wfn.org | Bishop of ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod Resigns, Accepts New Call

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 4, 2005

Bishop of ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod Resigns, Accepts New Call
05-143-LN*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Robert A. Rimbo, bishop of the Southeast
Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
announced his resignation as bishop in a July 18 letter to the synod's
leaders.  Rimbo's resignation is effective Aug. 31, at which time he will
leave to serve as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York.
     Rimbo, 55, is serving a second six-year term as synod bishop. He was
first elected bishop in 1998, succeeding the Rev. J. Philip Wahl. Rimbo
served as Wahl's assistant from 1991 to 1996.
     The synod council is expected to meet Aug. 20 and name an interim
bishop, said the Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich, director, ELCA Department for
Synodical Relations, and executive assistant to the ELCA presiding bishop.
The council will also determine a date for a special synod assembly at
which a new bishop will be elected, she said.
     The synod will recognize Rimbo's service as bishop Aug. 28 at a
service of Holy Communion at Antioch Lutheran Church, Farmington Hills,
Mich.  Rimbo was pastor of the congregation from 1996 to 1998.
    "With this (new) call, I feel strongly that this is where God wants me
to be at this time," Rimbo wrote in the August edition of the synod
newsletter, "On The Way Together."
     "I realize that the Southeast Michigan Synod extended a call, most
recently at the May 2004 Synod Assembly with your re-election of me on the
first ballot," he continued. "That weighed heavily in my discernment of
this new call. I have found some degree of comfort in thinking that this
is God's call to Holy Trinity and not a call away from this synod. It is
with very real regret that I am leaving. But God continues to open new
doors, and I look forward to serving in this new place and in this new
way."
     Rimbo earned a bachelor's degree in 1972 from Concordia Senior
College, Fort Wayne, Ind.  In 1976 he earned a master of divinity from
Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis.
     Rimbo served two years as executive assistant to the project director
of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, New York, which produced the
current Lutheran Book of Worship.  He was pastor of St. Paul Lutheran
Church, Valley Stream, N.Y., from 1978 to 1982, and St. James Lutheran
Church, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., from 1982 to 1991.	 Rimbo also served
as director of music in several parishes, and was chaplain, editor,
advisor and coordinator for a number of boards and projects relating to
worship and parish ministry.
     Rimbo is married to Lois, a reading and language arts specialist for
Grosse Pointe public schools. They are the parents of two adult children,
Deborah and Justin.
     The ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod has 66,220 baptized members in 139
congregations.	The synod office is in Detroit.
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*Lynn Norwood is communications director and admininistrative assistant to
the bishop in the ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news