Metropolitan New York Synod
Metropolitan New York Synod | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Territory | New York City, Long Island, and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties |
| Headquarters | The Interchurch Center |
| Statistics | |
| Congregations | 190 |
| Members | 63,959 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
| Established | 1988 |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Bishop Paul Egensteiner |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Metropolitan New York Synod (MNYS) is one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with about 3,5 million members. The ELCA has three expressions: over 9,000 congregations, 65 regional synods, and the churchwide organization. The Metropolitan New York Synod is the regional expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[1]
Territory
The Metropolitan New York Synod covers all five boroughs of New York City, all of Long Island, and seven upstate counties (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties). It is divided geographically into 18 conferences and is home to 190 parishes, from inner-city churches to suburban congregations to rural outposts. Members worship in over a dozen languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Norwegian, German, and American Sign Language.[2]
Membership
The Metropolitan New York Synod has:
- 63,959 baptized members living among 13.5 million people living within the synod territory
- 16,009 in weekly worship
- 190 congregations
- about 300 pastors
- over 100 rostered lay leaders, including associates in ministry, diaconal ministers, deaconess, and synodical deacons.[3]
Beliefs
See the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Bishop
A bishop is elected by the Metropolitan New York Synod Assembly to serve a six-year term. In February 2018, Southwestern Pennsylvania Bishop Emeritus Daniel McCoid was appointed by the MNYS Synod Council in consultation with ELCA Presiding Bishop Eaton to be interim bishop following the resignation of Dr. Robert Rimbo.[4]
In the ELCA, each synod elects a bishop to oversee the administration of the synod and its staff. Additional duties, as prescribed by the ELCA, include being a synod spiritual guide, a member of ELCA Conference of Bishops, an ecumenical liaison, and a speaker and a published author.[5]
McCoid, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, served as the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod from 1987 until September, 2007, and during that time he was chair of the Conference of Bishops from 1999 to 2003. Before becoming bishop of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod he served congregations in Monessen, Pittsburgh. and Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He served as the Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA from 2007 through 2016 and has been an active presence in ecumenical relations. He has provided leadership to the former Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (now the United Lutheran Seminary) and the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Theological Seminaries.[citation needed]
In 2007, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's story on his retirement was titled: 'Peacemaking Lutheran bishop retiring'. It highlighted two decades of work as a non-anxious presence whose astute theological mind and pastor's heart built bridges within the Synod and outside of the Lutheran church.[citation needed]
The episcopate is the status or term in office of an individual bishop.
Policies and initiatives
Strategic plan
Formally known as the "Claimed Gathered Sent" initiative, the Synod 2013-2023 Strategic Plan was adopted by the Synod Assembly in 2012 to be "an ambitious transformative measure that will allow us to proclaim the gospel in new, innovative ways in the ever-changing, fast-paced environment of our world. The ten-year plan is designed to ensure that the Lutheran church remains relevant--not only in the lives of the faithful, but among the communities we seek to serve."[6]
The three committees, entitled Claimed, Gathered, and Sent, each have a specific role in implementing the strategic plan. The Claimed Committee's mission is "To help people grow in their faith through interaction and engagement with the Lutheran Tradition", the Gathered Committee's is "To ensure that Word and Sacrament ministry is provided in the metropolitan New York area," and the Sent Committee's is "To network congregations, ministries, and leaders to proclaim the Gospel while responding to specific societal needs and issues".[7]
Since adoption, its implementation has included a number of measures to assist congregations and fund leadership development programs, and several measures to develop new ministries.[8]
The Wall Street Journal profiled these efforts in 2014, reporting on the Bishop's efforts to "find the places where [the church is] not present and reach out…whether that's on social media or elsewhere". According to the Wall Street Journal, such efforts include "speaking his mind on several hot-button social issues and [working] with area pastors to create alternative church services throughout the New York City area."[4]
Innovative worship
Many of the synod's ministries have received significant media attention for innovations in worship.[4] Such ministries include St. Lydia's "Dinner Church" in Gowanus, Brooklyn, which has been widely credited with popularizing the "Dinner Church"[9] and "Micro-Church"[10] concepts, and Lutheran Church and Parables in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, which was profiled for its "Art Service" where churchgoers use paint and clay to tell personal stories.[4]
Other churches receiving significant media attention are Holy Trinity and St. Peter's Lutheran churches. In 2008, the well-attended Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church was the subject of a New York Times profile describing it as "New York's Temple to Bach."[11][12] St. Peter's, likewise, was the subject of a New York Times profile for its extraordinary Jazz Vespers service, and was chronicled, in particular, for its famed "All Night Soul" worship service. According to the Times, it "attracted more and more musicians as parishioners, congregants and performers - so many that the annual All Night Soul concert has become one of New York's most impressive gatherings of jazz talent".[13] Though the "All Night Soul" service was most popular in the early to mid-1980s, St. Peter's continues to offer some of the city's best jazz as a member of the Grand Central Station Partnership summer concert series, "Jazz on the Plaza."[14]
Congregation mergers
As part of the strategic plan, the synod has created a pilot project to assist individual congregations interested in merging with each other to form new "regional-churches"[15] equipped with the resources to minister to surrounding and neighboring communities. Congregations participating in the pilot project did so by voting to merge and participating in "round robin" worship service prior to the merger vote; thereby becoming acquainted with each other in advance.[16]
Among the most successful pilot projects are the merging of four individual congregations into a unified, "regional-church", All Saints / Todos Los Santos, capable of administering ministry to its Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods, and Augustana Lutheran Church in East Elmhurst with Grace Lutheran Church in Astoria, home to the #4 rated pre-school in New York City (Astoria Lutheran School).[17]
Latino ministry
The Latino community is: the fastest growing ethnic community in the ELCA; the largest growing ethnic group in the United States; and the largest minority community in the metropolitan New York area.[18]
In the Metropolitan New York Synod 14 Latino congregations are led by five full-time and nine part-time pastors, some of whom serve in a bi-lingual or tri-lingual context. These pastors come from eight different countries, and are assisted by 10 congregational or synodically-rostered deacons.[18]
Initiatives to support the development of this ministry include an English Language school run out of a Lutheran Congregation in Deer Park, Long Island where, with a sister group in Brentwood, church volunteers work with a partner to hold English as a Second Language classes on site.
For ten weeks each summer, senior high school students teach free classes twice a week.The program has become an internship that has helped many get into Ivy League schools. The program also offers GED, computer and citizenship classes and, with its sister organization, serves about 80 students a year.[19]
Same-sex marriage
The national Lutheran church organization (ELCA) amended its marriage stance in 2009, voting to allow individual congregations to bless same-sex unions. Bishop Rimbo said, he himself went through a "complete reversal" on same-sex marriage in the late 1980s after working with a fellow church official who is lesbian, "It took lots of soul searching and conversion but I got there." He officiated his first same-sex wedding in June 2014.[4]
Racial justice
In 2014 following protests in many U.S. cities, after the deaths of Eric Garner in State Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Rimbo initiated inter-faith discussions on how to end racism in America, entitled "A Service for Justice and Reconciliation.[20] Hundreds attended the inter-faith service where religious leaders offered guidance on racial issues from traditional texts.[20]
The 2015 Metropolitan New York Synod Assembly formally adopted and funded measures to continue "the Synod's commitment to address racism in the church and society" and directing that the Synod design, implement and fund racism training through which participants can "develop a common analysis, an anti-racist identity, and the knowledge that will assist them in addressing, confronting, and working toward the dismantling of racism".[21]
Environmental policy
The 2015 Metropolitan New York Synod also adopted a resolution "to divest from fossil fuels within five years".[22] The resolution was the culmination of work begun by the Synod shortly after the People's Climate March, a gathering of 400,000 people in New York City September 2014 of which the Synod was involved in organizing.[23]
Ecumenical and interfaith relations
In 2000, Bishop Rimbo personally came out in support of the practice of intercommunion, in which Christians of different denominations can receive Communion at one another's services.[24]
Organization
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of 2013, it had 3,863,133 baptized members.[25] It is the seventh-largest religious body[26] and the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.[27]
Most local congregations are legally independent non-profit corporations that own their own property. Actual governing practice within each congregation ranges from congregational voters' assemblies or annual and special congregational meetings to elder-and-council-led, to congregations where the senior pastor wields great, if informal, power (more common in larger churches).[28]
References
- ^ "About". Elca.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "What Is a Synod? - What Is a Synod? - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Who We Are - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "MNYS Interim Bishop, The Rev. Donald McCoid".
- ^ "Conference of Bishops". Elca.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Transformative leadership for our strategic plan - MNYS News - News - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Strategy Committee Information : For Such A Time As This : 2013 - 2023 Strategic Plan" (PDF). Mnys.org. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ^ "We are church together : Section B: Reports from Synod Council, Staff, Committees, and Partner Organizations" (PDF). Mnys.org. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ^ Kaleem, Jaweed (11 May 2015). "The Surprising Sacred Gathering Spaces That Are Moving Into Your Neighborhoods". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017 – via Huff Post.
- ^ Scott, Rev Emily M. D. (10 June 2014). "We've Seen Megachurch. But How About Micro-Church?". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Bach Vespers - The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity". Bachvespersnyc.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ Oestreich, James R. (23 July 2008). "At Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York's Temple to Bach, a High Priest Arrives to Conduct". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ Palmer, Robert (9 October 1981). "JAZZ SWINGS THROUGH NIGHT AT ST. PETER'S MARATHON". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Summer Concerts - Grand Central Partnership". Grandcentralpartnership.nyc. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Metropolitan New York Synod". Facebook.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Queens places of worship to close". Qchron.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Merger yields a sense of possibility - MNYS News - News - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Latino Ministries - Latino Ministries - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "English school looks to expand on LI". Newsday.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Interfaith gathering takes steps to stop racism". Newsday.com. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "SUMMARY OF THE ACTIONS OF THE 2015 METROPOLITAN NEW YORK SYNOD ASSEMBLY" (PDF). Mnys.org. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ^ "We are church together : Section A: Welcome, Agenda, and Voting Materials" (PDF). Mnys.org. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ^ "Strong Lutheran presence at the People's Climate March - MNYS News - News - MNYS". Mnys.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "Lutheran bishop endorses intercommunion". natcath.org. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
- ^ "ELCA Facts". ELCA.org.
- ^ "NCC's 2010 Yearbook chronicles church trends". WFN. February 12, 2010. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help). - ^ "Quick Facts". ELCA. Archived from the original on October 26, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help). - ^ See the Model Constitution for Congregations Archived 2007-03-17 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved March 27, 2007) - especially Chapter 5 "Powers of the Congregation" and Chapter 7 "Property Ownership".
External links
