Serving God works best when we work in community, and when churches remember we are part of larger church bodies. We can do so much more together than we can alone!

Zion Holden Lutheran Parish
Our parish consists of  two little churches connected by a long history of sharing a pastor and supporting each other in ministry. We’re also part of the Heartland Conference, the Northeast Minnesota Synod, a part of region 3, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  That’s too much to take in at once, so here’s some explanation.

The Heartland Conference
The Heartland Conference is  a group of thirty-some churches in the middle of our synod. This is a smallish group of churches whose pastors meet quarterly for worship, fellowship, and learning. The conference is the grass roots level of pastors who share ideas in our denomination, nominate people for synod positions, and sometimes submit ideas to be considered and possibly voted on at Synod Assembly.

Northeast Minnesota Synod
We’re connected to over 200 churches in the Northeast corner of Minnesota! Together with them, we are connected with our sister synods in India, Honduras, and Russia. We share resources for ministry. We learn together, challenge each other, and grow in faith together. As part of this synod, we gather with leaders from all the other churches in our synod for an annual assembly, where we worship, learn and make decisions together. It’s good we aren’t in this all alone!
 http://www.nemnsynod.org

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 
We are part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Check out the website. It’s a big deal!!
https://www.elca.org

Camp Onomia 
This is our nearest ELCA Bible camp. It’s close. It’s welcoming. And staff from Onomia lead our Vacation Bible School as a day camp at Holden!
http://camponomia.org/

Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service
We live in a community with neighboring churches. Roman Catholics and Presbyterians join us for an annual joint worship service. The location and leadership changes year by year, and we count on a gathering of faithful people from these churches, as well as anyone else who’d like to attend. We enjoy working together to offer this service and time for refreshments and conversation afterwards. This happens on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.

During the rest of the year, we practice neighborliness; attending each other’s fundraisers, gathering once a month at our community meals, sometimes helping out with funerals, and of course, praying for each other.