Understanding the Events in the Sierra Pacific Synod

Our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is walking through a critical time right now and I want you to know about it. Although it may be happening on the other side of our country, it impacts us because we are interconnected in the Body of Christ. Our synod bishop, Bill Gohl, has spoken out about it and is committed to standing alongside the Latine bishops and congregations who are particularly affected by what’s happening.  

If you were a synod assembly voting member or listened to the assembly livestream, Bishop Gohl spoke at length outlining the situation up until our assembly at the beginning of May. Here is a transcript of his words to the assembly. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2022/05/bishop-william-gohl-bishop-megan-rohrers-actions-warrant-discipline-removal/?fbclid=IwAR1KSjKVPzEPpABohW4Mz-jr-KiKvlmCg2hYrfn-XCxrShlxrhozCGjrSuk

To briefly summarize the situation (and this is over-simplified):

A lot of controversy surrounded the election of the bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod last year. The Rev. Nelson Rabell-González was a candidate for bishop. At the assembly, he was required by the Synod Council to reveal how he had been accused of harassment by some members of a congregation where he had been serving. Eventually, the Rev. Megan Rohrer (they/their) was elected bishop, the first transgender bishop in our ELCA.

Pastor Nelson was then called by the Synod Council as a mission pastor to begin a new ministry with a Latine community. Incoming Bishop Rohrer began unclear disciplinary actions against Pastor Nelson. They decided to announce Pastor Nelson’s removal from his congregation on the Feast of Guadalupe (Dec. 12th, 2021). (For Mexican Americans, this is as big a day as Christmas Eve or Easter is for us.) With no notice to the congregation beforehand, Bishop Rohrer and their staff showed up on the 12th to inform the congregation.

Bishop Rohrer’s assistant for cultural competency said that this action on this day was a highly insensitive and harmful idea. The bishop proceeded anyway and forced the assistant to the bishop to make this announcement to Pastor Nelson’s congregation (as the assistant was the only person on staff able to speak Spanish). The congregation demanded to know where their Pastor was and Bishop Rohrer refused to tell them until after the celebratory service. The congregation walked out in protest. Pastor Nelson was removed for the ELCA roster without official disciplinary process. The congregation has since re-incorporated as an independent Lutheran congregation (as their ELCA funding ceased once Pastor Nelson was removed from the Roster).

Multiple ELCA organizations and bishops condemned Bishop Rohrer’s actions as harmful and racist. The assistant to the bishop who was forced to announce Pastor Nelson’s removal to the congregation, even though she believed it to be both culturally incompetent and wrong, was put on leave from call without pay.

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton called together a Listening Team to recommend what, if anything, the Churchwide ELCA should do about this situation. When she read their report, Bishop Eaton stated that there was no reason to implement disciplinary actions for Bishop Rohrer but since there is a lack of trust in the Sierra Pacific Synod, she recommended that Bishop Rohrer should resign. In response, members of the listening team said Bishop Eaton was disregarding their recommendations—that Bishop Rohrer should face disciplinary charges that could lead to their removal as a bishop and removal as an ordained pastor in the ELCA. You can read the listening team’s report here: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/ELCA-Listening-Team-Report-053122.pdf

From here things have escalated. The Sierra Pacific Synod Council announced that they see no reason for Bishop Megan to step down. Individual congregations in the Sierra Pacific are suspending relationship with the wider Synod. The Sierra Pacific Synod’s assembly begins today. Bishop Eaton will be attending. (By the time you read this, new developments will occur.)

I suspect that for many of you, this is a lot of church politics that you may prefer not to know about. But I felt compelled as your pastor to share it with you. You may be hearing about it on the news, and I suspect it will have wider implications for our ELCA moving forward.

There are implications for us also as a congregation. Not only is this event challenging issues of church polity, but it is also challenging the racism that continues to plague our ELCA as we strive to become the Church God is calling us to be.

‍
If any of you would like to discuss this significant turning point we are living through in the ELCA, I invite you to join me for a conversation over Zoom this Thursday, June 9th, at 7 PM. (Please send an email to office@faithlutheranelca.org or pastor@faithlutheranelca.org to receive a link to the Zoom meeting.)

Of course, I’m also available for a private conversation, if you would prefer. If there is need for an in-person meeting, we can schedule an in-person meeting as well.

Please pray for the Sierra Pacific Synod and our ELCA. May God’s Spirit guide us through this holy mess and into a better future.

In God’s peace,
Pastor Micah

Further resources…
Previous Statement to the Church from Presiding Bishop Eaton: Sierra Pacific Synod: Bishop’s Report to the Church - ELCA
Statement from the Listening Team: fb465da9-64fc-4687-9af0-8b1684c33548.pdf (constantcontact.com)
Statement from the Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA: O LORD, HOW LONG SHALL I CRY FOR HELP? — AML de la ELCA (ministerioslatinoselca.org)
Statement from the Sierra Pacific Synod Council: (4) Sierra Pacific Synod - ELCA | Facebook
A Blog Post from The Rev. Dr. Leah Schade: The ELCA’s Whiteness Protection Program: Bishop Eaton and Bishop Rohrer | Leah D. Schade (patheos.com)
A Statement from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries: (5) Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries | Facebook
A Video Summary: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ap8RiE3rNiDEgnLu_X53jKIF3VaR?e=q0s4Zj

Dr. Leah Schade is a classmate of some of our clergy in Delaware-Maryland, a teacher to others, and a recent convocation speaker in our region. Her blogs carry gravitas and are being widely disseminated and discussed throughout the church, they lay out the issues that have surfaced in the Sierra Pacific Synod.

1. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2021/12/removal-rev-rabell-gonzalez-case-study-elca-corruption-racism/
2. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2021/12/elca-fires-whistleblower-rev-nelson-rabell-gonzalez/
3. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2021/12/the-day-elca-synod-disappeared-pastor-nelson-rabell-gonzalez/?fbclid=IwAR0lD4VMbO2IxQUZyjvMA1kVpwLtyQqG7Rj2SZFbWxRMopTBmx_1cMDAKmQ

One of Bishop Rohrer’s synod staff colleagues also weighed-in:
https://revhazel.wordpress.com/2021/12/18/posada-a-journey-of-heartbreak-through-systemic-racism/?fbclid=IwAR1fdZck0Mh2TAgS6az9Fvjb0Vml9HyCgsRm0ogNtNwlUCHFtfq2mT4DZvo