The Northeastern Iowa Synod Executive Staff recently met in retreat to look at and plan for the year ahead.
We based our planning on the Synod Council approved theme for the next 6 years called “Celebrating Renewal”, which lifts up characteristics of past church leaders which will help us move toward the future. They are as follows:
- 2017 Martin Luther – The Gospel
- 2018 Philip Melanchthon – Education
- 2019 Katherine Von Bora – Family Life
- 2020 Johannes Bugenhagen – Parish Life
Next year is the 600th anniversary of Jan Hus, a Czech priest and reformer from the 15th century who influenced the reformation of the 16th century. Next year we will examine the qualities of bold leadership and lift up ways our leaders, congregations and ministries of the synod exemplify these qualities.
These are the qualities of bold leadership we will be lifting up:
- Evangelical Heart
- Lover of the Church
- Biblical Stewardship
- Spiritual Discipline
- Thankfulness
- Collegiality
- Lifelong learner
- Servant
- Mission minded
- Ethical
During the next year, we invite you to join us as we reflect on these qualities of bold leadership, how we cultivate and grow them, how we model them, and how we affirm them.
We rejoice in the ways in which leaders before us exemplified them. These leadership characteristics allowed them to move the church forward. We encourage and empower one another to use these qualities in new ways as we move into the future together.
