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Fall 2025

Dear companions in care for the whole Creation,

Something exciting is happening, and you are part of it. After many determined years, First Lutheran in Aitkin is installing solar panels to cut their utility bill and put less heat trapping carbon in the atmosphere. They will become an example of renewable energy to their whole surrounding community. Over at Salem Lutheran in Hermantown, a memorial garden has a freshly laid out pollinator plot, complete with bee houses, which will involve the pre-school children and other groups who meet at the church. EcoFaith micro-grants have provided support for both projects. Down at Immanuel Lutheran in Princeton, a high school junior spearheaded Pollinator Sunday, with Pollinator Bingo and pollinator shaped cookies. Up in International Falls, four high school youth have volunteered to help organize youth participation in the next EcoFaith Summit, along with other youth from Duluth and Princeton.

Each of these events is a story, a story of people who are activated by a holy, gifted yearning to participate in the wellbeing of God’s Creation. Each story belongs to the Great Story, the saving love of Christ for God’s Beloved, our Earth home.

Throughout Northeastern Minnesota, in our synod, there are so many more stories like this, stories of people and their congregation hungry to live out our call to be stewards of the Earth, both for humankind’s sake and for the sake of the whole Creation. When we share these stories, they fortify and inspire us. You could even say that these stories are like pollen. When we share them, they pollinate the growth that bears abundant fruit in our own ways and places. Our stories encourage us. Do not lose heart, they say. They also weave us together in a community that encompasses every congregation in every place and of every size. They can even remind us that we all belong to God’s saving story for life on this planet, a story in which there are no spectators. 

We are writing to invite your congregation into partnership with the whole EcoFaith Network of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod in 2026. As a partner, you share in the weaving of stories in and beyond our beloved corner of Minnesota through the Green Blades Rising bi-monthly newsletter, and on our active EcoFaith Network Facebook page. You help make stories possible through EcoFaith micro-grants, such as the ones that helped First Lutheran in Aitkin install solar power and Salem Lutheran in Hermantown plant a pollinator plot. You also provide your own and other congregations with the tools and resources for new stories through the EcoFaith website, ecofaithnetwork.org. And you help sustain the Pollinator Sanctuary movement, which has grown from 8 congregations in 2022 to 53 congregations in 2025.

We are not oblivious to another story being told and acted out in our world, a story of domination and desecration which threatens to destroy Earth’s capacity to maintain the very systems that make life possible. This story is killing people who have had no part in it, like the Indigenous villagers on the coast of Alaska whose villages have been destroyed by flooding that is clearly caused by climate disruption. This other story taunts and bullies us into despair or numbness.  It, and the people who live it and tell it, are waging death.

The church of Christ lives by a different story. This story shapes and inspires EcoFaith Network Partner Congregations like yours… who pray for the Creation and those who are dedicated to defending it… who seek to integrate the care of Creation into their worship and ministry… and who make a financial contribution as part of the EcoFaith Network, so that together we can continue sharing the stories and stimulating our mutual work as pollinators of the gospel for the whole Creation.

One story stirring is the preparation for the 2026 EcoFaith Summit of the Upper Midwest, hosted by First Lutheran in Duluth, in-person and online, on Saturday, April 18, 2026. The theme title is “From Fear to Fire: Igniting Community for a Planet in Peril.” At a time that can be overwhelming and fearful, love’s flame is fueled in and by communities ignited by a shared hope and purpose, united in commitment to human resilience and Earth’s renewal. We hope you will join us as we gather to be…

+ refined through intergenerational repentance and lament

+ refueled in creation, community, and art

+ reignited by relational speakers and creation activators - youth, young adults, and elders

+ renewed in community, ablaze with new life for God’s beloved Creation.

What story of care for Creation do you and your congregation tell? Please prayerfully consider completing the EcoFaith Partner form early in 2026 and return it to us via email (send a completed fillable file, scan, or photo of the form to ecofaith@nemnsynod.org), OR mail it to the synod office:

Northeastern Minnesota Synod

1111 London Road

Duluth, MN 55802

Then, once you send your 2026 contribution, we will mail you a certificate of partnership to display. 

We also invite you to share this EcoFaith donor brochure with anyone in your congregation who might want to make an individual contribution.

The stories of our lives of faith, our congregations’ ministries, our work as a synod and beyond, and our beloved planet are not fully written yet. Your prayers, your earth keeping efforts, and your financial support for our shared work are vital in nurturing the growing network of congregations and others in living out God's call to be stewards of the Earth for the sake of the whole Creation.

Thank you for sharing in the unfolding story of God’s creative, redemptive, and sustaining love for this precious planet. Please join your sibling congregations in the Northeastern Minnesota Synod by becoming a 2026 EcoFaith Partner Congregation!  

In Christ for the sake of all Creation,

+ Pastor Dave Carlson and Pastor Kristin Foster, Co-Chairs

+ The Rev. Beth Pottratz, EcoFaith Communication Coordinator, on behalf of the EcoFaith Network Leadership Team