the Rev. Beth Rohn-Habhegger

WORD FROM THE PASTOR - June 2026

                     “God’s Vision ● Our Mission ● Your Decision”
     This is the theme four the Moravian Church in America Northern Province Synod this month. There are many new things happening with this Synod. It will be completely paperless; everything will be done by computer. It will begin its committee work online. All of the committees have been meeting together via Zoom since the beginning of the year, since the in-person gathering shortened, to function as efficiently as possible. It will not be held in Bethlehem.  For the first time in many decades, this Synod will not take place on Moravian University’s campus; instead, it will take place at a hotel outside of Minneapolis.
    The theme of the Synod deals with adaptive challenge. An adaptive challenge is one which has no easy answer, but requires new learning. It is a challenge that must be addressed together in order to move into the future. (Faithful Innovation Leader’s Companion: Resources for the Journey by Zscheile, Binder, and Pinkstaff). As opposed to a technical challenge where there is a clear problem and solution.
     As we move into a new era of church leadership, we are having to find new ways to meet the needs of the congregations. There will continue to be fewer ordained clergy to serve the congregations and this will require a shift in how we view the role of the ordained clergy as congregational leaders. Is the problem that not enough people are following a call to ordination? Is that there are too many churches? Is it that we have created too many challenges for people to qualify for ordination? We are in a time of discernment about how God is calling us to be in the world today.
    Our world looks and interacts differently than it did in the 1950s, in the 1990s and since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The circumstances within our denomination have changed over that time as well. As Synod gathers, we will be prayerfully opening ourselves up to the Spirit’s guidance on how to move forward in ministry in this day and age. We don’t know what it will look like yet, but we know that God is with us. We seek to be faithful in our mission to be Christ’s followers today and into the future. I invite you to hold Synod (June 25-26) and those attending in prayer as we look to our God to guide us.