West Virginia - Western Maryland Synod
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| Spirits, Angels, and Demons in the
Bible Fall 2025 Continuing Ed Event with The Rev. Dr. Reed Carlson |
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In General
WV-WMD typically holds two main clergy cont. ed events
each year, one in fall, the other in winter. More about
that below.
It is worth noting that CA97.2.7(a)(1)(a), an action of
the Churchwide Assembly, encourages "a minimum of 50
contact hours per year of intentional continuing
education, or 150 contact hours each three-year period." N.B.,
a contact hour is defined (as found on the rostered
leader's annual report to bishop) as 50 minutes of class
time or the equivalent. Time in worship, at meals, etc.
does not count as contact hours. You may review the Report
on Life-Long Learning and Development for Faithful Leaders
(1997), the recommendation of the Church Council, the
ensuing debate, and the final action in the Minutes of the Churchwide Assembly 1997
(excerpted).
Who would go to a doctor or a lawyer who did not engage in continuing education? Arguably, the stakes are higher when it comes the the clergy. Congregations should, therefore, not think of continuing education as a reward or a benefit but as an investment. Mutual ministry committees should discuss continuing education plans with their clergy and support education that will advance the professional development of their clergy and, in turn, advance the ministry.
Sabbatical
Since 2000, the WV-WMD Synod has recommended sabbaticals for clergy every seventh year of service in place. Mutual ministry committees and call committees should review the Synod's recommendation. It can be found linked on the Clergy Compensation page.
Region 8 Continuing Ed Sharing
There has been lots of new postings on the Region 8 Facebook page. It's good to see this much activity, and it is especially good to see us all moving beyond our synodical silos.
Synods across Region 8 hold continuing education events,
and, on occasion, the Region sponsors an event jointly. It
is often, though not always, possible to join another
synod for its event. Be sure to check with the appropriate
sponsor. If, however, the event is listed on the Region 8 Facebook Page, you may
assume that it is open to clergy from across the Region.
Check it out.
First Call Theological Education
The 1995 ELCA Churchwide Assembly mandated continuing education for the first three years of called ministry. The synods of Region 8, compacting, even during the preceding two-year pilot phase, to establish a region-wide approach, developed a program featuring an annual plenary retreat and regular geographical cohort groups. The annual 3-day retreat is held in early November not far from Gettysburg, PA. The geographical cohort is currently run on a synodical basis with the bishop having direct oversight. The cohort has begun meeting on a nearly monthly basis. All new first-call pastors and deacons and their respective congregations or agencies will be contacted by the bishop with details related to FCTE. The national policy document can be downloaded here.CA95.6.55 ...To require, by the fall of 1997, that all newly rostered pastors and lay leaders participate, throughout their first three years of ministry under call, in structured programs of theological education, designed and supervised by their synods, according to churchwide standards;....
FCTE Region 8 Plenary
The next plenary is scheduled for 19-21 November 2025 at Gettysburg Seminary. More information will come closer to the event, but in the meantime, mark your calendars.The Biannual Synod Clergy Continuing Ed Event
| Synod
Clergy Cont. Ed Events Team Pr. Daniel Collins (PC), Chair Pr. Patrice Weirick (OKVC) Pr. Devin Ames (UOVC) Vacant (MVMC) |
At the Winter 2018 Synod Clergy Cont. Education Event, the presbyteral college elected to establish a committee for the design, planning, and management of synod sponsored clergy continuing education with one representative from each of the four conferences. Synod Clergy Cont. Ed, as we currently have it configured, provides approximately 12-17 CEUs per year, assuming attendance at both events.
Serving on the the Continuing Ed Committee we have The
Revs. Daniel Collins (PC), chair, Patrice Weirick (OKVC),
and The Rev. Devin Ames (UOVC) with Bp. Riegel as an
advisory member and staff support. Synod clergy should
feel free to talk to their conference's team member about
ideas and concerns related to continuing ed.
Thanks are owed to The Revs. Christine Olson (past
chair), Sherri Schafer (past chair), Paul Schafer, Casey
Linemann, Ryan Heycock, Ruth Bullwinkle, Kevin Mackey,
Randy Richardson, Sally Bartling, Darick Biondi, and Ben
Erzkus for their now concluded service on the team.
Fall 2025: Spirits,
Angels, and Demons in the Bible
The Fall 2025 Synod Clergy Continuing Education Event
will be held 21-23 October 2025 with The Rev. Dr. Reed
Carlson, Assistant Professor of OT/Hebrew Bible, Sewanee
Seminary, presenting on "Spirits, Angels, and Demons in
the Bible," at the St. John XXIII Pastoral Center,
Charleston, WV.
This event is open to clergy and laity of all
judicatories.
Presenter
The Rev. Dr. Reed Carlson (Sewanee Seminary) is a Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholar and an Episcopal priest. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia where he also served as the Director of Anglican Studies. Dr. Carlson completed a Th.D. in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Harvard University and earned degrees from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul and North Central University in Minneapolis. Dr. Carlson has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright program, the Episcopal Church Foundation, and the Louisville Institute.
An overarching goal of Dr. Carlson’s scholarly work is
engaging the fraught hermeneutical issues involved in
critically examining ancient and modern accounts of
religious experience. He studies broad biblical complexes
like spirit possession and apocalyptic expectation,
comparing these phenomena in biblical literature with how
they are expressed and interpreted in contemporary
religious communities. His research develops frameworks
whereby scholars and ministers can interact with
experiences deemed religious critically and pastorally,
and in ways that are not reductionist or hegemonic. In his
first book, Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible:
Possession and Other Spirit Phenomena (De Gruyter,
2022), he compared spirit experiences as depicted in the
Hebrew Bible and early Jewish literature with contemporary
ethnographic studies of spirit possession in the global
south. This monograph was awarded the Manfred
Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. Dr.
Carlson's next book, a co-edited collected volume, is
titled Ominous Times: Anticipating Cataclysm in Early
Judaism and Christianity (De Gruyter 2025). It
focuses on the felt experience of anticipating the
apocalypse as reflected in early Jewish and Christian
literature.
Venue
The St. John XXIII Pastoral Center is only minutes from downtown Charleston, but you would never know it. The topography creates an oasis within the city limits. The center features both a large and a small chapel, library, reading room, spacious lobbies, and a covered porch with rocking chairs. Click here for Google Maps.Registration
| ☞ |
Register Online Here! Registration Deadline: 5 October 2025 |
The online registration interface is now up. Click here to
register.
Because of the potential popularity of this topic
(coupled with limited lodging), registration has been
handled in four phases.
- WV-WMD Clergy & Seminarian — registration opened 14 July 2025
- Other Clergy & Seminarian — registration opened 21 July 2025
- WV-WMD Laity — registration opened 28 July 2025
- Other Laity — registration opened 4 August 2025
At this point, any and all my register for the event.
Lodging will be on a first-registered, first-served basis.
You will be notified if the event the level of lodging you
have requested is no longer available. During Churchwide
Assembly, registration processing was suspended, but we
are in the process of catching up.
Cost
- Lodger Registration (includes meals, social, and the following lodging Tuesday and Wednesday nights at John XXIII)
- $278 — Single Room — 6 rooms left
- $258 — Double Room (this is per person, and you have to tell us who your roommate is) — 6 rooms left
- $287 — Studio (a single with a recliner)— 1 room left
- $210 — Dorm Bunk (separate men's and women's dormitories with separate shower and bath facilities)
- $158 — Commuter Registration (includes meals, and
social)
You are free to lodge off-site (or commute), in which
case you would pay the commuter registration fee.
Charleston, WV, has several hotels at different
accommodation levels and price points within a short
drive.
The registration deadline is 5
October 2025. We need to have a headcount
in for the meals and information in for dietary
restrictions.
John XXIII has 33 single-rooms. If you want to lodge
onsite, get your registration in sooner rather than later.
If we run out of the accommodation you have selected,
we'll be in touch with you about options.
Payment
When you register, you have the choice between paying
online and paying by check or cash.
Paying Online
We use PayPal for online payments. You do not need to
have or create a PayPal account.
The online registration form does not include a payment
interface. You will receive an invoice by email. This may
take a few days. Keep your eyes peeled for an email with a
subject line that includes "West Virginia-Western Maryland
Synod of the ELCA www.paypal.com" and a sender email of
"service@paypal.com." If you do not see this, check your
spam folder. If there is still not one after a few days,
contact our registrar at bishop@wv-wmd.org or call
304-363-4030.
PayPal accepts several major credit cards. Follow the
instructions in the invoice. You should receive an email
with confirmation of your payment immediately after you
have completed it.
Paying by Check/Cash
You do not need to pay online (though it is easier for
us). Payment may be made by check (or cash). You will
still get an emailed invoice as described above. You may
use this for your records (especially if you must submit
for payment or reimbursement by your congregation or
agency). We ask that you contact us if wanting to make
payment by check prior to having a check cut and sent to
us so that we can provide you further details. Contact
information is on the emailed invoice. Payments must be
made in advance unless other arrangements are made with
our registrar.
Follow This Event on Facebook
You can follow the latest developments on Facebook
through our SCCEE Fall 2025 -
Spirits, Angels, and Demons in the Bible Facebook
event.You are also encouraged to spread the word about
this event through social media. Share the event! Invite
to the event!
Winter/Spring
2025: Bonhoeffer and Nationalism
Dr. Terese L. Smallwood, Dean of
United Lutheran Seminary and the James Franklin Kelly and
Hope Eyster Kelly Associate Professor of Public Theology,
was the speaker for the Winter/Spring 2025 Synod Clergy
Continuing Education Event on the theme "Bonhoeffer and
Nationalism." The event was held at Cacapon Resort State Park, 5-6
February 2025.
From Dr. Smallwood
Dr. Smallwood writes,
Michael P. DeJonge in the frontispiece of his manuscript, Bonhoffer on Resistance: The Word Against the Wheel, wrote “A recent surge of references to Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the context of political resistance shows that the story of his struggle against the Third Reich continues to animate imaginations across a broad political spectrum.” (2018) This could not be truer in light of uncanny modes of resistance seen in the last decade of American politics. Moreover, the use of Bonhoeffer’s story to justify various and sundry acts of resistance gives rise to interesting dialectics. On the scholarly front authors such as Eric Metaxas have received critiques because of shallow attention to the full story such that his recent docudrama was trashed as suspect propaganda.
Consequently, a deep dive into the true story of Bonhoeffer beckons all to examine his formation historically, theologically, socially, politically, and spiritually. Over the course of 5 lectures, Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Smallwood will examine these pillars of Bonhoefffer’s formation from the theme “Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Idea of Religionless Christianity.” Each lecture will separately treat the sub themes: early years, social and intellectual formation, latter years, cultural influences, and Holy anger.
- Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, (Harper One, 1954)
- Deitrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, (MacMillan, 1959)
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letter and Papers From Prison, (Touchstone, 1997)
- Charles Marsh, Strange Glory: The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (Vintage Books, 2015)
- DeJonge Bonhoeffer’s Theological Formation (Oxford, 2012)
- Heinz Eduard Tödt, Authentic Faith: Bonhoeffer’s Theological Ethics in Context, (Eerdman’s, 2007)
- Reggie L. Wiliams, Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance, (Baylor University Press, 2014)
- The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John W. deGruchy editor, (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
- Ferdinand Schlingensiepen, Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance, trans. Isabel Best (T&T Clark International, 2010)
Past Events
Peruse our past events and get a sense
of what we do.
- "Preaching in the Wake of Mass Trauma" with The Rev. Dr. Kimberly Wagner
- "Mark on Mark" with The Rev. Dr. Mark Vitalis Hoffman
- "Walking with God Today: What's Next?" with The Rev. Harold "Jake" Jacobson
- "My Burden Is Light: Making Room for Jesus in Preaching" with The Rev. Dr. Craig Satterlee
- "Grief" with Sr. Carol Riley
- "St. Paul and early Christianity" with The Rev. Dr. Mark Vitalis Hoffman
- Hybrid Church with The Rev. Dave Daubert
- Best Practices for Live Streaming with The Rev. Matt Day
- Best Practices for Pandemical Worship with The Revs. Susan Claytor, Linday Muhly, Ian Reid, and Micahel Wright
- Racial Sensitivity raining with Ron Scott
- Creative Christian Education and Empowering Families in Times of Covid with The Rev. Jess Felici
Rostered Ministers Gathering
2026
We know the date and the place of the 2026 Rostered Ministers Gathering: 6-9 July 2026 in Indianpolis.
The previous two previous Gatherings included Bible study, plenary addresses, and a smorgasbord of small group discussions, workshops, panel discussions, and presentations along with worship, experiential learning, and fellowship. We assume this will follow a similar format.
As more information becomes available, we'll share it.
This is the closest the gathering has been to any part of
the WV-WMD Synod. If you have any interest (or just
curiosity), save the date.
Boundaries, Diversity, etc. Training
The Churchwide Assembly has at various times (or encouraged) synods to offer training on a variety of topics: boundaries, anti-racism, diversity, etc.
Clergy in the synod are free to secure such training where the wish. The synod may, under some rules, be required to offer, but there is no rule that the clergy must take training under the synod's programming. At the same time, nothing prevents the synod from identifying sources for training outside the synod. Clergy of full-communion partners should follow whatever norms are required by their respective denominations, but they are most welcome to partake of offerings provided by Lutheran entities.
WV-WMD Boundaries
Workshop
The workshop on boundaries and AI/social media concerns
will be held in Wheeling at Grace Lutheran Church in
Bethlehem on 25 September 2025. It will start at 10:00
a.m. and end around 1:00 p.m. Instead of offering one
workshop for the clergy, we will be offering them in each
conference, and they will also be open to both lay
leaders and clergy. The focus will be more on
AI/social media concerns for clergy as well as the
ministries of the churches. Registration and further
details to come.
Rostered Leader Training by ULS
United Lutheran Seminary offers a variety of training
sessions (e.g., Racial Justice, Cultural
Competency, and/or Boundary Training). For more
information and to access to an à la carte menu on
the registration site, click here. Rostered Leader
Training Begins on 15 September 2025 and runs through
November. In-person training will take place on the
Philadelphia campus!