News & Info

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Visions/Parish Paper:

Didymus:

Ask Edna:
Congregations in Transition:
Workers in Paradise Shared Ideas:
Concerns, Celebrations, Prayers, Praise:
A Message From The Bishop:
News For The Pews:

  • The Bishop's Letter to ECSW (March, 2013)
  • The Bishop's Letter to ECSW (March, 2012)
  • The Bishop's Letter to ECSW (March, 2011)
  • A Pastoral Letter on Violence adopted by the ELCA Conference of Bishops, March 4, 2013:  As bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we lament the tragedy of gun violence in our country. We are grieved by the way violence threatens and destroys life. We affirm the current soul searching and shared striving to find a way to a better future. To read the letter click here.

  • Region 5 letter to Governor Walker
  • Bishop's ECSW letter regarding Governor Walker
  • Bishops Budget Letter to Walker #2

  • Conceal & Carry
  • Reflections of the 2011 Churchwide Assembly
  • Portico Webinar

      The recording of the Portico webinar on health care reform held in November is now available for review at  https://vimeo.com/54027691 .  Feel free to watch it at your convenience (it's about 30 minutes) and share it with colleagues.

      Portico also received questions during the webinar and plans to post a Q&A document soon at www.PorticoBenefits.org/healthcare-reform.

    • Take it Now!

    We have the opportunity to all earn a 2% discount on our ELCA health contributions again in 2013.

    Each congregation and organization in our synod will receive a 2% discount on contributions for all of 2013 if 65% of the eligible ELCA-primary plan members and spouses in our synod complete the online Mayo Clinic Health Assessment by April 30. Last year we missed it by 2 people!

    The 2013 health assessment opens January 1. If you have ELCA-primary health benefits (retirees are not eligible for this assessment), please plan to take 30 minutes January 1 – April 30 to complete the assessment. Completing the assessment earns you a $150 credit in your personal wellness account to offset out-of-pocket medical expenses.

    Completing the assessment is an act of stewardship for you and the church.

    Meet Cindy McPeake, an ELCA Youth with family in the ECSW who is a YAGM in Malaysia.
    Follow her blog at yagm-malaysia.blogspot.com

    The Parish Paper

    Please download the issues and store them in your computer’s Parish Paper folder.

    (These issues are not available elsewhere or on the www.TheParishPaper.com website.)

    Distribution instructions for subscribing organizations: On your organization’s stationary (or under its electronic name), when you distribute the issues to your organization’s staff and congregations via (a) hard copy, or (b) E-mail attachment, or (c) your organization’s website, please print the following notice:

    East Central Synod of Wisconsin’s purchase of a subscription to The Parish Paper INCLUDES:

    1. Permission to provide copies to our staff and to the congregations within our jurisdiction in any of the following ways: E-mail, Postal, newspaper, newsletter, meetings, training events, and our website.

    2. Permission for each congregation within our jurisdiction to (a) photocopy or electronically distribute for local use as many copies as it needs, (b) post them on its website, and (c) quote sentences and paragraphs.

    Congregations within our East Central synod of Wisconsin jurisdiction to which we distribute The Parish Paper do not have permission (a) to delete the copyright ownership notice, (b) to re-write, paraphrase, delete, or change the wording of sentences and paragraphs, or (c) to give any third party—other than our staff and constituents—permission to photocopy or reprint (in any quantity, no matter how small, whether for free distribution or for sale). 

    F.Y.I. on the ELCA/ECSW


    ECSW Financial Update

    Take It Now