Title: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Elects Susan Johnson National Bishop ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 26, 2007
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Elects Susan Johnson National Bishop 07-113-FI/TG*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Susan C. Johnson was elected June 22 to a four-year term as national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). Johnson, assistant to the bishop, ELCIC Eastern Synod, Kitchener, Ontario, received 206 votes on the sixth ballot of the ELCIC's Eleventh Biennial National Convention, June 21-24, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Rev. Edward Skutshek, Grace Lutheran Church, Kelowna, British Columbia, received 172 votes on the final ballot for bishop. He led on the fifth ballot with 160 votes. Johnson had 152 votes on the fifth ballot, and the Rev. Cynthia Halmarson, bishop, ELCIC Saskatchewan Synod, Saskatoon, had 71 votes. There were 71 names on the first or nominating ballot.
Johnson will succeed the Rev. Raymond L. Schultz on Sept. 1. Schultz was elected national bishop of the ELCIC in 2001 and 2005. He announced in January that he would retire in the middle of his second term for personal and health reasons.
Johnson has been assistant to the bishop of the ELCA Eastern Synod since 1994. She served as vice president of the ELCIC from 2001 to 2005.
Johnson has been an advisor to the council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) since 1998. She served as a member of the LWF North American Regional Committee and of the LWF Leadership Development Task Force. In 2003 she was runner-up to the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in the election for LWF president.
The ELCIC convention elected Ken Hartviksen, associate professor of finance, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, its treasurer and re-elected Don Storch, Victoria, British Columbia, its secretary. Both positions are part of the executive committee of the ELCIC National Church Council. Johnson, Hartviksen and Storch will serve with Dr. Roger Kingsley, ELCIC vice president, Winnipeg, as the church's four officers.
In other business, the ELCIC convention defeated a motion to encourage the church's five synods to develop ways "to best minister to people who live in committed same-sex relationships, including the possibility of blessing such unions." The motion received 181 votes in favor and 200 votes against by secret ballot.
Earlier delegates blocked a motion to raise the number of ballots required to a two-thirds majority.
The ELCIC is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the LWF, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. -- -- --
Details about the 2007 convention are at
http://elcic.ca/In-Convention/2007-Winnipeg/ on the ELCIC Web site.
* Trina Gallop, manager of communications, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, provided information for this story.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog