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Last week you gave me the privilege to volunteer and be present at our national churchwide assembly.  Thank you for this fruitful experience to serve our greater church. 

The Churchwide Assembly is the highest legislative authority in the ELCA. It gathers every three years and includes voting members from every synod across the country. The assembly elects national officers (like the Presiding Bishop and Secretary), votes on policy and social statements, and sets priorities for the denomination's work.

Here are some words from other commentaries on the National Convention. 

 

The presiding Bishop gave her last address to the church.  Early in her tenure, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton set forth her own convictions to guide the members of the ELCA in understanding our unique identity, and these convictions have become a recognized way of articulating who we are:

  • We are church- Bishop was clear that she felt we really need to catchise our people and teach the basics.  She said we are like “undercover” evangelists and God is speaking through us and wee need to get busy.   We all are to preach the gospel where ever we can. 
  • We are Lutheran-  We live by grace through our creeds knowing who God is in our world.
  • We are church together. There are three expressions of the church:  congregation, the synod, and the national church offices.  We all work together for the sake of the world. There is NO top down mission work.  The national church works for you. YOU are the national church.
  • We are church for the sake of the world-   For the abundant life promised by God and fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for all creation.

We recognize the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who said, “The church is the church only when it exists for others.” Our constitution’s “Statement of Purpose” boldly proclaims this commitment to be a people “called and sent to bear witness to God’s creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity in the world.”

Rooted in the ancient creeds, we are called to live boldly in service to a world longing for healing, justice and hope. We will continue to faithfully pursue God’s mission of reconciliation for the life of the world.

Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reiterated a particular theological focus: that the church’s primary calling is the proclamation of the Word and administration of the Sacraments. She expressed concern that justice work, while good, should not be conflated with the unique mission of the church.  We are Word and Sacrament people precisely because we practice solidarity. It’s not a competition between justice and proclamation. Solidarity is the beating heart of the church’s public witness.

She highlighted one of the most significant decisions: the election of the Rev. Yehiel Curry as Presiding Bishop, and Rev. CeCee Mills as Secretary (pictured together above). Both come from ministry contexts rooted in immigrant, marginalized, and emerging communities. Both embody a vision of leadership not bound by traditional academic pathways but formed in and with their communities.

CeCee Mills was raised up through the ELCA’s TEEM program (Theological Education for Emerging Ministries), which trains leaders who need to remain in their local contexts while learning. This path is crucial for ethnic ministries or rural ministries where language barriers and community needs make relocation for seminary impractical. Yehiel Curry also came through non-traditional paths, working as a teacher, social worker, and mission developer in Chicago before becoming bishop.

 

Rev. Yehiel Curry is a dynamic and down-to-earth leader. He was a teacher and a social worker before being raised up within his congregation in Chicago to become a pastor. 

Our new Secretary, Rev. CeCee Mills, is currently Assistant to the Bishop in the North Carolina Synod. She is a committed leader in many reforming movements in our church.

Both Bishop-Elect Curry and Secretary Mills are mission developers – deeply committed to and experienced with growing and building our Church.   Both are African-American, which is a first for the ELCA. Globally, the largest Lutheran bodies are in Ethiopia and Tanzania, and the "average Lutheran" worldwide is an African woman in her 30s. This moment is an important step for our ELCA to become more aligned with the global church.  Their elections signal a transformative shift in how the ELCA is understanding leadership. Not as credentialism, but as formation-in-community.

 

‍We also took actions on Palestine, Indian Boarding Schools, climate, racism, Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls, Christian nationalism, and more.

 We discussed alt length the tension our denomination faces: standing in solidarity with Palestinians while also being vigilant against antisemitism. We discussed how ideologies today try to conflate speaking out against the bombing of children with being anti-Jewish, and how the ELCA took a bold step in refusing that conflation. By the end of the conversation,  we all felt a stronger connection knowing the larger church body is aligned with that work.

There’s a sense that, at least when we gather nationally, the ELCA is 80-90% aligned around what faithful witness to the Gospel requires of us today.  This assembly wasn’t just about passing resolutions. It was a revival of shared energy, a collective discernment of who we are and where the Spirit is calling us next. It was a kind of conversion moment back into a deeper relationship with this church, renewed in hope, and ready to engage the work ahead with new partners and allies across the ELCA.

 

Thanks again for the ability to serve. 

 

Pastor Tony Scheer