Synod Council Synopsis - July 2024
The Synod Council meeting opened with Bishop Current leading a devotion she used for the all-day staff meeting on July 10 and her sermon preparation for Sunday with Calvary Lutheran Church in Buffalo. She read the second lesson appointed for July 14, Ephesians 1:3-14.
Bishop Current reported that 323 people from the Southeastern Iowa Synod would be attending the ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Of that number, there will be 223 youth and 98 adults. Bishop Current and Pastor Dan Kuckuck will be in attendance. Congregations were encouraged to invite Bishop Current to be part of their group for some part of the gathering. So far, she has scheduled times with 16 of the congregations. Bishop Current is sure it will be a great time for the youth, adults and everyone in attendance as they gather under the theme of “Created to Be.”
As this was the first council meeting for those elected at the 2024 Synod Assembly, Vice President Jones invited each person to introduce themselves, where they are from, and whether they are new or returning to the Synod Council. Each person was asked to choose to respond to one of three words, a hope, an uncertainty, or an excitement.
In accordance with the synod’s constitutional provision †S13.24., which allows the synod council to provide governance and administration of a congregation when the congregation is no longer able to do so for themselves, the council took action to close St. Paul Lutheran Church in Des Moines which did business as Kingdom Life, and Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Ames. This action is necessary when a congregation declines in voting members below the number stipulated as required for a quorum in their own governing documents. Both congregations had ceased to gather for worship and were accompanied through the closure by office of the bishop staff and synod council leadership.
The Synod Council voted to remove Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines as a congregation of the ELCA effective September 15, 2024. Bishop Current reported her lengthy conversations with the Senior Pastor and ELCA rostered ministers plus the Presiding Bishop, Secretary and General Counsel of the ELCA. The congregation’s practice of having pastors on staff that are not rostered in the ELCA or a full-communion partner led to this decision.
The Synod Council reviewed the resolutions passed at assembly and a list of proposed action steps for each resolution in conjunction with the resolution authors. Some highlights include resources for lamentation and prayers for peace in the Holy Land that can be used by congregations on or around October 6, sharing ELCA World Hunger resources for the 50th anniversary and invite participation for an October 14 online ELCA World Hunger celebration co-hosted by Bishop Current and ELCA Vice President Imran Siddiqi. Resources about gun safety and control will be available on the synod website as well as prayer resources around January 4, the anniversary of the school shooting in Perry.
In her report, Bishop Current highlighted that new board members are now seated for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Iowa State University and have begun their work of imagining a future for Lutheran Campus Ministry. The ministry at the University of Iowa is also in transition with the resignation of their pastor, Sarah Goettsch. They are working on an interim Synod Authorized Minister.
In June, Bishop Current traveled with an ELCA group show support for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. The Office of the Bishop staff have spent time planning events to accompany the theme: Listen, God is Calling: God is about to do a new thing, do you not perceive it?