Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod e-news in August

This summer our Episcopalian siblings are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of women’s ordination in their denomination. The evening of Sunday, July 28 I was the guest of the Idaho Episcopal Diocese at Ascension in Twin Falls, ID. During the prayers of the people, the leader gave space for everyone gathered to name aloud a person or people who had been significant in their journey to public ministry or lay ministry. This celebration came at the end of my trip to our congregations in Wyoming which came on the heels of the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. So, I was immediately transported back to the 1997 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans when I served on a Hotel Life Team, which involved general hospitality and helping lead worship in the hotel each morning, including my first sermon. The last night of that Gathering was a huge party outside. I walked around with Pastor Marilyn Breckenridge, the head of our team, and during that walk she encouraged me to consider becoming a pastor. It was probably small to her, something I assume she did regularly, but to me it was something I still remember this many years later. 

In our tradition, we talk about the internal and external call to ministry, and we affirm that both are necessary to the discernment process. Naming the possibility, as Pastor Breckenridge did, is right there in the Letter of Call all of us pastors receive: “to encourage persons to prepare for the ministry of the Gospel.” I have yet to install a deacon, but I assume it’s in their letter too. For most of us, nudges or invitations from rostered ministers were significant, but so too were seeds planted by other members of our faith communities. As important as it is for all of us to take seriously our callings as baptized children of God, so too is it important that we identify and name gifts for public/ordained ministry when they appear. One conversation can open an imagination and prepare it to be nourished by someone else. 

In a recent email to rostered leaders, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton wrote, “Recently we have heard one thing loud and clear: our candidates and future seminarians need more opportunities for discernment. As we listen across the church to learn how the churchwide expression can best support you, a constant theme is the need for more discernment resources. Therefore, in partnership with all seven of our ELCA seminaries, we are launching online discernment groups.

….Those who are interested can sign up, using the contact form located at elcaseminaries.org. While there, they can discover the unique educational opportunities each of our seminaries has to offer. As they explore the site, they might even find examples of church leadership they have never seen before. If they aren’t comfortable in a group setting, they can request to speak with a discernment mentor one-on-one. These new conversation-based resources expand upon our already existing discernment site, Journi.faith.” 

Three of our ELCA Seminaries (PLTS, Wartburg, and Luther) will host an online discernment event for all of Region One (including our synod) Saturday, November 23 at 9-10:30am (Pacific), 10-11:30am (Mountain). Finally, the Northwest Intermountain Synod has its own Candidacy page, with information about the candidacy process, our Candidacy Committee, and other resources.

Who will you forward this email to? Who in your congregation have you been meaning to talk with about their gifts for public ministry? Whose discernment process have you already been a part of? Thank you!

Peace,

Bishop Meggan Manlove