Annual Report to the Bishop
These reports are very helpful tools for sharing updates on your lives and ministry, and every report is read.
The 2024 forms are now available on the ELCA website. Please access the form electronically if possible and also submit your report to the synod office electronically. Please choose the appropriate form for your call status and e-mail the completed forms without delay to Sandy DeLorenze’s confidential e-mail address: sandy.delorenze@swpasynod.org.
If you prefer to complete your form by hand, please contact Sandy DeLorenze at 412-367-8222 or sandy.delorenze@swpasynod.org to request a hard copy form.
What is the Gospel?
by Bishop Kurt F. Kusserow
How do we make sense of the endlessly differing retellings of a singular story? How do we apply its meaning when millions of readers have reached varying conclusions? What IS the Gospel?
Bishop Kusserow resists declaring one definitive answer and instead offers nine. To start with, the Gospel is not a story about Jesus… it is the story of Jesus, a living person whose story continues to grow as it includes the lives of the people who hear it.
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Leader’s Guide for Small Group Book Study:
This guide walks through the text by chapter and provides exercises for reflection and group conversation, as well as question prompts and advice for facilitators. It was written by Dr. Wendy Farone who serves on our Synod Council. This supplemental guide may serve as a small group study for confirmands, a study for adults who are interested in learning even more about the Gospel, or as serves your specific needs.
Podcast Interview
Bishop Kurt Kusserow was a guest on the Bethlehem Backchat podcast to talk about what does a synod actually do, the surprising joy of selling our building, and why vocation means more than what you do for a living.
This is a great introductory episode for members and councils of any congregation who might want to know more about the synod.
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