We are definitely in a season of transition. Being in transition can be unsettling and uncomfortable. A very human response to that discomfort is the desire to conclude it as quickly as possible. In my work with these ministry sites, I urge folks to navigate transition with a posture of patience and openness.
E-News 7-3-2023
A message from Bishop Meggan, plus an invitation to Synod Trip to visit our companions in Tanzania, the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD) July 5 to 22, 2024. The goal of the trip is to strengthen our relationship as we spend more time together. Here is more information so that you can determine your interest.
E-News 6-19-2023
Manlove’s own story as bishop of the Northwest Intermountain Synod will begin July 1. As she looked ahead to her new role, she cited post-pandemic communication as the biggest internal challenge for a synod that stretches across half of Washington state, includes all of Idaho and reaches into Wyoming.
Who Is Jesus?
I spent the first two weeks of June leading summer staff training sessions for Luther Heights Bible Camp in the Sawtooth Mountains and Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp south of Glacier National Park in Montana. I led sessions on Lutheranism 101 and then took the counselors on deep dives through the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Bible Studies.
The text for Day 2 Who is Jesus? Is John 15:1-17 (the vine and branches passage). Because we were at the beginning of staff training at both camps, biblical passages about community were also used for worship and devotions.
These passages included 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (the body of Christ). I found it wonderful to juxtapose these two passages with the summer staffs, but I also find it helpful as I begin my call as bishop of our synod. In the passage from John, Jesus uses a metaphor that highlights interrelationships and is nonhierarchical. Perhaps most significant, the branches are also anonymous; nothing distinguishes one branch from the other. The only measure of one’s place in community is to love Jesus. Period. Contrast that with the Apostle Paul’s metaphor of the body in his letter to the church in Corinth. Instead of anonymity, Paul has an abundance of specificity. What both passages share is an emphasis on interdependence, with God in Jesus and with one another.
E-News 6-5-2023
E-News 5-8-2923
Rev. Dr. Meggan Manlove Elected as Bishop
At our 2023 Assembly, Rev. Dr. Meggan Manlove was elected to succeed Bishop Kristen E.M. Kuempel as Bishop of the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Rev. Manlove currently serves Trinity Lutheran in Nampa, Idaho. Rev. Manlove graduated from the University of Chicago Divinity School, was ordained in September 2004, and holds a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary. She will officially assume the duties of Bishop in July 2023.
a Bishop’s work is a Calling
By now, word has gone forth that NWIM has a new bishop! Many of you in the days since synod assembly have been reaching out with words of thanks for my six years of ministry with you as bishop & voicing concern about how I’m doing with the outcome of the election.
First of all: thank you for your kind words. It means a lot of hear how the ministry I oversaw was helpful for you & that I will be missed.
Secondly: what happened at the Red Lion in Pasco was not so much an election as it was a call process. The Spirit was invoked, and the Spirit moved, and the Spirit indicated that Bishop-elect Manlove is the one to lead the synod into the future. And while her election was not the outcome I had hoped for going into the assembly weekend: it absolutely is the necessary outcome. If the synod needs her leadership gifts & style to move into the future, it concretely doesn’t need mine!