May 5-6, 2023 at Franconia Mennonite Church A significant number of responses to our Assembly survey indicated that people want to return to the fellowship and relationship-building of in-person meetings. We have listened to your voices and have scheduled the 2023 Synod Assembly for Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, at our familiar site...
Category: Assembly
January 26, 2023
Synod Assembly Returns to In-Person
May 5-6, 2023 at Franconia Mennonite Church A significant number of responses to our Assembly survey indicated that people want to return to the fellowship and relationship-building of in-person meetings. We have listened to your voices and have scheduled the 2023 Synod Assembly for Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, at our familiar site...
November 21, 2022
Synod Council and Committees seeking Nominations for 2023
How does the work of Jesus get done in Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod? By faithful members of our congregations who love Jesus, love the Church, and are willing to take leadership positions in our Synod. At the upcoming Synod Assembly, May 5, 2023, we have positions of leadership we need to fill to do the work...
January 21, 2022
You Can Change the Church
A Pre-Assembly Web Forum with the Reference and Counsel Committee Join us February 3 at 7:00pm on Zoom to learn: How you can create changes in the church through the Synod Assembly What’s the difference between a resolution and a memorial? Ways to write an effective resolution REGISTER NOW Download printable copy The...
November 23, 2021
Synod Assembly April 30, 2022
Hope for Today, Strength for Tomorrow Through Community in Christ. The 2022 Synod Assembly will be held on Saturday, April 30 as an online business meeting. Conferences will participate in service projects on Saturday, April 23, and an in-person gathering will be scheduled later in the year. The theme for this year’s gatherings is Hope for...
April 30, 2021
“We have faith over fear”
Message from Synod Vice President Tracey A. Beasley to the 2021 Synod Assembly.
April 29, 2021
“We’ve Come…a Mighty Long Way”
Message from Bishop Patricia A. Davenport to the 2021 Synod Assembly Dear Synod! I greet you with deep gratitude for your faithfulness and profound partnership as we have endured together the joys and challenges of this pandemic. We have experienced a year filled with anxiety, pain, change, challenge and death, and yet there have also...
December 15, 2020
Positions to be Elected at Assembly
Nominations Needed for Synodical Positions The SEPA Synod’s Nominating Committee is currently looking for help as we seek to raise up new leaders from across our synod. We are looking for qualified persons, both clergy and lay, to serve as nominees for the election at the SEPA Synod Assembly on April 23-24, 2021. This year we have over...
December 10, 2019
Synod Council and Committees seeking Nominations for 2020
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod’s Nominating Committee is asking for your help in identifying gifted and qualified persons, both clergy and lay, to serve as nominees for election at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Assembly on May 1-2, 2020 Every year the Synod Assembly elects members of the Synod Council, which serves as “the board of directors...
May 29, 2019
Assembly Leftovers Feed Hundreds
The Synod Hunger Team, operating out of St. John Lutheran, Morrisville and assisted by St. John’s Service/Outreach/Parish Life Team and community members who assist with Aid for Friends put together meals for distribution using the leftovers from Assembly meals. Friday and Saturday lunches were delivered to the Homeless shelter in Levittown, PA and fed over...
May 23, 2019
‘Are We Willing to be Transformed?’
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.” As humans we struggle with love that seeks nothing in return....
May 23, 2019
“Are We Ready To Be Transformed”
Sermon by Rev. Dr. Wyvetta Bullock at SEPA Synid Assembly, May 4, 2019. 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...
May 22, 2019
Laments of a Death-and-Resurrection People
“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...
May 21, 2019
Leadership Rooted in Baptism
“Our purpose comes out of the baptismal waters, where our leadership is grounded.” The Rev. Dr. M. Wyvetta Bullock, Assistant to the Presiding Bishop/Executive for Administration and ELCA Churchwide Representative, led a lively forum – “Leadership Rooted in Baptism” – on the first day of the assembly. As she began the forum, she shared that...
May 20, 2019
Balanced 2020 Budget Approved
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...
May 15, 2019
Vitality Team Offers New Vision
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 Vitality...
May 10, 2019
Bishop Davenport: “We are co-creators of our joint mission”
Bishop Patricia Davenport, the Fifth Bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA, opened the Synod’s 2019 Assembly (her first as Bishop) with a reading from Psalm 34: 1-3. “… O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt God’s name together.” From the excitement of her election at the 2018 Assembly, to...
March 12, 2019
Assembly 2019: Building Beloved Community
The 2019 Synod Assembly will meet Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4, under the theme Building Beloved Community. Registration is now open . Our keynote speaker will be the Rev. Nicole D. Diroff , associate director of Interfaith Philadelphia. A number of learning opportunities will explore various aspects of the beloved community theme,...
May 5, 2018
Rev. Patricia Davenport Elected Bishop
Pastor Patricia A. Davenport was elected the next Bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Saturday, May 5, at Franconia Mennonite Church. Pastor Davenport is the first African-descent woman to be elected a bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On the fourth ballot, Bishop-elect Davenport, currently our...
May 26, 2017
Assembly 2017 Report
Many voices offered perspectives on racism and reconciliation at the 2017 Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod Assembly May 5-6. Bishop Claire Burkat encouraged those gathered to be “more open to engage, to explore, to repent, to be humbled, to align ourselves with this incredible and abundant new life in Christ.” She called on congregations and leaders to take...
May 5, 2017
Openness, Humility Needed to Address Racial Justice
In her address to the 2017 Assembly, Bishop Claire Burkat broke open possibilities to embody racial reconciliation in the work of congregations and the synod at large. Drawing from themes introduced in her sermon, the bishop encouraged those gathered to be “more open to engage, to explore, to repent, to be humbled, to align ourselves...
