1. Possibility!
Bishop Wayne N. Miller
Metropolitan Chicago Synod
ELCA

2. Christmas in June
Please open the RED envelope in your packet and read the card
Now open your GREEN envelope and read the card
Who is the second card for?

3. Passing the Gift
All that I am and all that I have comes by GRACE alone, through FAITH alone, in CHRIST alone”
One card given by each voting member means 500 new lives touched by grace
One card given by each baptized member means 100,000 new lives touched by grace
One card per week given by each baptized member for 1 year means 5,200,000 new lives touched by grace

4. Remembering Frutifulness

5. Start with a YES!
Saying “YES” to God always means COURAGEOUSLY surrendering control
Saying “YES” to God means opening mind, heart, and hands to the world around you
Saying “YES” to God means suspending disbelief…

6. How Can This Be? We’re Almost Dead!
Birth and New Life in Congregations is not a function of size, age, or wealth
Birth and New Life depends upon hearing and responding ADAPTIVELY to a call.

7. Mary Brought Jesus to the Hills
Reimagining the Christian community as a movement
INCLUSIVITY requires us to let the stranger call us out … not just calling them in

8. Mission Music My soul proclaims the greatness of God!
Mission still begins with TELLING the story and INVITING others into it
You have filled the hungry with good things!
Mission calls us to SERVE others with compassion and generosity
You have cast down the mighty and lifted the lowly
Mission calls us to work for JUSTICE so that all are free to respond to their vocation

9. Proclamation! Service! Justice! Worship God Share Faith
Invite to Belong
Service!
Generosity
Compassion
Justice!
Respect
Freedom
Vocation

10. Life Requires Growth How do you measure growth? Celebrate Growth
Notice the arrival of saints as well as their departure

11. My Child Leapt for Joy! LIFE is energized and called out by LIFE
Collaboration:
What congregations do you know that are a source of inspiration for you?

12. It All Leads to This!
The present vitality and future life of the ELCA resides in congregations giving birth to new faith communities
Every Christian must be dedicated to discovering and liberating new life

13. The Role of Synod Leadership
Synod Leadership is here to INSPIRE, FACILITATE, and EXTEND THE REACH of Congregational Mission
To call each Christian to personal responsibility for witness