising us life in Christ. The Bible tells the stories of people living their faith over the centuries and, through its demands and promises, forms us as a people of faith.

The language of Scripture is our first language of faith
The Bible teaches us about God, about the world, and about ourselves. We become renewed, enlivened, and empowered as the language of Scripture forms our hearts, our minds, our community conversation, and our commitments.

We have a calling as the people of God
Part of our calling is to know, hear, share, and be rooted in Scripture.

We are renewed, enlivened, and empowered by the Word
As we live into our calling as people who are formed by Scripture, we become renewed in our faith, enlivened through the Spirit, and empowered through the cross of Christ to serve God and neighbor.

The first year of the Book of Faith initiative centers on inviting everyone to join the conversation, to make a commitment, and to become part of the initiative.

Alaska Synodical Women’s Organization Service Project

Join Women of the ELCA in a service event of putting together health and school kits. The Alaska Synodical Women’s Organization will be taking the completed kits to the 7^th Triennial Gathering in Salt Lake City this summer where they will be given to Lutheran World Relief (LWR). 

A school kit may provide the only supplies for children returning to school after the disruption of war. School kits help parents continue their children's education, even while living in a refugee camp, for example. A school kit may also be used in adult literacy classes. People who must flee their homes quickly often do not have time to pack essential items.

Health kits can help refugees maintain personal hygiene while living in exile. Items may also contribute to a new start for those who can return home.

HOME    AGENDA    WORKSHOPS    OUR HOSTS    BIBLE STUDY    FORMS    Synod Home