With funding from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, clergy, deacons and lay leaders in rural and small towns of Idaho, Central and Eastern Washington and parts of Oregon have been gathering since fall of 2025 to explore how their common understandings of the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist and their ministries can be built on for deeper collaboration.
They are discovering how ecumenical ties can have an impact in their communities, said Bishop Meggan Manlove of the Northwest Intermountain Synod (NWIM) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The synod overlaps geographically with five Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) presbyteries, two United Church of Christ (UCC) conferences, two dioceses of The Episcopal Church and several districts of the Greater Northwest Area of the United Methodist Church (UMC).
The ELCA has several "full communion" agreements formalizing their shared understandings of baptism, Eucharist and ministry. . . . . . . . .
