The 2019 Synod Assembly met Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4, under the theme Building Beloved Community.
Our keynote speaker was the Rev. Nicole D. Diroff, associate director of Interfaith Philadelphia. The Rev. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA Assistant to the Presiding Bishop and Executive for Administration, was our churchwide representative.
The beloved community is like this: ‘God takes it very personally how we treat one another,” the Rev. Dr. Wyvetta Bullock said in her sermon at the Assembly’s Saturday Eucharist. “The compassion we express to others is our expression of our love for God.”
We’re called to share God’s love with our enemies, not just our neighbors. In the process our lives — and our ministries — will be transformed, she said.
“It is time for our inadequate dreams to die in order for Christ to rise in us, and our church.”
This observation by one pastor to Bishop Patricia A. Davenport grounded the preaching, prayer and lament during the opening worship service of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod’s 2019 Assembly. Several preachers and prayer leaders explored the challenge and promises for the church today through the lens of the encounter with Jesus along the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-35).
The service opened with a communal lament for changing times and missed opportunities,, and was woven together with singing verses of the hymn with the refrain: “It is well with my soul.”
“We say, that was then, and this is now,” but the implications of these disciples’ experience are relevant for the situation in which we serve God and the world, the bishop said.
Keynote speaker the Rev. Nicole Diroff, assistant director of Interfaith Philadelphia, shares her experiences in the beloved interfaith community.
In her address to the Assembly, Bishop Patricia A. Davenport described how she has worked to learn more about the Synod, the congregations that compose it and the people who fill those churches—building relationships along the way.
“My basic principle for ministry, for mission, for vitality and for life is founded on relationship,” said Bishop Davenport. “My relationship with God is reflected in my relationships with others and it is in that vein that we lay our foundation for building Beloved Community.”
Bishop Davenport continued by opening a conversation about the Synod today. “I’ve been asked about my vision for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, and I answer that we set our vision together. We are co-creators of our joint mission and one of our blessings is the willingness to show up and dialogue,” she said.
We are church in an environment that is “volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous,” Synod Vitality Team co-chair the Rev. Bryan Penman told the 2019 Synod Assembly.
But by working toward what research has shown are key marks of vital congregations, SEPA congregations can become more connected and relevant in their communities, he said.
The life-giving practices for the church include:
The Assembly adopted a budget for fiscal 2020 that anticipates total revenues of $3.33 million and expenditures of $2.88 million. The budget takes effect Feb. 1, 2020.
Finance Committee Chair Albert Glenn outlined one significant change to the 2020 budget. The synod regularly gives support to United Lutheran Seminary, including about $50,000 for tuition support for our synod’s candidates. A $30 million bequest to ULS allows the seminary to eliminate tuition for many students, so the $50,000 will instead go to a fund to assist current rostered ministers with significant student debt.
Treasurer Janet Huber Neff, CPA, reported that Mission Support from congregations in 2018 totalled $1.798 million, about $70,000 less than budgeted.
“The bishop, the staff, the Synod Council would all like to thank you very much for your mission support,” Neff said. “We do understand that it is a sacrifice for you, and we want you to know how much it does for us locally, nationally, and globally.”
Greetings and thanks from the Rev. Dr. Wyvetta Bullock, our churchwide representative.
SECRETARY
SYNOD COUNCIL, CLERGY
SYNOD COUNCIL, Delaware Conf. Rep, Lay Male
SYNOD COUNCIL, Northeast/Northwest Philly Conf. Rep., Lay Male
SYNOD COUNCIL, Upper Mont. Conf. Rep, Lay Female
SYNOD COUNCIL – At Large Rep, Lay Male Young Adult
SYNOD COUNCIL – At Large Rep., Lay Female Young Adult
SYNOD COUNCIL – At Large Rep., Lay Male
SYNOD COUNCIL, At Large Rep., Lay Female
SYNOD COUNCIL, At Large Rep., Lay Male Youth
SYNOD COUNCIL, At Large Rep., Lay Female Youth