Synod Assembly Recap

Photo from Minneapolis Area Synod Facebook Page

Nearly 400 voting members from Minneapolis Area Synod ministries gathered on May 2nd and 3rd for the 2025 Synod Assembly. The theme for this year’s Assembly was Church Together, drawing on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many…If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Attendees reflected on our call to accompany our neighbors, the power and witness of prayer, and what it means to embody our identity as Church Together in Jesus.

Rev. Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange gave two keynote presentations throughout the day, lifting up the powerful witness of ecumenical reconciliation between Lutherans and Catholics, exploring the theological roots of prayer and baptismal community, and recalling the story of underground prayer meetings that formed the base of a resistance movement in communist East Germany in the 1980s.

Synod resolutions and memorials to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly covered the following topics: Child and Vulnerable Adult Safety Policies and Procedures, Accompanying Immigrants, Response to the Destruction of Palestinians, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and ELCA Youth Gathering DEI.

Additional highlights of the Synod Assembly were the inaugural performance by the Synod Youth Choir and a service project with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. More information on the Minneapolis Area Synod Assembly can be found at https://mpls-synod.org/news/church-together-2025-minneapolis-area-synod-assembly/.