Do your part in electing...a bishop!

Election season is nearly upon us.  It’s a time to start looking at candidates…to hear them speak…to prayerfully consider which will do a better job of leading us into the future. Your input is crucial!  This is a democracy…the people choose their leaders!  We’re only seven months away from the election! 

I’m not living in a bizarre time warp…and I’m not talking about American presidential elections.  In June of 2013 the Southeastern Minnesota Synod will be electing a new bishop…and each congregation has a role to play in that election!

Many people here at Peace grew up denominations where succession plans determine who gets to move up to the office of bishop...or where people of power appoint them to that office.  Our process is VERY different!  Next June four people from Peace will attend our Synod Assembly, an annual gathering of people from churches all over southeast Minnesota.  Every pastor in the synod is expected to be there…but there are more lay people than clergy (three people from Peace will join me).  The election will happen by ‘ecclesiastical ballot,’ a fancy name for a simple process.  The first ballot is the nominating ballot.  Blank sheets of paper are handed out and voting members can write down the name of any pastor in the ELCA.  They don’t have to be pastors in our area…they can be from anywhere (rural synods like ours tend to prefer to nominate local people, but that’s not required).   Names are then taken from that nominating ballot and brought forward for later votes.  In each round of voting the number of names on the ballot shrinks.  The possibility of election exists on any ballot by achieving the required number of votes cast by voting members of the assembly applicable to a particular ballot.  By the end of the 2013 Synod Assembly, the new bishop will be elected. 

The four voting members from Peace will have a say in who becomes our new bishop…but everyone’s input is needed for this process to work!  While the official election happens at the assembly, there is a process in place to help people get to know some potential ‘candidates’ for bishop…and you get to be a part of determining who these ‘candidates’ are!  Each congregation in the synod has been asked to gather some people together to answer these questions:

1.     What does it mean for my congregation to be part of a synod?

2.    What issues do we face in our community, southeastern Minnesota and the larger world that we can work on better as a synod than by ourselves?

3.    What qualities in a leader do we need to face these issues?

4.    Are there specific people we think would make a good bishop?

I am looking to gather some people to have these conversations!  If we can determine what qualities we want in a bishop I can put people in contact with potential ‘candidates’ to see if they fit those qualities!  You can be a part of it!  If you know a pastor who has what it takes you can bring their name to the conversation!

Congregations throughout the synod will be making these nominations through January.  In February at our conference assembly all of these names will be brought forward to be voted on.  Those receiving the most votes will take part in several ‘question and answer’ sessions so people all over the synod can get to know some potential candidates.  There is no requirement that one of those who are part of this question and answer process will be elected bishop.  Once the synod assembly begins, the nominating ballots are blank.  This part of the process allows for some people to 'be known' on a wider basis.

In the ELCA, people don’t ‘campaign’ for bishop.  There are no yard signs or buttons or campaign managers.  You won’t see TV ads flooding the Rochester area.  This is a prayerful, discerning process!  People can be ‘open’ to being a bishop, but nobody can say they are ‘called’ to be a bishop until the assembly votes them into that position.

It’s time to pray…and to talk!  If you are interested in being a part of the conversation let me know.  I’ll find a time when we can meet together!

More information (including a profile of the bishop’s role) can be found at semnsynod.org/election-of-a-bishop.