Summary of 2025 Churchwide Assembly

I shared this message in worship this morning with the people of Our Saviour's Lutheran in Tucson, AZ:

Photo Credit: J. Boline

I want to share with you just a few highlights from the 2025 Churchwide Assembly, which was held for the last week in Phoenix. This is the official decision-making gathering for our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and it happens every three years. I was 1 of 845 voting members from across our ELCA. There were 10 of us total from our Grand Canyon Synod.

An extremely full, fulfilling, energizing, sometimes boring and sometimes heartbreaking week. Doesn't that sound like Church?

Two of the major actions – we elected a new Presiding Bishop and a new Secretary. These are two of the most significant roles in our church and are elected by the Churchwide Assembly.

Our new Presiding Bishop, Bp. Yehiel Curry, is currently the bishop of the Metro Chicago Synod. He 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. The office of Presiding Bishop is open to any ELCA rostered Minster of Word and Sacrament (though there is discussion of opening this to Ministers of Word and Service).

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. The office of Secretary is open to any baptized person in the ELCA.

Both Bishop-Elect Curry and Secretary Mills are mission developers – which means they are deeply committed to and experienced with growing and building our Church. They both came through the path of Theological Education in Emerging Ministries, which lifts up gifted leaders in a worshipping community, trains them to be Ministers of Word and Sacrament, and supports them as they continue leadership in their local setting (though once they have been ordained, they can serve across our ELCA).

Both are African-American, which is a first for the ELCA – although this is of course an important connection for our ELCA with the rest of the Lutheran church. There are 77 million Lutherans around the world. The largest Lutheran denomination is in Ethiopia, the second largest in Tanzania. The "average Lutheran" is an African woman in her 30’s.

This is significant for our ELCA, which is 98% white, despite the racial and ethnic diversity of the US. Those of us who are white have work to do to make sure that we support our new Presiding Bishop and Secretary. Lutheran pastor Yolanda Denson Byers wrote a book last year called “See Me, Believe Me: A Guide to Deepen Allyship with Congregational Leaders of Color.” I have purchased and will be reading this book to prepare myself to be a good ally to my new leaders. I will be purchasing copies for our Council and also either hosting or joining a book study for others who are interested. (edited to add: after worship, I ordered 12 copies and they arrive Friday. My version is on Kindle and I commit to actually reading it, starting today).

We had finalist candidates for both Presiding Bishop and Secretary who are openly LGBTQ+ leaders in the church.

We took important actions, including adopting the social statement on Faith & Civic Life, reaffirming deep commitment (with action) for the people of Palestine, addressing the history of Indian Boarding Schools, climate, racism, raising visibility of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls, praying with & committing to those being deported and criminalized, unifying with the Eastern Church on the Nicene Creed, teaching God’s word, human sexuality, renewing actions for our ELCA, and many other things that I will share over time.

I deeply encourage leaders in our congregation who are interested to get involved with Synod and Churchwide work – I will looking to connect some of you and invite those who are interested to talk with me.

We worshiped, prayed, learned (Edited to add: Dr. Chad Rimmer! Will be sharing that Bible study!), heard incredible sermons (edited to add: Shout out to the Rev. Wyvetta Bullock who changed my view of Peter in a single sermon!), challenged, sometimes caused harm, confessed, reconciled - in short, lived out our baptismal lives together.

Pastor Amalia Vagts

Photo: J. Boline