Mr. & Mrs. Gubbins & Sons

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Regional Assignment!

This past week we learned the first clue regarding where we will be living in the next year...Andy was assigned* to Region 3 of the ELCA! 


ELCA Region 3, our future (and current) home sweet home, consists of Minnesota, North Dakota, & South Dakota--in this map you can see the 9 different synods within region 3

This is only a 'first clue' because, while it does narrow things down quite a bit, we still have no idea whether we will be in a city, town, rural community, etc.--and being assigned to the Western North Dakota Synod would mean quite a different thing for us than being assigned to the St. Paul Synod, for instance.

So we will be even more excited to know about our synod assignment--which we'll find out in early March. Stay tuned.

In other news:
Simon beat Sprocketplug in hand-to-hand combat, and claimed this fine helm as a trophy. We're so proud :). If the vanquished would like to negotiate the return of the hat...have your people call Simon's people.


[*Time out for a brief tutorial for you non-ELCA, not-married-to-a-pastor folk: in the ELCA, pastors are "called" to a congregation. For first call (your first position as an ordained minister), the process is sort of a compromise between a more traditional church model of the higher ups sending the pastor wherever they think they should go/are needed (i.e. pastor has no choice) and a more traditional business model where a potential employee freely interviews for any position with any company anywhere they like (i.e. total choice). For first call, there is essentially a four-step process. Step 1: candidates submit preferences for where they would like to serve; Step 2: taking those preferences into account as much as possible given the actual need for pastors in different locations, the "higher-ups" assign candidates to a region of the ELCA--a geographical area of the country; Step 3: once assigned to a region, the bishops in that region meet and divvy up candidates into the various synods (smaller geographical unit) in that region; Step 4: once assigned to a synod, the candidate for first call can then essentially interview at different congregations within the synod, until a congregation decides they are a good fit and issues a call (= offers the job). Pastors can turn down calls (you never "have" to serve a particular congregation), though that's pretty rare for a first call. Now back to what I was saying...]

2 Comments:

  • Sounds good. Keep us posted on the all important synod assignment.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 12:03 PM  

  • Thanks for the explanation and the map. What an adventure! I remember my intern and graduate calls as a Deaconess where you were handed an envelope, went to your room to open it alone, and had no idea where you were being sent in the States, or the world, for that matter. I can attest to how well - and how poorly - that system worked. Even if you get a synod you don't care for geographically, I trust you can "turn it into good". We'll be thinking of you and hoping for the populated areas!
    Love,
    Mom

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 3:59 PM  

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