May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may OVERFLOW WITH HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
|
Synod Assembly 2020 Canceled
The Synod Council has voted to cancel the assembly re-scheduled for October and move the work of that assembly into the April, 24-26, 2021 assembly. The Council met by Zoom on August 22. Our constitution specifies that we are to have an assembly at least every three years and our practice has been to do that annually on the last full weekend of April. In this pandemic, there is no responsible way to hold such a gathering in-person. The logistics of spacing, sanitizing, feeding and housing voting members is not COVID-19 friendly. Using the skills our congregations have developed in the last few months, it is clear that we, as a synod, have the capability of producing an assembly online but there is no way to provide equal access across the synod. The quality of Internet service varies across Alaska and it doesn’t make sense to disenfranchise those without reliable Internet service. An assembly requires representation and participation from every congregation. All those whose committee or council terms were to have ended in June of 2020 agreed to continue to serve until their successor can be elected. We are grateful for their willingness to continue to serve the people of the Alaska Synod in Christ’s name. Those who agreed to be nominees will be contacted prior to the 2021 Assembly to ask whether they are still interested and available to serve if elected. One exception is that Pastor Ron Rucker has been appointed to the board of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary as Pastor Susan Halvor’s term had ended. As you’ll read, there are numerous online workshops available this fall so if part of what you enjoy in an assembly is the chance to learn, there are opportunities! Some of these workshops will be available afterward for you to share with others through hard copy means. We’ll miss the give-and-take of seeing folks across the synod. If you are on Facebook, consider “Liking” or “Following” the Facebook page of our synod and/or our congregations. That way, you’ll see updates. Make sure your congregation’s Facebook Page includes information about what your congregation is doing. We really do want to know about each other. If your congregation paid the registration for your voting members, consider that registration paid for 2021. The location of the 2021 assembly will be determined at the October Synod Council meeting. |
