St Paul Area Synod ELCA

About

The Saint Paul Area Synod is made up of 113 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Story

Within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a synod is an administrative and missional geographic region, overseen by a bishop who provides direction to staff, a synod council, and volunteers from its congregations for vision, support, and resources to carry out mission and ministry.

Mission

The Saint Paul Area Synod is made up of congregations, mission starts and institutions committed to growing in faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Living out of our identity as Lutherans, we recognize we are grasped by grace and are free to devote our energy to being church in a way that is rooted in tradition and open to experimentation.

This means we will show up where we have not been before. We will walk with those who have felt excluded, hurt or indifferent to the witness of the church. We will act with the confidence that God calls us to meet Christ in every one of our neighbors.

Christ has begun this good work among us and is renewing us today for –

deeper faith in the living God;
wider engagement in God’s world;
bolder trust in God’s work through us;

In our common work we will:

build partnerships that are local, global and mutually transformative;
embolden our public witness to justice and service;
welcome possibilities for being church in a new day;

We are not there yet. We are on the way together.

"The Saint Paul Area Synod is one of 65 synods in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ELCA & includes 110 congregations & mission starts. Our synod unites the work of congregations, provides support to ministers & congregations, builds mutually transformative partnerships & emboldens witness for justice. We assist congregations with call processes & guide seminary students. We offer education & support to rostered ministers & lay leaders. We encourage public witness through work groups related to racial equity, gun violence prevention, prevention of sexual exploitation & caring for creation. We follow the practices of accompaniment through global mission activities & deep companion synod relationships in Tanzania & Guatemala."