Welcome
“We are about doing ministry together,” says Bishop David L. deFreese. The “synod” is how we link up with other congregations, mission development sites, new and established ministries, our agencies and institutions, and the larger church in this country and around the world. The word “synod” means “walking together”–as we move along our spiritual journeys to see, tell, and reflect Christ’s love.
Breadth and Depth Across the State
The Nebraska Synod, one of 65 synods in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), stretches from the banks of the Missouri River in the east to the slopes of Monument Hill in the western portion of the state, up to the edges of South Dakota, down to Colorado and Kansas. The Nebraska Synod’s small and large congregations offer God’s word and sacraments, Lutheran Christian fellowship and community in the open country, in the busy cities, in the towns and villages, as people live out their commitment to Make Christ Known.
More than 120,000 ELCA belong to the 273 congregations and mission sites in the Nebraska Synod, contained within Nebraska’s state lines. The Nebraska Synod, ELCA, provides “oversight of the life and mission of this church in Nebraska”–that’s the official definition and task. The synod is actually every member of an ELCA congregation in this state, acting together as a community.
In May 2008, the Nebraska Synod has 381 pastors, 23 Associates in Ministry, four Deaconesses, 72 Parish Ministry Associates (PMAs), eight TEEM candidates, and 49 lay program staffers. In Nebraska, nearly 200 pastors serve in congregations. Thirty-two work in specialized ministries, while four pastors serve as intentional interim pastors. Retired pastors, numbering 132, serve as interim pastors, supply pastors and as mentors.
We have more than 70 people in our Nebraska Synod working towards becoming pastors and associates in ministry. Forty lay people are training to become Parish Ministry Associates.
Ministries Here and Around the World
The Nebraska Synod has global ministry connections in Tanzania, Ghana, Madagascar, Argentina, Uruguay, England, Latvia, India, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. the Nebraska Synod has formal companion synod relationships with several bodies: IELU, the Argentina-Uruguay Lutheran Church in South America; the Northern Diocese of Tanzania in Africa, and the Pacifica Synod, ELCA, in the United States.
In addition, we, as the Nebraska Synod, help thousands of Nebraskans each month! How? Through the agencies, institutions, and ministries of the Nebraska Synod.
Every day, more than 4,500 staff provide services just in this state. We provide college education, pastoral care, hospice and medical care, counseling, housing, meals on wheels, support people with developmental disabilities and the list goes on.
Our Nebraska Synod’s annual budget is more than $4 million. We give 57 percent of our budget to the ELCA–a long-standing commitment–to further the even larger ministry of the wider church.