Montana Synod - ELCA

04/06/2026

Our "Integrated Leadership in Anxious Times" workshop, featuring speaker/facilitator Rev. Bill Selby, is just around the corner! LMA Students, Active LMAs, Pastors, Deacons, and Ecumenical Partners are welcome to attend! Spread the word and register here: https://tithe.ly/event-registration/ #/10940376.

04/05/2026

Happy Easter! Christ is risen! Alleluia!

"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen'" (Luke 24:2-5).

04/03/2026

Good Friday blessings from the Montana Synod staff. May this day hold you in God’s tender embrace as we are drawn into deeper awareness of our humanity and the fragile, sacred gift of life. In Christ, even amid sorrow and shadow, salvation is already at work. We are invited to live into it now, becoming participants in God’s unfolding reign on earth as it is in heaven.

As we contemplate Christ's passion, may we be moved to love more deeply and hope more bravely, trusting that every relationship, every act of service, and every gift we carry is woven into God’s greater work of restoring all things.

Blessings to you as you traverse this sacred day with your congregations and loved ones. We are grateful for the work you do in the world that bears witness to God's love in Christ for all.

--Pr. Stacey Heggem, Associate to the Bishop for Lay Ministry

04/02/2026

On Maundy Thursday, we remember Christ's last meal with his disciples, but the central focus is his commandment that we love one another as he loves us.

"The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'

In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me! For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

04/01/2026

03/09/2026

In just one week, we'll gather together for the State of the Seminary, and we hope you can join us! Zoom-only, next Tuesday, March 10 at 4 pm PT. Register here for the link: https://admissions.callutheran.edu/register/StateOfTheSem

03/09/2026

If you’re around the neighborhood, join us this Saturday, March 14th, in Missoula!

Please RSVP by the 12th!

-Pr. Stacey

03/06/2026

Join us in Great Falls for a very pertinent day of learning on April 18th!

Active LMAs, pastors, deacons, and ecumenical partners, register here: https://tithe.ly/event-registration/ #/10940376.

LMA students, please register via the link I emailed you!

We hope to see you there!

-Pr. Stacey Heggem

02/28/2026

Prayers for peace.

Eternal Protector of the helpless, hear the cry of the distressed and grant speedy deliverance in a new day of peace and concord.

02/26/2026

What’s a day in the life of an AtoB working remotely to support Lay Ministry like? Updating spreadsheet after spreadsheet of feedback from our wonderful Lay Ministry Associates, as well as any updated contact information they’ve shared, so we can be in touch with them, best know how to support them, and connect them to others in our shared ministry!

Thanks to our LMAs who has filled out your Report to the Bishop already! I see your responses and am taking note. Reports from LMAs are due March 31st!

02/23/2026

Thank you Pastor Heidi Hester and Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman for your warm welcome this morning! It was wonderful to hear about the good things God is doing in and through you. Great music, leadership, and hospitality made it so fun to preach. Thanks- Bishop Ben

02/20/2026

I had the pleasure of being with the people of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cody WY earlier this week and I was reminded of our spiritual practice during Lent. When we are called to give up comforts, emphasizing the discipline of patience and waiting, we look forward to the future. This takes all forms, a food, a bad habit we indulge in, or those things that society wants of us, and we all too often give in to those pressures.

What does this mean on an institutional level though? What does it mean for us, as people who make up our individual congregations look like? For Trinity, in this moment, it looks like a transition in their technological offerings for both worship, and outreach to community. So many of us are working to transition between the Covid era of "Making technology work" to "how does a digital ministry work today?" For Lent, Trinity is embracing this transition, living into the discomfort of change and what comes next. Foregoing what is easy and leaving the systems that are in place because they work well enough, to looking to the future; they are embracing what can be, not what is comfortable in the here and now.

In this season of Lent we must remember we are always being made new. This journey that we are in is a constant reformation of our comfortable practices, stepping outside of our safe spaces found in sanctuaries and called to be witnesses to the Gospel to the wider world. Our hybrid reality may change how that witness is delivered, but the call remains the same.

Lenten blessings,
-Deacon Colter McCarty