Companion Synod Covenant

The Lutheran Church of Rwanda (LCR)

and the Sierra Pacific Synod – Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA)

Signed

January 30, 2008

Biblical-Theological Grounding

            From the beginning of creation God has called us to a life of accompaniment and provided what we need to sustain and encourage that way of living together. In the first chapters of Genesis, we read that God saw that the first human being was alone and so provided another as a helpmeet, an equal partner. In the gospels we find Jesus revealed as God’s fullest response to humankind’s need for divine companionship: as God in the flesh, he came to share our life and our lot and also to redeem us. After the resurrection Jesus walked beside the disciples on the road to Emmaus, offering consolation, healing, challenge, and intimate presence so that faith might be rebuilt and the community of disciples reborn. Throughout scripture stories abound of the blessings that come when human beings live lives of mutual love and service patterned after Christ’s own.

            This model of accompaniment, of mutual love and service, extends across the Body of Christ and now is being embraced in a special way by the Lutheran Church of Rwanda and the Sierra Pacific Synod. We commit ourselves to answering God’s general call to accompaniment living. But we also believe that the Spirit of Christ is drawing our two churches together at this precise moment, revealing stunning and significant connections between our particular histories and gifts that position us to be able to enrich and develop our mutual and unique ministries.

For example, both churches and the countries in which they are planted and serve are still healing from the grief of significant national tragedies – the genocide in Rwanda, the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in the United States. Out of the ashes of those terrible events both churches are dedicated to making a new beginning of reconciliation and hope born of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Both churches and their contexts also have been and continue to be formed and informed by the experiences, gifts, sorrows, hopes, and challenges of immigrants and refugees. Every day in Rwanda and in northern California and northern Nevada the Church continues to find our faith, worship, and ministry shaped by people seeking a new life in an unknown land or returning to a homeland they once had to flee. We believe that our life together as companion churches will reveal other profound connections, congruencies, and opportunities for deepening faith and enlarging ministry.

In 2005, moved by the Holy Spirit, we, The Lutheran Church of Rwanda and the Sierra Pacific Synod – ELCA, committed ourselves to accompany each other in mutual love and service through the companion synod program of the Global Mission unit of the ELCA. Now, in this written covenant, we seek to articulate that commitment and our working relationship.

Guiding Principles

            We pledge to walk together in the following ways:

·   We will pray regularly and fervently for the mission and ministries of our two churches.

·   We will cultivate and deepen our relationship in Christ as the foundation of our life together.

·   We will engage one another in the context of church-to-church and companion synod relationships.

·   We will share one another’s developing visions, joys, and challenges, as each companion participates in God’s mission.

·   We will share, offer, and receive assets, skills, experiences, and resources intentionally, respectfully, and mutually.

·   We will coordinate efforts to foster mutual understanding and sustainable growth, such as visitations and exchanges of rostered and lay leaders.

Strategies to Implement the Guidelines

We will do this in the following ways:

·   We commit to the LCR-Synod relationship as the primary and guiding companion relationship. That means parish-to-parish relationships, while encouraged, follow the same principles and priorities as the Synod-LCR relationship.

·   The Sierra Pacific Synod will encourage support for the ELCA Global Mission unit’s Level II Funding projects for the LCR.

·   In each church we will form a committee of six (6) persons – three men and three women, rostered and lay – to guide and support our on-going relationship. These committees will be accountable to the Bishop’s Office of their respective companion church.

·   We will regularly communicate the priorities and goals of our respective churches and support one another in accomplishing them.

·   Together we will develop a plan for regular visitation and short-term exchanges of lay and rostered leaders in order to build relationships and work side-by-side on specific goals.

·   We will create and follow a prayer calendar in all our parishes and ministries, beginning in Advent 2008.

·   We will support and cooperate in developing the leadership and responsible service of women, men, and youth in our respective churches.

·   We will maintain regular monthly communication between the Bishops and the Companion Synod committees, using all available means, including SKYPE, e-mail, and the exchange of annual reports.

Gifts We Pledge to Each Other

Both churches and all their members have many gifts. We believe that the companion synod relationship will help us to discover and rediscover those gifts and use them in new configurations, contexts, and partnerships to carry out the Gospel mission.

The following are gifts we have already identified and desire to share:

·   Regular fervent intercessory prayer and the consolation of the communion of saints

·   Mutual theological reflection

·   Experience and expertise of lay and rostered leaders

·   Advocacy for one another in the Lutheran World Federation and in the community of nations

·   Consultation on stewardship

·   Peace-building and reconciliation skills and strategies, especially the LCR’s experience of integrating the enemy

·   Sharing spiritual and intellectual capital

·   Leadership and development models and training

·   Exchange and teaching of handcrafts, music, and our diverse cultural heritages

·   In consultation with the LCR and the ELCA’s Global Mission unit, funding for projects that have been designated as priorities by the LCR.

Evaluation

            The two churches will evaluate, review and, where necessary, mutually amend this covenant agreement every two years.

Conclusion

            We commit ourselves to this covenant, praying God to give us the strength and the will to keep it.

Signed                                                                        Signed

David G. Mullen                                                        John Rutsindtwarane

______________________________ ______________________________

Sierra Pacific Synod, ELCA                                       Lutheran Church of Rwanda

Date                                                                             Date

January 30, 2008                                                      January 30, 2008

Appendix: Financial Protocols

            Our two churches call each other to mutual accountability; this includes fiscal accountability. To that end, we agree to the following funding and reporting standards:

·   The SPS will encourage support for Level II project funding for the LCR. Funds designated for the LCR will be transferred by the Synod quarterly to the LCR account. The SPS understands and agrees that Rwandan bank charges will be deducted from those funds and that ten percent of the balance will be designated for the administrative costs of the LCR Bishop’s office. Note: Currently the Rwandan bank charges $21 for every $2000 transferred and 20 RwFr for every U.S. dollar withdrawn.

·   Each SPS parish shall be in communication with their sister parish in Rwanda about the LCR parish’s priorities and goals. Funds shall not be sent until a clear ministry plan and budget have been received from the LCR parish, along with a short statement articulating how this supports or enhances the parish’s priorities and mission.

·   Unless otherwise specified, funds sent to a sister parish are divided in this way: half to parish staff and half to parish development.

·   If any undesignated funds are sent to a parish, the Parish Financial Committee will designate how those funds shall be used and report this to the LCR Bishop’s Office, to the SPS, and to the donor. The designation should reflect current parish priorities.

·   LCR parishes shall not make direct appeals to their partner parishes for financial resources or for personnel without consultation and communication with the LCR Bishop’s Office and ELCA Global Mission staff.

·   Copies of letters or e-mails listing the designations and donors of funds for LCR ministries shall be sent to all of the following: the office of the LCR Bishop; the office of the SPS Bishop; the Treasurer of the LCR; the parish, individual, or ministry to receive funds. The parish pastor or student shall show their copy of the letter to obtain funds being held for them.

·   Pastors, parishes, and/or students are responsible for writing a letter or e-mail of acknowledgement and thanks to their sister parish or other donor. In addition, they shall provide a timely report on how the funds were used and how this contributed to development of the parish. A copy of this report shall also be provided to the LCR Bishop’s office.

·   SPS congregations shall provide an annual report to the SPS Bishop’s Office about activities and funding that is related to the sister parish relationship.