This OpEd by Rev. Christine Stoxen appeared in The Chandler Arizonan on June 1, 2025. Rev. Stoxen serves of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chandler. AZ.

LAMA’s Ministry Report for 2025 Synod Assembly. Read highlights of an exceptional year of advocacy and engagement in Arizona and in the Grand Canyon Synod.

Now accepting applications: The 2025 Manna Grant offers up to $20,000 in total funding to Grand Canyon Synod ministries that address hunger and its root causes. Projects must demonstrate a commitment to inclusive leadership. Apply by July 31.

This week we’re spotlighting the Flagstaff Family Food Center, which is supported by Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Flagstaff, Arizona. Guest blog by Ethan Amos.

Open for pics and a video highlighting the CELC Outreach Food Pantry (Goodyear, AZ), which serves 65-75 households weekly ~ 3,331 food boxes for over 16,194 individuals in 2024 alone! Check out the March Madness Cereal Bracket!

Bishop Hutterer writes, “This resurrection we celebrate as Easter people is not a retreat from the world, but an uprising of love within it. It is God’s way of saying that goodness is stronger than evil and that love is stronger than death. Every time we welcome the stranger, tend to the broken, or speak truth in love—we bear witness to resurrection.”

Brand new video from ELCA Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations telling the story of the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission (NELM) in Rock Point, Arizona. 08:30 min. Consider supporting NELM through this year’s Region 2 Lenten Challenge.

Martha Garner of Flagstaff joins the LAMA Policy Committee, accepting the call to serve a three-year term on the board.

70 years on, Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission meets needs in new ways. Read this deep dive about NELM, the ELCA Navajo mission in Rock Point, Ariz. by John Potter for Living Lutheran. NELM is the beneficiary of funds raised through LDR from this year’s 40-40-40 Lenten Challenge.

This year’s 40-40-40 Region 2 Lenten Challenge explores the theme, “A Watered Garden,” based on Isaiah 58:11. The challenge is to participate in some personal and community spiritual practices around water during Lent. Click for activity ideas for your Lenten journey.

It’s been a year since New Journey Lutheran Church (Fountain Hills, AZ) began its ‘5th Sunday’ advocacy letter-writing program, and after 6 rounds of letters, guest blogger Kris Bartanen shares what they’ve learned with us.

Solveig Muus writes the first in this new SPPO Spotlight Series, a feature accenting a perspective from an ELCA-affiliated State Public Policy Office, one of the ways we can resource our faith-based advocacy.

The Rev. Christine Stoxen of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chandler, testified before the Arizona House Appropriations Committee on Monday, February 24, 2025 in support of HB2191, the “Yes In God’s Back Yard” (YIGBY) bill on behalf of LAMA and Valley Interfaith Project (VIP).

Bishop Hutterer has recorded a special invitation video encouraging participation in the 2025 Lenten Challenge! This friendly, faith-deepening challenge connects us in daily spiritual practices while supporting safe drinking water efforts at the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission (NELM) in Rock Point, AZ. Watch the video, share it with your congregation, and join the challenge today! Download options are available on our Vimeo page.

The 40-40-40 Region 2 Lenten Challenge for 2025 is raising awareness of the ELCA’s Indigenous Ministries, in particular the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission (NELM) in Rock Point, Arizona, known locally as the Rock Point Navajo Mission. This 9-minute video tells the story of the Mission.

Lenten Devotions arrive in your Inbox each day of Lent beginning Ash Wednesday! By Pastor Bill Dohle of King of Kings Lutheran in Pueblo, CO. Have you signed up? It’s not too late.

Special event at New Spirit Lutheran in Tucson! Author, speaker and activist Shane Claiborne speaks on how we, as followers of Jesus, can help to address poverty.

The Grand Canyon Synod is all about advocacy in February! Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada (LEAN) also holds a day of advocacy on Monday, February 10. Tell your friends in Nevada!