Continuing Education

The synod offers ministeriums twice each year for rostered leaders to gather for education and worship. Click here to view photos from our 2026 Spring Ministerium, held at St. Paul-Reformation. The fall ministerium is typically held in conjunction with the Minneapolis Area Synod. Click here for photos from our 2025 Fall Ministerium at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.

For rostered leaders in the ELCA, First Call Theological Education (FCTE) is mandatory for the first three years. Our program seeks to encourage a balance between the development of peer and mentor relationships, a life of engagement in the synod and wider church, and a habit of lifelong learning. Participants, ministry sites and the synod sign a covenant to demonstrate our mutual commitment to your becoming a healthy, sustainable leader in the ELCA.

Thanks to a sustainability grant awarded from the Lilly Foundation’s Thriving in Ministry Initiative, our “From the Center Outward” cohort program for rostered leaders in their fourth through tenth years in ministry continues. Each year, a cohort of up to 10 rostered ministers begins an 18-month time of shared reflection on the idea that healthy and sustainable ministry starts within. Together and with the assistance of mentors and skilled facilitators, the cohort explores the power of the ongoing development of a capacity for deep reflection on one’s life and the world; a practice of lifelong and intentional study of scripture; a growing ability to work gracefully with lay leaders; and commitment to a disciplined curiosity about context, people and self.

Following Jesus into a changing world requires a commitment to developing and modeling healthy boundaries in all areas of life. Boundary education is required for all rostered ministers in the Saint Paul Area Synod at least once every five years. Information about 2026 learning opportunities will be announced later in the year. 

As a metro area synod, we have many opportunities to gather, and we do so often. But, however valuable a one-day workshop can be, a life in ministry is also replete with questions and demanded skills that need more time to develop. To help address this need, we offer several sustained small group studies of a critical question or aspect of ministry, designed to teach us and help us live further into our callings. The topics change frequently and we strive to offer opportunities for our leaders to learn with and from one another under the guidance of exceptional facilitators. Many of our learning cohorts are subsidized by the synod, a reflection of our commitment to providing ongoing access to the wealth of experience and resources already present in the Twin Cities.

Past cohort topics have included pastoral care for mental health, becoming an effective supervisor, stewardship, contemplative practices, reading women theologians, conflict and resilience, consensus building and more.

With questions or comments about any of these learning opportunities (including a suggestion for a topic or facilitator), contact Leslie Ortiz, executive assistant to the bishop, at leslie.ortiz@spas-elca.org.