Resolution: To Establish a Future, Part-Time Call Option for the Bishop of the WV-WMD Synod

A Resolution

To Establish a Future, Part-Time Call Option for the Bishop of the West Virginia–Western Maryland Synod, ELCA

Whereas, The West Virginia–Western Maryland Synod is the third smallest synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by number of congregations;

Whereas, The ongoing and forecasted modest budget of this synod necessitates creative, faithful, and sustainable approaches to episcopal leadership;

Whereas, Several congregations within this synod currently have Pastoral vacancies, and this synod faces challenges recruiting new rostered ministers to serve in the region;

Whereas, Demographic and structural realities align this synod more closely with American Lutheran of the early 20th-century and earlier, when synod presidents routinely served both as ecclesial leaders and congregational pastors due to similar limitations of size, geography, and resources, the full-time bishop, in most places, being a relatively new product of the larger and wealthier mid-20th-century church;

Whereas, The Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America permits flexibility in how a synod bishop’s call is structured, so long as the duties and responsibilities of the office are faithfully fulfilled; and

Whereas, Offering a part-time call may enable candidates and this Synod Assembly to discern the candidacy of those who may otherwise not be called to full-time episcopal service; therefore, be it

Resolved, That the 2025 West Virginia–Western Maryland Synod Assembly direct the Synod Council to prepare, in advance of the next Bishop’s election, a plan for offering three models of episcopal service:

1. A full-time call, and
2. A ½-FTE call under which the bishop may concurrently hold no other employment (e.g., partially-retired) or may hold concurrently a congregational, church-related, or secular position; and
3. A ¼-FTE call under which the bishop may concurrently hold no other employment (e.g., partially-retired) or may hold concurrently a congregational, church-related, or secular position;
   

Resolved, The chair of the Synod Assembly’s election committee is tasked, in future episcopal elections, to elicit from all bishop-nominees a declaration regarding preferred call model, to be reported to the Synod Assembly before the second round of voting, thereby facilitating the Synod Assembly’s decision-making;

Resolved, That this plan be completed and made available to all bishop-nominees and voting members no less than 28 days in advance of any upcoming episcopal election to be undertaken by this Assembly; and

Resolved, That the Synod Council shall issue a call under the model declared by the candidate during the election, unless the Synod Council and bishop-elect reach a mutual agreement to choose another model.

The Rev. Anthony Setley
The Rev. Matthew Holbert