South Dakota Synod Receives Grant from Wartburg Theological Seminary’s CaSTLE Project to Support Rural and Small Town Congregations

June 18, 2025 – Sioux Falls, South Dakota – The South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is honored to announce that it has been selected as a grant recipient through The CaSTLE Project: The Country and Small Town Lived Ecclesiology Project, a five-year initiative led by Wartburg Theological Seminary to support renewal in small town and rural congregations.

With this grant, the South Dakota Synod will receive funding to expand its Rural Ambassadors program and educational offerings for Synod Authorized Ministers (SAMs). The project seeks to deepen baptismal identity and cultivate thriving, Spirit-led communities of faith in rural contexts.

“Projects like Wartburg’s CaSTLE Project are a beautiful lived expression of how we as the Church are Church together,” said Rev. Constanze Hagmaier, Bishop of the South Dakota Synod. “Collaborations such as this one between Wartburg Seminary and synods, like the South Dakota Synod, are imagination labs about shaping and forming today’s church for generations to come. Thank you, Wartburg, for being church together for the sake of the Gospel.”

The CaSTLE Project, funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., is part of the Thriving Congregations Initiative and aims to renew a baptismal ecclesiology for the long-term flourishing of rural congregational life. The first cohort of grantees will gather at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA, from August 11–13, 2025, for a summer conference focused on mutual learning, community-building, and innovation.

“We are excited to walk alongside the leaders of the South Dakota Synod in this journey of renewal,” said Rev. Ramie Bakken, Director of The CaSTLE Project.

For more information about The CaSTLE Project, visit: https://www.wartburgseminary.edu/the-castle-project/

Media Contact:
Rev. Dr. Aaron Matson
Director of Communications
South Dakota Synod ELCA
amatson@sdsynod.org

About the South Dakota Synod

The South Dakota Synod is one of 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), representing almost 200 congregations and worshiping communities and over 93,000 members. For more information, visit www.sdsynod.org.