ELCA Elects First Female Presiding Bishop

LWF Offers Prayer for Past and Future Leadership

PITTSBURG (USA)/GENEVA, 15 August 2013 (LWI) – The 2013 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly has elected Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton to be its 4th presiding bishop. Eaton was elected on August 14 and succeeds Bishop Mark Hanson, who has been in office since 2001 and served as President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) from 2003–2010.

In a congratulatory letter to bishop-elect Eaton, LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge assured Eaton of his prayers for the new role and responsibility that she is taking on.

“I pray that our Lord will continue to bless you with faith and discernment, courage and compassion, generosity and a thirst for justice, vision and groundedness, and joy in the work,” Junge said.

The ELCA Churchwide Assembly is meeting 12–17 August in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the theme, “Always Being Made New.”

Eaton is the first female presiding bishop of the ELCA, which is a member church of the LWF. In her acceptance speech she paid tribute to the women who had gone before her and said they were “pioneers that made it possible for me.” She will officially take office on 1 November.

Eaton holds a Master’s of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and has served as bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod since 2007. She is married to Rev. Conrad Selnick, an Episcopal priest. The couple has two daughters.

A continued commitment to the global expression of the church

The 58-year old Eaton was a delegate at the LWF Eighth Assembly in 1984 in Budapest. In her acceptance speech she underlined the challenge of the ELCA to embrace the global expression of the church.

“We are an overwhelmingly European American church in a culture that is increasingly becoming more pluralistic,” said Eaton. “We need to welcome the gifts of those who come from different places and other cultures; that is a conversation we need to have as a church.”

Junge welcomes Eaton’s concern. “This rich and diverse world is often at the doorsteps of our many churches because of migration and increased mobility, yet churches seem to have difficulties to relate and express such diversity within them,” he said.

The General Secretary also underlined the LWF’s commitment to ensure that as the global communion approaches the 2017 Reformation anniversary, the global nature of Reformation is captured and enriched by the various ways in which it is expressed by Lutheran churches around the world.

Eaton succeeds Bishop Mark Hanson who served as LWF President from 2003 – 2010 and currently serves on the LWF Council. The LWF joins the ELCA in deep gratitude for the leadership of Bishop Hanson who was met with a standing ovation as he addressed the Assembly after the election on 14 August.

During Bishop Hanson’s 12-year term as presiding bishop, the ELCA had continued and deepened its commitment to be part of the global communion of Lutheran churches, and part of the Church universal, said Junge.

The LWF is represented at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly by its President, Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

Addressing the Assembly on 15 August, Bishop Younan re-iterated that the LWF appreciates greatly the participation of the ELCA, including the longstanding commitment and contributions of past and present leadership to the life and work of the LWF; accompaniment of churches around the world; and generous support that allows the LWF to alleviate suffering among the poor and oppressed.

“As a Lutheran communion, we share the commitment to hold together proclamation of the gospel, diaconal service and advocacy for justice,” said Younan. “We rejoice in our unity in Christ and collaboration in joint witness, through which each one of our churches is enriched and strengthened.”

Younan celebrated the commitment to the Assembly’s theme “Always Being Made New.” “We realize how much we need constant renewal through the Holy Spirit in order to remain faithful disciples amidst the many changes and challenges in our world today,” said Younan, adding that the renewal of the church is closely connected to the journey towards the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

“Your ministry of love is a living and strong witness affirming that the Reformation did not stop in the sixteenth century but continues through the Holy Spirit who molds us to live out our discipleship,” he said.

An Assembly marked by renewal and vivacity

The ELCA, which has 4 million members in close to 10,000 congregations, marks its 25th anniversary at the Churchwide Assembly.

About 63 percent of ELCA congregations are in the process of developing a mission plan and among the numerous topics to be addressed by the 952 voting delegates of the Assembly was a report on congregational renewal.

“Congregational renewal is recovering the ‘first love’ of mission which birthed our congregations,” said Rev. Ruben Duran, director for new starts at ELCA church-wide ministries presenting the report. “I see renewal happening throughout our church. In every place where the Spirit is moving us, in every place where the context calls us, renewal in our first love of mission is driving the renewal of our congregations.”

The Assembly will also vote on the proposal for a first-ever major fundraising campaign to the amount of USD190 million, which is to increase the church’s capacity to support congregational renewal, form leaders for global mission, support the walk with global companion churches in shared witness, and expand efforts to address poverty and hunger, including the ELCA Malaria campaign.

In his report to the Assembly, ELCA Vice President Carlos Pena said that “we have become a church that is freed in Christ to love and serve our neighbors in our communities, our country and around the world. We have so much to be thankful for, not just as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but as a respected leader in the Christian world and beyond.”