Bishop’s Report
by Bishop Marcus Lohrmann

Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claim, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world. We introduced that mission statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at last spring’s Synod Assembly.  During the last year, the synod staff and the synod council have taken that statement seriously.  Coached by Pastor David Daubert, our keynote speaker and a member of the ELCA Churchwide Staff, we have wrestled with clarifying the significance of that statement for our work together as the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  

This Report will commend to this synod a purpose statement and corresponding guiding principles that we hope and pray will shape this synod’s life together under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the course of this presentation, I will offer some practical illustrations of the guiding principles for our life together.

Northwestern Ohio Synod Purpose Statement:

Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we who belong to the congregations, agencies, and ministries of this synod, together, will witness to God’s creative and redeeming Word to all the world.

Northwestern Ohio Synod Guiding Principles:

1.  Jesus Christ is Lord.

Christ crucified and risen for all remains at the center of who we are and do. Our ministry together as a synod can never be an end in itself lest it become an idol.  To     say that “Jesus is Lord” is to say that we belong to the God who created us and who,     in Christ Jesus, has redeemed us.  We pray that we may manifest that truth in our life together as a synod.  Similarly, the Church is not ours to possess.  It is the Lord’s     Church.  We pray that our life together as a synod will reflect that faith and that     truth.

Some practical illustrations:  The decisions we make will be made in the context     of worship, prayer, Bible study, and conversation.  Through such means we re-     claim the central identity God has given us in our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through such     means the Holy Spirit works to give direction to our life together.

2.  The cross is at the heart of the Lutheran understanding of the Gospel and will be the center of our life and work together as a synod.

It is in the cross of Christ that we know God’s grace and receive the fullness of God’s revelation in the Trinity.  The cross is at the heart of Word and Sacrament (Baptism, the Lord’s Supper).  Lutheran Christianity is a “cross-shaped” expression within the church catholic.  The temptation of each individual is to believe that we are “on our own” and to act that way so as to insure our survival. Jesus shows that to be the way of unbelief.  It is also tempting for institutions and human organizations (like a synod), to make its primary concern its own survival.  That too is the way of unbelief.  This guiding principle reminds us that God’s strength is made known in weakness, that God’s redemptive love is made known through the cross of our Lord Jesus.

Some practical illustrations: It is always tempting for congregations, agencies, other ministries, and a synod to ask, “How will this action help us, make us look good, and insure our own survival?”  Such thinking invites the judgment of God.  The more important question (and more difficult!) may be to ask, How do we best serve God and “bear witness to God’s creative and redeeming Word” in this situation?  How might we “die to ourselves” in order that God might do a new thing-among us, in us and through us?

One of our ongoing tasks is to continue to discern what God is calling this synod and this church (or, Lutheran Christianity—ed.) to do and to be.  We embrace our rich heritage with thanksgiving, but we continually ask how God is re-forming this church so that Christ Jesus might be proclaimed in new ways to a new generation.

3. All those who are baptized into Christ have a part in God’s mission to the world.

God’s mission to the world is a two fold mission.  It involves caring for the world-doing the best we can to work for justice and peace and the love and care of creation in a fallen and broken, yet still amazing and beautiful world.  God gives us various callings as mother, father, son, daughter, teacher, plumber, technician, politician, farmer, street cleaners, nurse’s aids, and an infinite number of other ways to do this holy work.

God’s also seeks the redemption of this world by means of the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.  By the preaching (a public act!) and the teaching of that Word, by forgiveness of sins, through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, by the embodying of that Word (faith active in love), the Holy Spirit is accomplishing that work of redemption-among us, in and through us.

For too long we have thought that is mostly the work of pastors to do God’s mission to the world.  The truth is that God would employ all the baptized, all of us in this holy work.

Some practical illustrations:  In our life together as a synod we provide support for many ministries (ELCA World Hunger Appeal, Lutheran Disaster Response; Support for ecumenical ministries-including some in Toledo and Lima),  Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, our six affiliated social service ministries, and many others, our Companion Synod Relationships).  How can we better work together to help all the baptized see and value the critical role each plays in the care of creation?  How do we better work together to help all the baptized see their calling to tell the story and to embody the story of God’s love make known in Christ?  Do we need in this synod to give particular attention to empowering youth and young adults in this two fold mission of God?  Surely we need to do a better job of reaching out beyond those who look and act like ourselves and then to receive the gifts they bring to the mission of God.

4. Participation in God’s mission requires effective, faithful, and Christ-centered lay and clergy leadership.

We know from scripture that in times of great change and uncertainty, God calls forth leaders to recall God’s promises with and for the people, and these leaders courageously urge God’s people to follow where the Holy Spirit leads.  It is clear that these are times of dramatic change, and so it is critical that we have clergy and lay leaders who are able to lead us in seeking the mind of Christ, and the will of God. 

When we seek to “go it on our own” we will soon complain about those who are not “doing their fair share,” begin to use our position for our own benefit, be vulnerable to behavior that is destructive, and yield to cynicism and despair.  In contrast, when we attend to God’s promises in Christ, to prayer, to study, to conversation with brothers and sisters in Christ God works to renew and restore us.

Practical illustrations:  Many (most?) of our pastors and those serving in synodically authorized ministries meet in small groups to pray, study, an support one another as they look at the Scripture lessons for the next Sunday.  We invite about 8 pastors a month to come to the synod office, with one asked to “preach and preside” in a service of Holy Communion.  We then talk about the significance of the texts for our own lives and our patterns of preparation for teaching.  Some Congregational Councils take time to meet in retreat for worship, prayer, Bible Study, and conversation as they seek to discern God’s will for their congregations.

What  would it mean for our life together if all our lay and rostered leadership would commit themselves to prayer for our ministry together even as they prioritize such things as attendance in Sunday morning worship, prayer for the congregation and pastoral leadership, tithing, and allowing the faith they confess to shape their daily lives and work. What would it mean if all our leaders would give attention to integrating faith with the whole of life, with attending to matters of rest and care of the body entrusted to us?  When such takes place, God works to transform us, to make us new.

5.  Blessed by the Holy Spirit, God has given us the gifts we need to be the Church in mission.

Equipped and empowered disciples live out God’s mission in daily life in those relationships and places God has sent them.  Similarly, blessed by the Holy Spirit, we in this synod have what we need to be a church in mission.  Often we lament what we perceive that we do not have even while ignoring the many gifts that we do have. God has blessed this synod-including its congregations, agencies, and other ministries-with tremendous and varied gifts.  Are we using these gifts fully in a manner that is faithful.

Practical illustrations:  Though its Lay Academy for Mission, this synod is beginning a lay education effort designed to identify and strengthen the gifts of all the baptized for the sake of God’s mission in the world.  One of its offerings has been a course called, Life Keys, designed to help participants identify their gifts.

God’s mission through the ELCA and this synod would be impossible were it not for the Mission Support of our congregations.  That mission is now jeopardized through reduced Mission Support.  God has given us what we need to fully fund the God’s mission through our congregations, agencies, synod and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.   How might God use us in our life together to tell the story of this mission and ministry and embrace enthusiastic support-including personal involvement, prayer and financial support.

How might congregations better share their unique gifts with neighboring congregations and this synod for the sake of more faithfully fulfilling the mission God has entrusted to us.  Most recently, five congregations along Route 49 in the southwestern corner of this synod have been strategizing to more effectively do ministry together.  Many other examples could be cited.  God has given us the gifts we need to be a church in mission.

6. We best embody Christ when we work together.

In the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus prays that his disciples might be one and reflect in their love the unity between the Father and the Son.  Through such love and unity the world is encouraged to believe.  In his letters, Saint Paul pictures the Church as the Body of Christ in which all have need of one another and none can dismiss another.  Joys and sorrows are shared in this Body of Christ.  In this Body of Christ we are joined together across space and time with all those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God.

God has placed us together in this place and time in the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  Although many of us have a shared history and shared family, what makes us distinctively the Church is that God has gathered us to himself in Christ who would gather all to himself.  In the midst of all that would divide us, God’s promises in Christ draw us to himself and so to one another.

Practical illustrations:  Our ecumenical relationships with other Christian Church bodies and our companion synod relationships are means that God uses to remind us that we are a part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.  Our unique relationship with one another in this synod and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is one that enables us to work together in special ways for the sake of the care and redemption of the world (examples include our work with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Lutheran World Relief and our social ministries; our global work through the Lutheran World Federation, our support of seminaries and Lutheran colleges and so forth).  Apart from such collaboration, much would not take place.  How do we continue to cherish these relationships while using them to reach beyond ourselves?

In terms of our relationships with one another, how do our congregations work collaboratively instead of competitively?  How do we seek to build one another up for the sake of God’s mission through the Church in the world?

OTHER MATTERS BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY…

GIVING THANKS FOR 10 YEARS OF COMPANIONSHIP 
Incredibly, ten years have passed since Bishop Peter Mwamasika and the Dodoma Diocese signed a Covenant of Companionship with Bishop James Rave and the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  Many, too many to name, have been deeply touched by this partnership.  God-willing the Assembly will be blessed by the presence of Pastor Marco Kinyau, Assistant to the Bishop, and by another pastor of the Diocese, who will bring greetings to the Assembly.  This synod has provided significant support to the development of the Aya Secondary School,  provided scholarships for its students, provided financial support for the Theological Education by Extension program headed by German missionaries, Reinhold and Ursula Friedrich, and provided salary subsidy for the pastors and evangelists of the Diocese.  This synod has been enriched by the vibrant faith of this church and its passion to be evangelists for the good news of God’s love in Christ.   The partnership has also fostered a host of other relationships that go far beyond the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  Thus this has served as a prime example of this synod “working together for the sake of the care and redemption of all the world.”  We praise God for that! 

At this point, I want to simply thank all who have participated constructively in this conversation throughout this synod.  This has not been an easy conversation.  But I do believe that participants have worked hard to “speak the truth in love” to one another.

It has taken extra effort, but we have worked hard at worshipping together, praying together, and listening to one another.  I am grateful for all of that. 

I did not vote in favor of this study. I knew that it would take much time and energy away from other matters that also deserve attention. It has done that.  But now, I must confess, I do not regret that we have done this study.  We have had to wrestle with what it means to confess Jesus Christ as Lord with those who do not agree with us on all matters.

We have struggled with the stories of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ-perhaps not always listening as we ought.  We have studied Scripture using the lens of Law/Gospel theology and re-read the Lutheran Confessions.  In our study we have learned again how often Jesus challenged those who would exclude and wondered about how those texts should shape this conversation.  How can I be anything but grateful for those who have engaged in this most difficult conversation?

As we move to the Churchwide Assembly, I invite you to further prayers for this church that the Holy Spirit will guide us to act in faith, love, and in all humility.

THANKS TO ALL THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST WHO MAKE UP THE NORTHWESTERN OHIO SYNOD 

As I conclude this report, I want to do so by saying that I thank God for all the brothers an sisters in Christ who make up the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  I am particularly grateful for the encouragement and prayers of all of those who yearn and work for this synod to be a place that is steeped in God’s love in Christ and passionate about embodying that love in our words and deeds.  I thank God for the rostered and lay leaders whom God has placed in our congregations, agencies, and other ministries in Northwestern Ohio.  We are richly blessed.

Thanks to all those who serve on the Boards, Committees and Task Forces of this synod.

Much happens because of your faithfulness.  I hope that you are also enriched as you offer your gifts on behalf of the Church beyond the local congregations.

Thanks to those who serve on the Synod Council.  Your desire to serve faithfully and to keep this synod focused on the mission to which God has entrusted it is most encouraging.  I count it a pleasure to be able to lead you in opening devotions, study, and prayer on most occasions as we begin our meetings.

Thanks to Jeannine Grimm, our synodical vice-president.  God has blessed her with many gifts including a vibrant faith, a passion for the Gospel, and excellent leadership skills. I am most grateful for all these gifts she brings.

Although he is not here to receive these words, I am grateful for the leadership and faith of our Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, for the Churchwide Staff that is so willing to offer aid and counsel.

I am grateful for the partnership we continue to enjoy with Marilyn Smith, Coordinator for Region VI.  She has provided leadership on several retreats this year and continues to give wise guidance and counsel in the Candidacy Process which is so critical in nurturing excellent leadership.

Thanks to Pastor Gene Grimm, our Ohio stewardship resource, for his work with our Synodical and congregational stewardship efforts, and his willingness to offer guidance beyond those immediate responsibilities.

AND SPECIAL THANKS…. 

….to those who serve on the staff of the Northwestern Ohio Synod.  The Support Staff includes:  Carol Groman ,Tom Basinger, Pam Jacobs, and Rebecca Conklin.  They serve with such competence, faithfulness and incredible good will.  Thanks to Suzanne Wagner for sharing her communication gifts in working with the Synod newsletters and Web Site.  Thanks to Bonnie Kinschner for agreeing to take on (with such zeal) leadership for our Lay Academy for Mission.  Thanks to Kathy Lemmerbrock, for her attentiveness to far more arenas of responsibility than anyone should have to cover, and her evident love for this work and this synod.

Thanks to the Assistants to the Bishop: Pastors Cathy Schibler, Marc Miller, Dennis Maurer and Ray Gottschling.  These serve out of a deep love for the Church, deep hope grounded in God’s promises in Christ, and have the ability to laugh and to revel in the surprises with which God so often greets us and humbles us in this work.

And thanks to God for the incredible love with which we are loved in Christ Jesus and who entrusts to the likes of us this ministry of reconciliation.

Your brother in Christ,
Bishop Marcus C. Lohrmann