What Happened at the Synod Assembly?

from Pastor Mark Daniels
The Southern Ohio Synod Assembly happened May 29-31 on the campus of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. It brought together lay voting members and pastors from more than 230 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregations that are here in the southern part of the state.

Here is the official release from the synod on the actions taken during the assembly.

Here is the press release from the ELCA on the re-election of Callon Holloway as the synodical bishop.

Highlights of the event for me were presentations and a sermon by Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, and Patrick Kiefert, a professor of systematic theology at our seminary in the Twin Cities. They spoke of the importance of churches as communities that form Christian disciples. We can no longer count on the culture to form Christian disciples. We must go back to the basics of disciplemaking as chronicled in the New Testament.

Central to this is dwelling in God's Word and asking two central questions:

• What is God doing right now in the midst of us?
• What does God want us to do?

Christian faith is not nostalgia for Jesus' first time on earth.

It's not hunkering down and waiting for Jesus' return.

It's not pining for the glory days in our churches.

It's living in a vital relationship with God and our fellow believers right now. It's about being instruments of God's grace today!

We will be receiving DVDs of both Hanson's and Kiefert's presentations soon and I hope to show them to as many Saint Matthew people as possible.

Thanks to Christa Myers and Dave Libben for being our congregation's voting members at the assembly.