Who We Are

Who We Are:

Our Mission and Vision	I-K Synod Finance Team	What do We Believe?
Spiritual Questions?	2007 Treasurer Report	What's a Synod?
Synod Congregations		The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Synod Ministries		Why Do We Need a Synod?
Synod Constitution	Answers to email quiz	Daily Prayers and Bible Verses
Office of the Bishop		Synod Council

Who are We?

We are God's people, gathered together as 80,000 Lutherans, 227 congregations, 3 camps, 7 campus ministries, 10 conferences, 28 ministry teams, and 438 pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

We're working together, in thousands of places, in thousands of ways, with a passion for God's Word and a compassion for God's world. We do ministry with each other, to each other, and for each other! On the whole, we live and work in Indiana and Kentucky, but our ministries reach around the world!

What's a 'Synod'?

A synod is a shared journey. It actually comes from the two Greek words which give us 'synonymous' and 'odyssey.' So to be together as a synod is to be on a 'synonymous odyssey.' It means that we journey together: strengthening, challenging, and supporting one another as God leads us, along similar paths, into God's future. We are one of the 65 synods across the United States and the Caribbean that make up the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Why Do We Need a Synod?

Because God knows we need one another! God knows we can love more fully, give more freely, and see more clearly, when we are gathered as God's people. Together we find the strength and courage to meet God's challenge of faith-filled living. Together we meet God's comfort and forgiveness in the compassion of one another. As individuals and as congregations, we belong together as genuine partners and friends.

God continues to form and reform the Church -- stretching and shaping us in ways beyond what we can see! God calls us out of the comfort and challenge of our homes to grow together as those communities we call "congregations." As congregations, we strengthen and support families, and draw them into deeper connections with God's world.

And in much the same way, God calls us out of local congregations to grow together as the community that we call "the Indiana-Kentucky Synod." May we take up this "shared journey" in joyful humility -- knowing full well that none of us have finished growing, and that we grow toward our best as we grow together.

Together, we learn from one another's experiments. Together, we lift up one another in prayer, in challenge, and in celebration. Together, we care for one another in times of need. And together, we can reach out with a greater strength, share our insights, pool our resources, and coordinate our efforts in more effective ways. Together, we do so much more than we can do alone.