wfn.org | Services Planned for Rev. Will Herzfeld, AELC Presiding Bishop

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 16, 2002

SERVICES PLANNED FOR REV. WILL HERZFELD, AELC PRESIDING BISHOP
02-116-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Details of services for the Rev. Will L.
Herzfeld, a former Lutheran presiding bishop, pastor of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and civil rights and community
activist, have been announced.  Herzfeld, 64, died at a local hospital
May 9 of cerebral malaria, which he contracted while in Africa last
month.
     Two services are planned. One will be held here at 10 a.m., May
18, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Luke.  A second service
will be held at 3 p.m., June 9, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Oakland,
Calif., where Herzfeld served as pastor for 19 years.
     At the time of his death, Herzfeld was associate executive
director for the ELCA Division for Global Mission (DGM).  He was
presiding bishop of the former Association of Evangelical Lutheran
Churches, a predecessor church body of the ELCA, from 1984 to 1987.
Herzfeld was the first African American to serve as presiding bishop of
a Lutheran church.  He was also a leader in the civil rights movement in
the 1960s, while pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

CHICAGO SERVICE MAY 18
     The Rev. H. George Anderson will preside at the "Service of Holy
Communion in Remembrance of the Rev. Will Herzfeld," May 18.  Anderson
was ELCA presiding bishop from 1995 to 2001, and considered Herzfeld a
trusted adviser, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary.  Almen
helped organize arrangements for the service for Herzfeld.
     Preaching will be the Rev. Albert P. "Pete" Pero, Jr., professor
of theology and cross-cultural studies, Lutheran School of Theology at
Chicago (LSTC), one of eight ELCA seminaries.  Pero and Herzfeld were
longtime friends, Almen said.
     Assisting ministers will be the Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, executive
director, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, and the Rev.
David G. Abrahamson, pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Luke.
     Lectors will be Sandra Holloway, DGM director for global mission
education and stewardship, and the Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla, DGM
director for international programs and planning.  The Rev. James
Kenneth Echols, LSTC president, will be intercessor.  LSTC's Gospel
Choir will sing.
     Several people are expected to speak in remembrance of Herzfeld,
including the Rev. Bonnie L. Jensen, DGM executive director.  The Rev.
N.P. Phaswana, bishop of the Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Southern Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, will speak on
behalf of the Lutheran bishops in Africa and the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF).  The LWF, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a global
communion of 133 Lutheran churches in 73 countries representing more
than 60.5 million of the world's 64.3 million Lutherans.

OAKLAND SERVICE JUNE 9
     A memorial service, "A Celebration for the Life of Will Herzfeld,"
will be held on Herzfeld's birthday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church.  On
June 9, Herzfeld would have turned 65, said the Rev. Julius Carroll,
pastor of Bethlehem.
     Preaching will be the Rev. J. Alfred Smith, pastor of Allen Temple
Baptist Church, Oakland.  Smith was a close friend of Herzfeld and a
partner in social justice efforts in Oakland, as well as in the African
countries of Namibia and South Africa, Carroll said.
     Bethlehem's choir will sing and four African American clergy will
participate in the liturgy, Carroll said.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html