SYNOD ASSEMBLY 2025 Highlights

SYNOD ASSEMBLY 2025

to Serve All People
following the example
of Jesus

WAS HELD ON June 7, 2025

Calvary Lutheran Church in Green Bay, WI

“A synod assembly is the highest decision-making body in our synod: we gather to elect leaders, worship and pray together, hear about ministry in our synod and in the wider church, consider resolutions that guide church practice and set our priorities, and be rooted in God’s love in Christ. “

272

Total registered participants

Attendance

180

lay people
(66% voting members)

80

Rostered ministres (including 12 retired; 34%)

synod assembly Keynote Presentations

Venice Williams

Venice Williams, Executive Director of Milwaukee’s Alice’s Garden, got the assembly moving, building and dreaming together–naming the things that block us in our ministries and relationships, and imagining how simple–but important–changes and ministries can make a difference.

Sherrill Kenzel — Meaningful Marks LLC

Sherrill Knezel (Meaningful Marks LLC) joined Venice to visually capture the spirit of the assembly through her live illustration work.

ELCA Churchwide Representative

Mary Campbell — Churchwide Representative

Mary Campbell, ELCA’s AMMPARO Director, shared an update on the ELCA’s strategy for accompanying migrants as well as updates from the churchwide expression of the ELCA.

BUSINESS Highlights

✔️ Adopted the 2026 Synod Budget

✔️ Approved 2026 Minimum Compensation Guidelines

✔️ Passed three major resolutions:

  • Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)
     The 2025 Resolution on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), adopted by the East Central Synod of Wisconsin, urges the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to address the crisis of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women through education, worship, and advocacy. It calls for the development of educational resources, annual observance of MMIW Awareness Day on May 5, incorporation of prayers of repentance in worship, and support for legislation and partnerships aimed at increasing public awareness and providing concrete support to affected families.

  • Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools
    The 2025 "Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools" resolution from the East Central Synod of Wisconsin urges the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to confront the church's history in federally-supported Indian boarding schools—where Native children endured forced assimilation, cultural erasure, abuse, and even death—by annually observing the National Day of Remembrance on or near September 30, developing educational resources, supporting the ELCA’s Truth‑Seeking & Truth‑Telling Initiative, ensuring preservation and responsible access to archival records, and securing funding for research, digitization, and healing-based reparative efforts

  • Memorial on Abuse Prevention & Reporting 
    The resolution calls on the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to establish a unified, transparent abuse prevention and reporting system—including mandatory reporting, a centralized database, an ombudsperson, crisis response protocols, and trauma-informed training—to hold clergy accountable, protect survivors, and prevent future misconduct.

✔️ Successfully conducted elections for Synod Council and Consultation Committee:

  • Re-elected Nancy Schanke as Vice President

  • Elected Kerry Fehrman as Treasurer

  • New Synod Council members: Rev. Mark Laatsch, Robbie Spofford, Thomas Brauer, Claudette Tipton, Rev. Karen Rendall

  • Re-elected Synod Council members: Janet Zander, Kira James

  • Consultation Committee additions: Rev. Clay Salmela, Rev. Bryan Schmidt, Deanne Hytinen, Rev. Michelle Nickodemus, Jen Schlaefer

  • Open seat: Layperson from Green Bay Conference—nominations welcome!

  • We extend our gratitude to outgoing Synod Council members: John Herder, Rev. Mary Bauer, Breanna Drossart, John Murphy, and Rev. Cheryl Davis.

Ministry Partners & collaborative presence

Partners who enriched our time together:

  • Gather by the Bay

  • Synod Youth

  • Crossways Camping Ministries

  • Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan

  • Woodside Senior Communities

  • ECSW Lay School of Ministry

  • Linwood Community, A Ministry of Fox Valley Lutheran

  • Miraveda Living Oshkosh

  • Wartburg Theological Seminary

  • Women of the ELCA

  • Racial Equity Team

WORSHIP & Sermon

  • The day began with Holy Communion, featuring Bishop Anne Edison-Albright’s sermon on God’s model of healthy, loving relationships: “God cares for us out of abundant, unconditional love: not the need for control.”

  • Full video and sermon text (aligned with lectionary for July 6) will be posted next week on the synod website.

reports & Reflections

  • VP Nancy Schanke reflected on our courageous work toward inclusion and justice:
    “This past year has been a testament to our synod’s dedication to building a more inclusive and just community in Christ. In a world that too often chooses division and fear, our synod continues to choose love and action. As a synod, we have stepped forward in courage, standing against injustice both locally and globally. Whether through our partnership with the Wisconsin Council of Churches, the impactful Racial Justice Conference in Green Bay, or the faithful witness of our congregations, we are living into the radical welcome of Jesus Christ.”

  • Bishop Anne affirmed our relational mission, saying:
    “Being the church means being in relationship with neighbors next door and neighbors all over the world. Relationships take work and time. They require us to trust that, when we loosen our grip and plant a seed, God gives growth and new life in ways that may not be immediately clear, are often totally unexpected, and are far beyond what we could have imagined or accomplished on our own.”

    The full verbal report is available here.

ASSEMBLY Offering

  • Gifts collected during the assembly were designated to support two important initiatives: the Bishop’s Resource Fund and AMMPARO.

  • The Bishop’s Resource Fund provides emergency assistance to rostered leaders and their families, and helps cover costs for continuing education and training opportunities. AMMPARO (Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities) supports vulnerable children and families in migration.

  • This year’s assembly offering totaled $5,021.65

  • You can still contribute by giving through the Synod website.

LOOKING Ahead

  • Next Assembly: June 4–6, 2026, at the Oshkosh Convention Center

  • Theme: “To Strive for Justice and Peace in All the Earth”

IN Gratitude

Thank you to every participant for your Spirit-led engagement and for living out our theme on assembly day and beyond. We are grateful for the work of this assembly!