Welcome Letter
Dear Friends in Christ
On behalf of the Assembly Planning Committee, welcome to the 2020 Metro New York Synod Assembly! We are so very glad you will be with us for two days of “We Are the Church Together” in our synod. We have a full agenda for you, with elections, resolutions, reports and presentations from various committees, tasks forces, and of course, a chance to meet and listen to our Bishop, Rev. Paul Egensteiner. You will be introduced to the re-imagining of our 2025 VISION. The Assembly Planning Committee has been working very hard to ensure that although the agenda is full, there is still time for you to greet old friends, make new ones and learn a bit more about our synod.
This year, we will also be celebrating ordained women in ministry. We are celebrating 50 | 40 | 10:
50 years since the first Lutheran woman was ordained in the United States,
40 years since the first woman of color was ordained in the ELCA, and
10 years since the ELCA 2009 decision to allow openly LBGTQIA+ people to be ordained.
Friday afternoon and evening will be focused on these events and women. Our Friday evening Festival Eucharist will be led exclusively by women, with an opening procession of ALL ordained women-identifying ministers in our synod, as well as our synodical deacons.
In this bulletin of reports, you will find much information about the assembly, our synod’s different ministries, and our ministry partners both here within our synod and Churchwide. Included are also the biographies of the nominated persons for Synod Council, Consultation Committee and Discipline Committee.
I hope you enjoy seeing all the pictures and videos of the many ordained women involved in ministry in our synod. Who knew there were so many? Let us prayerfully begin our journey being The Church Together.
In Christ,
Elizabeth Hoffmann
Synod Assembly Planning Committee