Ann Svennungsen elected bishop of the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Ann Svennungsen elected bishop of the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>February 18, 2012  

Ann Svennungsen elected bishop of the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod
12-06-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) - The Rev. Ann M. Svennungsen was elected Feb. 18 to
a six-year term as bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Elected on the fifth
ballot during the synod assembly Feb. 17-18 in Prior Lake, Minn.,
Svennungsen is the first woman to serve as bishop in any of the ELCA's six
synods in Minnesota.

Svennungsen is interim pastor at St. Olaf College, an ELCA college
in Northfield, Minn. She will be installed as bishop of the Minneapolis
Area Synod May 6 at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.

Of the 329 votes needed for an election, Svennungsen received 339
votes. The Rev. Kelly Chatman, senior pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church
in Minneapolis, received 317. On the fourth ballot, Svennungsen received
239 votes to 219 for Chapman, and 197 for the Rev. Christopher P. Nelson,
senior pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. There were 18
names on the nominating ballot.

Svennungsen was president of Texas Lutheran University, an ELCA
university in Seguin, Texas, from 2007 to 2010, and she was a resident
scholar at The Ecumenical and Cultural Institute in Collegeville, Minn.,
from 2010 to 2011.

Svennungsen earned a degree in mathematics from Concordia College,
an ELCA college in Moorhead, Minn., and was elected student body
president there. She earned a master of divinity degree at Luther
Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., and was awarded Luther's "Seminary Preaching
Award." Luther, one of eight seminaries of the ELCA, honored Svennungsen
with its Alumni Achievement Award in 2005.

One of five Lutherans nationwide selected to participate in the
Lilly Endowment National Religious Leadership Program from 1997 to 1999,
Svennungsen was also one of 12 pastors nationwide chosen for the Lilly
Endowment Pastors' Working Group from 2001 to 2002.

Since her ordination in 1982, she served congregations in Iowa and
Minnesota until 2003, when she became president of The Fund for
Theological Education in Atlanta.

Svennungsen and her husband William Russell, are parents of three
children.

Prior to the election, the Rev. Glenn W. Nycklemoe served as
interim bishop for the Minneapolis Area Synod since July 2011. The Rev.
Craig E. Johnson resigned as synod bishop the month before to become
interim senior pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
Johnson, who served as synod bishop for 10 years, was offered the
position after the death of Mount Olivet's senior pastor, the Rev. Paul
Youngdahl.

Information about the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod is at
http://www.mpls-synod.org/home on the Web.

>---

About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United
States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50
states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work.
Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in
Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's
roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

>For information contact:
>Melissa Ramirez Cooper
>773-380-2956 or Melissa.RamirezCooper@ELCA.org
>http://www.ELCA.org/news
>Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lutherans
>Living Lutheran: http://www.livinglutheran.com