May 13, 2025 in Bishop, Bishop messages, News
Vocational Affirmation and Discernment
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE BISHOP
A Message from Bishop Bryan Penman
Dear Siblings in Christ,
It’s graduation season—a time when we gather to celebrate years of hard work, study, and perseverance. Degrees are conferred, papers submitted, exams passed, and dissertations defended. If you’re celebrating a 2025 graduate in your family, congratulations !
For many, this moment is the culmination of not just individual effort but the support of an entire village.
Graduation is also a season of vocational affirmation. Completing a degree is often just the first step in pursuing a lifelong calling. Beginnings and endings come together in the joy of commencement. And isn’t that a bit like Easter? What seemed like an ending—the cross—became a new beginning. In this Easter season, we reflect on what it means to be marked with the cross of Christ, to bear the image of the Risen One, and to be sent out into the world with good news: Christ is risen indeed!
This Easter calling renews our vocation as people of the Resurrection—called to help our communities rise in bold, hopeful, and transformative ways.
One of the ways we live into this calling is by raising up leaders for the church. This month, United Lutheran Seminary will hold its commencement service on the Western (Gettysburg) campus, in the Chapel of the Abiding Presence, taking advantage of livestreaming capabilities. I encourage you to watch the service and witness the diverse leaders being equipped for ministry today.
Some are receiving certificates; others are completing Master of Divinity or Master of Arts in Religion degrees. They are pastors, deacons, and lay leaders from Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, Baptist, AME, and Church of God in Christ traditions. They come from all over the country—local and distance learners alike. Leadership formation today looks quite different from what it did 40 years ago.
At the same time, we acknowledge that our church is changing. In 2023, the ELCA reported 7,156 ordained pastors, with only 6,013 actively serving congregations. Yet, we have 8,464 congregations. This means many communities are without a full-time pastor. The gap is widening as more pastors retire and as barriers—financial, emotional, and systemic—make seminary increasingly difficult to access.
In response, the ELCA is reimagining how we raise up leaders. The Candidacy Leadership Development Working Group has proposed a shift to a competency- based candidacy process, better suited to meet today’s needs. Likewise, synods like ours are exploring new ways to support lay leaders, especially in places where ordained leadership is not available.
One such effort in our synod is the creation of a new leadership pathway: Synod Authorized Ministers (SAMs). SAMs may serve congregations that are no longer able to support the historical institutional model of ministry. These leaders might be bi-vocational or entering ministry as a second—or even fifth!—career. In many cases, SAMs are leaders raised up from within the very congregations they will serve. These are communities with vital missions that would be missed if they were to close. The SAM pathway is one more way the Spirit is calling us to imagine new possibilities for ministry.
To help lead this work, I’m thrilled to announce that The Rev. Erika Wesch has joined the synod staff as Assistant to the Bishop for Formation. Pastor Wesch will oversee candidacy and walk with those discerning a call to ordained ministry—both Word and Sacrament and Word and Service. She will also guide the development of our SAM program. I’m pleased to share that we recently renewed our first SAM—Minister Bobbie Hoffman, who continues to serve faithfully at St. Luke, Gilbertsville.
Leadership discernment is happening across the whole church. This month we will also watch with our Catholic siblings as they prepare to elect and name a new papal leader. As we join them in prayer, it’s a reminder that the work of raising up new leadership is a constant on ongoing work of the Spirit among us.
Let’s do this work together. Let’s encourage those who are sensing a call, those who are wondering if God might be whispering “you” into the silence. If you or someone in your congregation is feeling that holy nudge—whether toward ordained ministry or a new model like SAM—I invite you to reach out to Pastor Wesch. She is ready to listen, support, and walk alongside.
As we celebrate our graduates this spring, let’s also look around our communities and ask: Who is ready to say, “Here I am, send me”? May we be a synod that names those gifts, nurtures them, and walks faithfully with new leaders on their journey.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” — Luke 10:2
May the Holy Spirit continue to encourage us to raise up.
Christ is Risen, He has Risen Indeed!! ALLELUIA!!
+Bryan
The Rev. Bryan Penman, Bishop
Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA
