The Weekly Five

Five Things to Know This Week in the Southwestern Texas Synod

The ELCA Is Coming to Listen:

Innovation Listening Tour

What if someone from churchwide showed up not with a program to sell, but with genuine curiosity about your community, your dreams, and your “what if” ideas for ministry?

This summer, the ELCA Innovation Lab will travel across the Southwestern Texas Synod for an Innovation Listening Tour, June 28–July 1. The team will gather with congregations in Austin, the Hill Country, San Antonio, Eagle Pass, the Rio Grande Valley, and Corpus Christi to listen deeply to the hopes, challenges, and creative possibilities emerging in South Texas ministry.

The Innovation Lab is part of the ELCA Churchwide Organization and specializes in helping congregations and synods imagine new possibilities rooted in their local context. Recent projects around the church have included community research, seed funding, and support for innovative ministry experiments.

No agenda. No sales pitch. Just listening, relationship-building, and shared imagination for where the Spirit may be leading next.

Specific locations and additional details will be announced soon. We hope you’ll join us for one of these gatherings!

The Stable Anti-Racism Bible Study

Every Tuesday, 12-1 PM

Online

Co-hosted with Rev. Dr. Aimée Appell, this weekly ecumenical study is not only for our white-bodied siblings…we have all been bamboozled! We ALL need support in unlearning colonial interpretations of Scripture. Click here to register.

Sign Up for a Digital Media Audit

As part of a coordinated effort to provide Digital Ministry Support, ELCA Innovation is partnering with Evoke Engagement Experts to offer a limited number of ELCA organizations with a Digital Assessment. Eligible organizations include ELCA congregations and synod-authorized worshipping communities, as well as ELCA-affiliated campus and outdoor ministries. Learn more and sign up here.

Property Insurance FAQs

The Church Property Resource Hub, hearing concerns from many synod partners around church insurance, collaborated with the Office of the Secretary to create an FAQ document to serve as a reference for synod staff as they assist congregations in securing affordable and fair coverage for their church. Click here to download the FAQ sheet.

Have You Seen Our Disaster Response Page?

Did you know the Synod has a Disaster Response page on our website, packed with resources for individuals and congregations? From preparedness guides and volunteer sign-ups to spiritual care materials and congregation check-in tools, it's a one-stop hub for before, during, and after a disaster.

Now is a great time to explore what's available and make sure your congregation is prepared. Visit swtsynod.org/disaster-team to learn more.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Ministry Partners