Dear Partners in Mission:

In less than 6 weeks our church will gather in Phoenix, AZ for our our tri-annual churchwide assembly. At that assembly your elected NT-NL voting members will join with 900+ others from around our country to do the work of this expression of our church. Part of what we will do in 2025 is elect a Presiding Bishop and a Secretary for the ELCA Churchwide expression.

In preparation for these elections a pre-identification process was approved by our ELCA Church Council. In this process churchwide voting members were invited earlier this spring to identify up to three individuals they believed had the gifts for these offices. Those individuals were then contacted and offered the opportunity to let their name be known to the church and answer several questions about their experience and perspectives on leadership in the church. That material was released last week and can be found here.

Several people I deeply respect asked me if I would be willing to have my name put forward and I agreed. As you can read in the materials in the above link I believe firmly in both the external and internal call. Those individuals who encouraged me to complete the materials for the pre-identification process have extended to me the external call. I am still struggling with whether I have the internal call to this office or if this position would work for my family life. Additionally, I have a deep sense of affection for the communities of NT-NL and respect that you have called me to this office I currently hold. However, I submitted the materials faithfully trusting that God will lead and guide us.

As I have looked over the materials of the others who have faithfully put their material forward I have a few reflections…

1. We are church with faithful leaders who are willing to be bold enough to share themselves and their experience. For that we should give thanks.
2. That said, I am disappointed that only 7 individuals were willing to share these materials for the office of Presiding Bishop. I know many others were asked to put their names forward. We have a piety in our church to not be seen as “seeking an office.” This was an opportunity to be transparent that an individual might be open to this call. That would speak to a healthier church.
3. The focus on board service is misplaced. Serving as a bishop is not a board position. It is a pastoral position focused on service of the church and congregations. While the churchwide expression is an institution it cannot and should not be led as a corporate board.
4. Ultimately the first ballot in Phoenix will be the nominating ballot. No doubt there will be among the leading candidates many others than these 7 who have the support of various coalitions or organizations of our church.

We are a political body. A body of the people when we gather as assembly. I invite you into prayer for those who have been willing to be identified as well as prayer for the individual God is preparing to take this role. The next Presiding Bishop will play a pivotal role in shaping what the ELCA will or won’t be in the future. Frankly, their work will likely shape whether there is an ELCA in the future.

Thank you for your commitment to our work together. God bless you in your congregations and we are…

#JuntosenMision,

Bishop Gronberg