Dear Colleagues:
I hope that you enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving.
The Southern Ohio Synod Council met this weekend and made some decisions you need to know. An electronic notice was sent throughout the synod regarding the appeal to meet our current Mission Support goals and obligations and our progress to date. In my last letter I listed our partner congregations that have gone above and beyond their initial goals so that we might succeed. I am grateful for the responses. It is not too late for more congregations and individuals to join this effort.
I will finally be taking the sabbatical leave that was approved and delayed almost two years ago. It was delayed because of two separate legal and discipline situations requiring my attention and because of necessary staff reductions and program adjustments. The window of opportunity for this sabbatical opened this fall, so the Synod Council blessed my taking leave at this time. I will be returning to my official duties as Bishop at the end of February 2013. I will take this break for recreation, a little public speaking, worshipping as a visitor in some of our congregations, study and to ready myself for the synod-wide gatherings in March.
In the meantime, the Synod Council appointed Assistant to the Bishop, Pastor Suzanne Dillahunt to serve as Acting Bishop until my return. I know that you will do all you can to support her in this responsibility.
This autumn I announced that there would be March 2013 gatherings throughout our synod regarding the ELCA “LIFT” (Living Into the Future Together) Report and our Synod’s participation, the Mission and Ministry of our Synod, our ELCA ecclesiology, and the subsequent direction of our ministry activities, and the upcoming 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The first tier conversations will be in February when we will host discussions specific to our synod by groupings of congregations and leaders. In March, the second tier gatherings will expand on the specific meetings and move us to a better footing to understand and manage opportunities for our corporate mission and planning. Please be sure that voting members of your congregation are elected as soon as possible, there will be much information for them regarding both the Synod and ELCA assemblies.
This effort will allow us to “get more bang for the buck” when it comes to examining the new realities impacting our congregational and area ministries, have more precision in our congregational and synodical mission planning, explore new ways of doing our work together, and be stronger participants in the whole ELCA.
I remain convinced that the best way to move ahead in lifting morale and vitality, increasing energy and innovation, and creating more knowledge of (and engagement in) our ministries is to focus on listening more deeply to one another, embracing a common theological and missional identity, and identifying God’s Word and Mission as the centerpiece of our life together.
Don’t forget: Parochial Reports, Annual Reports to the Bishop, The Portico/Mayo Clinic Health Assessment, 2013 Mission Support Estimates, and Election of Synod Assembly Voting Members.
See you in March.
Many blessings,
Cal Holloway, Bishop