Bishop's Report to the 2006 Assembly

Bishop's Report For The 2006 Synod Assembly

Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we who belong to the congregations, agencies, and ministries of the Northwestern Ohio Synod will witness together to God's creative and redeeming word to all the world.

In the materials for this Assembly, I trust that you have had opportunity to work through it and that, if you have not yet had opportunity, you will do so. I'm not going to read that report, but I do want to accent some major themes using our Synod's Mission Statement and Core Values.

1. Our theme for this Assembly is, "Living in God's Amazing Grace, we are marked with the cross of Christ forever." Have you been marked with the cross of Christ forever? If so, I invite you to stand as we exchange the Easter Acclamation (Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!) and join in prayer.

2. I cannot begin this report without thanking God for you, for all "Who belong to the congregations, agencies, and ministries of this synod."

For all those who are marked with the cross of Christ forever, and who seek to fulfill that vocation in their personal and congregational lives;
For lay and rostered leadership, that includes you who are voting members of this Assembly - and many more;
For those who represent agencies, and specialized ministries;
For those who shape the ministry of this Synod-Members of the Synod Council, Committees, Boards, Task Forces;
For those who serve on Churchwide Staff -including folk like Lisa Cleaver, Lita Bruswick-Johnson, and those from our synod who connect us to Churchwide ministries including Pastor Keith Hunsinger, Angie Avers, Jeannine Grimm; Gene Grimm;
For those who serve on your behalf and with me on the Synod Staff: Rebecca Conklin, Pam Jacobs, Tom Basinger, Carol Groman, Kathy Lemmerbrock, Pastor Cathy Schibler, Pastor Marc Miller, Pastor Dennis Maurer, Pastor Ray Gottschling.

3. What are some of the ways in which we have witnessed together? Here I want to invite you to dig out your green cards as I ask you to indicate places of your personal or congregational involvement.

You are this synod in the particular places where you live, and work, and serve

Your primary place is were you gather with sisters and brothers in Christ in your own congregation; around Word and Sacrament;

The congregation is the place where others are invited to learn the God who in Christ would draw all to the Father.

We witness together in our support of Mission Partners including Salem and Redeemers churches in Toledo, and the Old South End Lutheran Ministry in Toledo; and Ohio Lutheran Campus Ministry including the Campus Ministry at the University of Toledo;
We witness to God's care of all creation in the many local food banks supported by our congregations, by our support of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal;
We witnessed together by our support of those who experienced the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The Synod sponsored two trucks; and many of our congregations became personally involved by adopting affected congregations, making trips; over $80,000 was contributed to the synod office and many more dollars sent directly to Lutheran Disaster Relief;
We witness together by our support of the agencies that serve the territory of this synod and beyond: Osterlen in Springfield; Wernle Childrens Home; the Filling Home in Napoleon; Luther Home of Mercy in Williston; Lutheran Homes Society; and Lutheran Social Services:
We witness together by our support of Trinity Seminary in this region, and through Mission Support dollars, seven other seminaries throughout the ELCA;

We witness together by nurturing calls to rostered leadership in our congregations; right now we have about 40 people from this synod who will be attending one of our seminaries and other seminaries this fall; we witness together by providing internship sites, where skills for ministry can be honed;
We witness together by providing a synod staff to facilitate communication; to care for congregations and rostered leaders in transition; to assist congregations that are struggling with conflict and division; to provide resources for being healthy, centers for mission; to help strategize for ministry in changing times; to provide personal support for rostered leaders in times of transition and crisis;
We witness together by our support of colleges and universities, like Capital and Wittenberg, which help young people learn to think well, and provide resources for helping students to think deeply about their faith; here, in recognition of our speaker, I want to acknowledge Valparaiso University, an independent Lutheran university that has the distinction of providing the second highest numbers of candidates for rostered ministry in the ELCA;
We witness together by our support of our Lutheran Camps and Outdoor ministries, which have helped many to experience God's amazing grace in Christ in outdoors context that cherish God's creation;
We witness together by support of our Lay Academy for Mission now directed by Brenda Gibson to provide opportunities for retreats and class to help identify gifts that can be used in one's personal life, in the church, in the synod, and in the world;
We witness together about what it means to be the Body of Christ as more and more of our congregations develop global partners and relationships; many through our companion synods: The Dodoma Diocese and now the Slovak Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Serbia and Montenego. We recently welcomed Missionary Reinhard Friedrich and his wife Ursula. Pastor Friedrich's ministry of lay theological education in the Dodoma Diocese has received financial support from this synod;
We witness together by participating in ecumenical relationships that remind us that we understand ourselves to be one part of the whole body of Christ. We celebrate those relationships in many of our local communities. We acknowledge them as we did in December in a service of Holy Communion with United Methodist Bishop Bruce Ough as we observed an interim Eucharistic relationship with that church body. We will celebrate our five-year relationship with the Roman Catholic Diocese on Oct. 22.

By the grace of God, there is plenty of evidence that we are living out that Mission Statement. For that I praise and thank God. But I don't think God is finished with us yet. We still have some important work to do. Call it " bearing fruit that will last." I will use our synod core values to illustrate this work.

Our first two core values include:

Christ Jesus is Lord; and,

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

I treasure being with congregations on Sundays, worship at Synod Assembly, at our Winter Conferences, at Sawmill, at the Roster Leaders Affirmation of Vows service on Holy Weeks, 10:00am. devotions at the Synod Office; I treasure the monthly gatherings when the Assistants to the Bishops invite pastors to celebrate worship and the Lord's Supper and then to move to discussions about the work of preaching. This is the stuff of our identity. It is what gives shape to our ministry.

The challenge is this: that by God's grace we keep the Good News of God's love given to us in the crucified and risen Lord front and center of our worship and all that we say and do.

A third core value:

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

We are a church filled with bystanders and spectators. Mission and ministry is that which we understand that we have called the pastor to do. And so we are often a declining, silent church. Beginning with those who are here, can each ask, "How might God use me and the gifts with which he has blessed me, to care for this world, and that others might meet the crucified and risen Christ through me? Later our Evangelism Task Force will offer some guidance. On Saturday, Oct. 28, at Zoar in Perrysburg, we will be sponsoring a day called "Cross Training" to offer new possibilities in this arena.

The next day, at the same place, we will be hosting, Injili, the Swahili word for Good News, to learn about how our brothers and sisters in Christ in Tanzania get at this work.

A fourth core value:

Mission requires effective, faithful and Christ-centered clergy and lay leadership.

At last spring's Assembly, the voting members identified the need for cradle to grave Christian education. The truth is that this is not happening in most of our congregations. It's difficult to have effective, faithful and Christ centered leadership, when our participation in worship is irregular, our prayer life is absent or minimal, and our wrestling with Scripture in non-existent. What needs to happen for this to change? Are some of you willing to offer models for other congregations? Some you have found programs likes Via De Christo, Seasons for Renewal, or for young people, Teens Encounter Christ. Our Lay Academy for Mission is another precious resources

A fifth core value is:

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

I believe that. Do you? Remember the text from this morning? Jesus says, "When it comes to bearing fruit that will last, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you." The specific area you will hear about in this Assembly is the experience of reduced Mission Support four years in a row. That worsens a pattern that for years has not kept up with inflation. I know that increased health costs, gas costs, utility expenses have caused a crunch on congregation budgets. To pay for those, Mission Support often seems to be the place that gets reduced. That impacts our ministry together.

Yet if in this year, each person in the pew would contribute an additional $14 per year for Mission Support through the Synod and the ELCA, we could fully fund the mission and establish a new base. That's the cost, someone told me, of one night at the movies, or half a tank of gas. For a congregation with an average attendance of 100, that would suggest an increase of $1,400 over the present statement of intent. I'm praying for that. And I will work for that. Will you join me so that by God's grace we fully fund the mission in our congregations, in this synod, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America?

Our final core value is: