SALM and Lay Education

Our Oregon Synod is now offering a flexible, on-line curriculum offers people across the Synod an opportunity to learn from one another and grow together in small group settings. Faith leaders are supported in the development of spiritual practices that feed their souls, tools for meaningful engagement with their own and other’s faith traditions, the capacity to live out their faith with integrity and authenticity, and skills for adaptive leadership in a complex time. Synod Authorized Lay Ministers (SALMs) are cultivated and supported to serve remote or otherwise unique contexts, and a “wild web of relationship” across the Oregon Synod continues to grow.

The lay education portion of the program is an experiment within the Oregon Synod, designed to facilitate lifelong learning for lay leaders serving in a variety of roles and congregations. We gather over Zoom; explore and learn together; and prioritize participation and relationship-building. We’re encouraged to bring our whole selves to the table together with our sacred curiosity. Guest instructors from across the synod join us most weeks. The courses also serve as the core training for synod authorized lay ministers (SALMs).