New Year, new office!

As we begin 2026, the Rocky Mountain Synod office is excited to share an announcement that has been a long time coming: we have officially moved in with Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.

Iliff is a seminary of the United Methodist Church located on the campus of the University of Denver. The RMS has signed a five-year lease agreement to share space in the Iliff building in an office suite that is currently being remodeled for us; in the meantime, our synod minister team is working out of several offices in Iliff’s own administrative wing.

We are excited about this move and believe it is the next most faithful step for our synod office, for several reasons: 

• Good stewardship: The staff, synod council members, and conference dean who worked to identify the next location for the RMS office sought an alternative to the financial and time-intensive responsibilities of owning and maintaining a building, in the hope that more of our synod mission support could be directed toward the mission of the office of the bishop to relate to, connect, support and equip our 150 congregations and ministries, leaders and members. Our agreement with Iliff will cost approximately one-third of our annual operating costs for the former Lutheran Center (not counting the savings from deferred maintenance projects). Staff time previously spent on building maintenance will be freed to focus on strengthening our accompaniment of our people and ministries throughout the synod. 
• Ecumenical partnership: Iliff School of Theology, the only theological school of any ELCA full-communion church that resides in the geographic territory of the Rocky Mountain Synod, is a place of theological learning and leadership formation for ordained and lay leaders across denominational backgrounds, for vocations within and beyond the church. Bishop Meghan and the RMS staff will have the opportunity to work with Iliff’s president, the Rev. Dr. Lee Butler, and other Iliff leaders to discern ways we can build closer relationships and identify opportunities for partnership. 
• Commitment to synod presence: Having our synod office located at Iliff, through cost and time savings, will support our commitment as RMS staff to be synod ministers, in a ministry of presence and active accompaniment throughout the five states of our synod. Iliff is a location that offers myriad opportunities for gathering spaces. That said, we will continue to focus on bringing staff, meetings, and events out into the Rocky Mountain Synod whenever possible (as with our quarterly staff retreats and our 2026 synod assembly and theological conference, which will both be hosted by synod congregations). 

We are hopeful that the new office suite at Iliff will be completed by the time of this year’s synod assembly at Bethany Lutheran Church in south Denver, and that we might be able to include an opportunity to visit this new space as part of our assembly activities.  

In the meantime, please note our change of address going forward: all mail to the RMS office of the bishop should be addressed directly to the Rocky Mountain Synod, ELCA at 2323 E Iliff Ave, Denver, CO, 80210. 

What’s happening to the Lutheran Center? 

On December 17, our Rocky Mountain Synod staff gathered at the Lutheran Center to officially bless and decommission the building as a church property. Synod Council and I will update you when more is known on the next steps for the Lutheran Center. We are grateful to a number of congregations and leaders who reached out to Bishop Meghan and the RMS staff to offer ideas and potential location sites for the office, as well as to the Lutheran Center transition team who faithfully engaged in this discernment process.