Minneapolis Area Synod ELCA

The Minneapolis Area Synod consists of approximately 215,000 baptized Lutherans in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The synod (a word which means "meeting together") includes urban, suburban, and rural communities in the greater metropolitan Minneapolis area. We are the largest of the ELCA's synods and home to some of the largest Lutheran congregations in the world.

Give To The Max!

As you consider your charitable end-of-year giving, please consider participating in Give to the Max Day November 16. GiveMN is easy to use, and your gift to the Minneapolis Area Synod will make a huge difference in our ongoing work. The money raised will help benefit the new ministries in our synod. A few examples of new ministries include:

Elk River Lutheran began worship almost two years ago. It has grown from 150 to over 400 in worship on a Sunday morning. They have outgrown three different sites and have a vision to purchase a downtown bank. Come and worship on Sundays at 8:15 a.m. (Traditional) or 10:30 a.m. (Contemporary).
Pastor Cyndi Ganzkow-Wold / 19437 Evans Street NW, Elk River MN / www.elkriverlutheran.org

Jacob’s Well Longfellow continues to seek ways to be church in the two south Minneapolis neighborhoods where they meet. Some regulars at Longfellow were frustrated with their inability to recycle much of the plastics they received from stores so they found a place to take them and it became a collection spot at the school they meet in on Sunday mornings. To say that this was well received is an understatement. Neighborhood groups started promoting it, and then they received a Neighborhbood Projects award from the 9th Ward of Minneapolis and are collecting more.
Pastor Greg Meyer / 3100 E 28th St, Mpls MN / www.jacobs-well.net

Minnesota Swahili Christian Congregation celebrates their second year as a congregation under development. Pr. Mwalilino received his religious worker visa and welcomed his wife Sarah and five children a few months ago. As this congregation grows, its responsibility increases among those who speak Swahili and their families. They are working to grow in their stewardship. At a recent Harambee – a time when people get together to raise funds for someone who needs financial support -- they raised over $7,000 in mission support. Come and worship on Sundays at 2:00 p.m.
Pastor Andrea Mwalilino / 2730 E 31st St, Mpls MN

Puerta Abierta (Open Door) is a Synodically Authorized Worshiping Community (SAWC), which means that it may become a new congregation or it may not. Jorgé Cervera is the lay evangelist/developer who is in the process of entering the TEEM program, which helps committed lay people become ordained pastors. He is nurturing small house churches in Jordan, Chaska and Shakopee – with the active participation of partner congregations.

Public Safety Ministries, served by Pr. Dan Carlson, seeks to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with firefighters, police officers and other public safety persons with a ministry of presence around the state. This too, is a SAWC, dependent upon a strong board and strong partnership support from congregations.
God is always doing a new thing!

Give thanks for these leaders and these ministries which reflect the amazing abundance of God’s grace from Elk River to Jordan, among firefighters and young adults who woke up on a Sunday morning for the first time in their lives and found that fresh water at Jacob’s Well. Your generosity and extra offerings help these leaders and their ministries continue their important work. THANKS!

More information about the synod at www.mpls-synod.org/oursynod.