Lutheran Urban Ministry is a corporation under the MNO Synod of the ELCIC. The step to become incorporated in the province of Manitoba has occupied the LUM Board over the last several months which included the writing of a Constitution and Bylaws with the help of lawyers and consultants. All congregations of the MNO Synod are members of the Corporation by virtue of their status as a congregation of the MNO Synod.

Temporarily the ministry operates out of 441 Sherbrooke Street with a search for new property happening. A Visioning Committee worked for about two years top set new goals and plans to further the ministry that came out of First English Lutheran Church and was led by Pastor David Lowe for the past 6 years. 

My first ministry began in 1980 in Boca Raton, Florida. I didn't know it at first, but a few members of my congregation were working on a secret project that would have far-reaching results: a small team had begun designing the new IBM personal computer.
Working outside the usual, highly bureaucratic confines of the company, the Personal Computer Division achieved the impossible, by IBM standards, when, after just a year, in 1981 they rolled out a product.

I knew something was afoot--people with a secret like to drop hints, and sometimes drop them on their minister. IBM was in a hurry--nimbler companies like Kaypro, Osborne, Apple, even Radio Shack had beaten IBM to market. Big Blue had to come to market quickly with a standard-setting product. IBM had no experience writing software for microcomputers, so they hired a tiny firm called Microsoft to do it for them.

In retrospect, we know the IBM PC succeeded better as a standard than as a product for its parent company. Other firms quickly came out with "IBM-compatible" computers, and Microsoft supplied them with MS-DOS, its own version of the PC operating system. IBM's plans succeeded in some ways, but failed by the key measure: making money.

The theme for the 2008 Canadian Lutheran Youth Gathering was introduced at this past weekend's ELCIC National Convention.

Travel Light will be your opportunity to:
Encounter the spirit in nature.
Be able to explore a far off part of God's creation.
Explore your individual faith journey while blending with a large faith community.
Integrate Christ into your life journey.
Care for God's creation.
Leave your burdens behind.

Peer Ministry Initiative for our University Campuses
A sub-committee of our MNO Missions Committee (Kelly Speak, Alanna Borkowsky, Rhonda Lorch, and Larry Ulrich) has been working toward the goal of providing Campus Peer Ministry at four campuses this fall, namely the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg, Brandon University, and Lakehead University.  The Peer Ministry program is designed to provide support and build community with other Lutheran young adults in the campus setting.  Peer Ministers are presently being identified for each of the campuses, and they will be brought together for an Orientation Event on September 8.   
The Peer Ministers will need your congregation’s help to do this ministry effectively.  By August 30, we will need a list of students from your congregation who are in the various years of their university program (along with contact information – phone number, email address, which campus, which year of studies).  Please email this to Rev. Larry Ulrich (lulrich@elcic.ca).  Be assured that this information will only be used by our peer ministers to touch base with our Lutheran students on campus.

Brokenhead Conference Area Strategy Continues
Representatives of the congregations of the Brokenhead Conference have met recently to continue discerning what God might be calling them to do together, that they wouldn’t be able to do on their own. A step in that process was for each congregation to discern where they see themselves in the next 5 years, given current trends.  In terms of what they might do together, joint worship celebrations, some elements of youth/confirmation ministry, the possibility of a rural Lutheran/Anglican internship are just some of the ideas that are being investigated further. A joint worship celebration for the area is being planned for Sunday morning, October 28.

Mission Developer’s Conference, Chicago, August 16-21
Three of our seminary students, David Chell, Robert Grewe, and Jason Zinko, along with Kim Scherger . Executive director of Luther Village, and Annemarie MacIntosh, mission developer at Abundant Life, East St. Paul will be attending the ELCA Mission Developer’s Conference in Chicago. The Synod Mission Committee approved Annemarie’s attendance because she is a mission developer, Kim’s attendance since Luther Village is clearly a mission of our Synod, and the three students,  to provide them with additional missional training prior to their going on internship. Joining the group, also, will be a couple of Anglicans, Preston Parsons, rector at St. Mary Magdalene (St. Vital) and Jennifer Sissons, rector of Good Shepherd (Fort Richmond).  “To have the Anglicans join us for this Conference”, says Larry Ulrich, MNO Mission Consultant, “is a direct result of the mission strategy meeting this past May, when over 30 representatives from five Lutheran congregations and six Anglican congregations met together at the Church of the Good Shepherd (Anglican) to discuss a joint Lutheran/Anglican mission strategy for the Waverly West and Sage Creek developments of Winnipeg.”  Further meetings regarding southeast and southwest Winnipeg mission strategies are scheduled to take place in October, 2007

The following is taken from a newsletter distributed by CRISPAZ Christians for Peace in El Salvador or Christians por la paz en El Salvador. It was written by Chris Damon.

The tiny Central American nation of El Salvador has long been out of sight, out of mind to most U.S. residents.  Once the guns of the 12 year civil war went silent in 1992, the country signed peace accords, disbanded the famously repressive National Guard, modernized the police force incorporating ex-combatants from both sides into its ranks and embarked upon a somewhat haphazard process of healing.

Recently, that process of healing has been put to the test due to the jailing of 14 local and national activists arrested July 2 during protests in and around the small colonial city of Suchitoto Dozens of social movement organizations coalesced in Suchitoto due to plans by Salvadoran president Antonio Saca to unveil there his administration's new "National Decentralization Policy."  Many local activists view that policy as a thinly veiled plan to privatize water resources.  Among the 14 protesters arrested were four staff members from the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) who were intercepted and forcibly removed from their vehicle.

Ecumenical ministry happens in all areas of the church. Here is an opportunity for people in the pew to know a little more about the ministry Rev. Glenn Morison, an ordained United Church minister is doing at the Remand Centre.

Rev. Glenn Morison, an ordained United Church minister has offered his services (free of charge) as a guest preacher and worship leader, or for a presentation to an adult class.   Glenn is currently the Protestant Chaplain at the Winnipeg Remand
Centre and also is an adjunct faculty member at the University of
Winnipeg, teaching "Theology and the Arts."  He has served in a variety of ministries including work with international seafarers in Halifax; Latin American refugees in St. Stephen, NB; people living on the streets of Toronto; and the Gitxsan First Nation of Northern British Columbia.

Should you be interested in taking Glenn up on his offer or have any questions please contact him directly at his office by phone (945.0960)

On behalf of Corrections Committee of Manitoba Interfaith Council
Donald W. Sjoberg