Sparking Hope
Sparking Hope is our 2025-26 theme for the Northeastern Minnesota Synod!
These days we could all use a little more hope. Hope for our congregations, our children and grandchildren, and our very country. We seek hope for broken relationships, challenging situations at work, or a sense of purpose and meaning for our future. For the environment, for reconciliation, for peace between peoples. Peace between nations.
We hope. We wait for the spark, the flicker, the flame. The fire.
“Sparking Hope” will inform our year together. It will serve as the grounding theme behind the annual Walking Together event in October, for our various synod-wide youth events, for leadership gatherings, and for the 2026 Synod Assembly. More than just a theme, it will help set the tone for the larger conversation among us. One rooted in Isaiah 40:31.
But those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
It’s in this vein that your synod staff has developed the Sparking Hope Resource Packet. We have broken the programming year from September through August into monthly topics and focus, each with it’s own scripture, reflection, worship resources, prayers, mental health moments, and tangible takeaways. In addition, we have compiled the Sparking Hope Devotional Booklet for use in your congregations, as well as monthly bulletin inserts that highlight the same.
These resources are intended for you, for your congregation, and for this particular season in our lives of faith. Use them as they best fit your context. Some ideas might be:
- Council and Small Group Devotions
- Worship Resources & Sermon Prompts
- Mental Health Moments shared in small or large group settings.
- Blessings used for personal devotional use or shared in pastoral conversations.
- Retreat Themes for a council retreat or other leadership activity.
- Ideas from the “Tangible Takeaways” for youth events, inter-generational gatherings, and children’s sermons
The options are endless, as the hoped-for creativity lies in YOU!
Here’s the deal – your synod staff know that we are all distracted by many things, and most of these things can weigh heavily in our faith life. We desire to offer leaders and congregations a resource that grounds us in the unfailing hope that we have in the promises of Jesus Christ. Just like an ember can be ignited and spread a fire, our wish is that you continue to fan the flames of trust and faith in our amazing, abundant God, so that we never lose focus on the hope that has been given to us. Let us SPARK HOPE together!
