by Pastor Lisa Isenhower
Deacon John Weit, Executive for Worship of the ELCA, who has guided the assembly in the election of a new bishop, brought greetings from the churchwide staff as well as from other synods who have recently met in assembly.
Deacon Weit emphasized that we are a connected church of over 2.7 million people who are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ. A few highlights of our work as the ELCA include the work of ELCA World Hunger, to which the SC Synod gave $239,000 last year, and Luther Disaster Response, to which we gave $171,000 last year. Through our mission support, our church is able to do much more to share God’s love in the world.
Deacon Weit also lifted up the work of our Young Adults in Global Mission, which provides a way for our young adults to experience a transformative year of service around the world. He also shared information about the Church Property Resource Hub, which was developed to help churches with their stewardship of church property.
Finally, Deacon Weit shared a video in which Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry emphasized the importance of our being a connected church—connected across all three expressions of our church (congregations, synods, and churchwide) in a tapestry of God’s grace and love.
The video included several stories of connection, including one from the South Carolina Synod. This story lifted up the feeding ministry of Shepherd of the Sea Lutheran Church in Murrells Inlet. Shepherd of the Sea’s pastor, the Rev. Brad Bellah, noted that through partnership with ELCA World Hunger, other community agencies, and Trinity Lutheran Church in Georgetown, this feeding ministry has grown tremendously, doing much more to meet the needs of the hungry than any one organization could do alone.
