Congregational & Local Events Around the Synod
Need to post an event? Click here to contact us.
October 26, 2019 - Sponsored by the Mercer Mission Cluster
"Under the Broom Tree: Breaking the Silence and Cultivating Care for Mental Illness in Our Churches"
9:00-3:00 PM at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, Ewing NJ
Hear from mental health experts about debunking common myths of mental illness and how we can create safer spaces in our churches. Hear inspiring stories of living with mental illness as people of faith. Attend workshops to learn, discover resources, and be encouraged. End the day with a service of healing. Counselors available throughout the day. Download the flier.
November 1, 2019, 7PM - St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church, Trenton.
Bestselling author, speaker, and activist Shane Claiborne show why Christians should be concerned about gun violence and how they can be part of the solution. He transcend stale rhetoric and old debates about gun control to offer a creative and productive response. Beating Guns allows victims and perpetrators of gun violence to tell their own compelling stories, offering hope for change and helping us re-imagine the world as one that turns from death to life, where swords become plows and guns are turned into garden tools. Moms Demand Action will be speaking about their work statewide for sensible gun control within NJ.
Free Event!
Saturday, November 2nd 2019. Seatings at 5 & 6 PM
Spruce Run Evangelical Lutheran Church. 442 West Hill Road, Glen Gardner, NJ 908-537-4824. Email sprucerunchurch@gmail.com
Fundraiser Dinner, Family Style Dinner ~Menu Prepared by NYC Chef Harold Moore. Roasted Pork & Scalloped Oysters, Seasonal Roasted Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes, Macaroni & Cheese, Sweet & Sour Cabbage, and fresh Baked Desserts.
Supporting: LYO, Food Pantry, Crossroads Christian Camp, and Lutheran Disaster Relief
November 8th, 20019, 7PM - Rev. Lenny Duncan will be coming to Saint Bartholomew Lutheran Church in Trenton, NJ to speak about his prolific book Dear Church. Formerly incarcerated and homeless, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work—drawing a direct line between the church’s lack of diversity and the church’s lack of vitality.
Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of his denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of ‘church decline’ and calls everyone—leaders and laity alike—to the front lines of the church’s renewal through racial equality and justice.It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus. Free Event.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Exploring Why Leading Worship Matters
If you missed this in the spring the NJ diakonia Steering Committee is pleased to once again host Exploring Why Leading Worship Matters. Check in 8:30 AM ~ Program 9:00-3:00 PM. Church of the Savior Lutheran Church, 643 Forest Ave., Paramus, NJ 07652 Download the flier here.
Cost of the program is $25.00. This includes registration, lunch and take home resources. For further information or to register, please contact Ellen Lindemann at Ellen.Lindemann@raritanval.edu
Sunday, November 17, 2019: Nativity Lutheran Church, 552 Ryders Lane, East Brunswick, will host a hymn festival Sunday, November 17, at 3:00 PM. The theme of this festival is “Seasons of Blessing”. Any interested singers are invited to join the choir formed for this event. Choir singers will meet at 1:30 that afternoon to learn the music and prepare. The most important part of a hymn festival is the singing assembly. So plan to join us for an afternoon of singing, learning and praising God for our “Seasons of Blessing”. For any questions or more information, please contact Sue Gerrard, Cantor, at susangerrard@comcast.net or 856-435-4212.
Sunday, November 17, 2019, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Rockaway, 11:00 – Women’s Sunday and 80th Anniversary Celebration. The WELCA of HTLC will lead the worship service, followed by a special luncheon and our 80th Anniversary celebration. These events will include the history of the church, and special music by our Sunday School students and our Choir. A special welcome to the State Board of WELCA! All are invited to attend!
Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 5:00 PM. Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Tabernacle
Lord of Life Lutheran Church is excited to announce that it will be hosting well-known composer and pianist Tom Keesecker for a concert on Nov 24, 2019. Tom will be leading us in an inspirational hour of piano music, reflection, poetry, laughter, and hymn singing. The concert will also feature his new collection of piano music entitled “The Quiet Harvest”. Hymns featured in the program will include: Praise and Thanksgiving, Let All Things Now Living, Beautiful Savior, Over the River and Through the Wood, and others.
Tom has served as a musician in both Lutheran and Roman Catholic parishes in Virginia, Montana, and Maryland. His award-winning choral music is published by numerous publishers.
Please invite your family and friends to attend this all ages event. The concert is FREE and a free-will offering will be collected. Following the concert, a reception with refreshments will be held in the Fellowship Hall.
For more information, please refer to our website or contact Rick Krause, Director of Music Ministry, at 3rick@comcast.net or (856) 287-5328. Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you there!