Presiding Bishop Welcome

2011 Churchwide Assembly

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord!

As we prepare for the 2011 Churchwide Assembly, we have much to celebrate. God continues to bring the new creation in Christ to our life together in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Confident that our hands are doing God’s work, we are active and engaged throughout the world.

Working together, we are a church known for rolling up its sleeves and solving problems, for being a catalyst, convener and bridge builder. Recently, as I boarded a plane in Los Angeles, a woman pointed to my clerical collar and asked, "What church?" When I told her, she startled everyone by bursting out, "We LOVE Lutherans! I work for FEMA and we know that you're the ones who are there until the work is done."

Even in the midst of change, the ELCA is the church it has always been, one that is being renewed daily in the freedom that comes alone from Jesus Christ. The liberating power of the gospel releases us from our human limitations so that we may reach out in love to our neighbor. Thanks be to God! We are freed in Christ to serve.

"Freed in Christ to Serve" expresses the very heart of our faith. Freedom is God's gift that has been flowing to us and through us since the day of Christ’s death and resurrection. Through word and sacrament, freedom flows to the center of our being, transforming our very life and making us into servant vessels of the Spirit’s liberating work.

As the living water of the gospel flows into your synod and congregations, it flows out through your serving as everyday evangelists. When the Spirit's liberating power flows through us together as a church body we also serve the gospel as we plant new congregations and accompany global companions. Our work in the world is on a scale and scope that would be inconceivable as individual congregations or synods. The stories in the video shown at your synod assembly capture the spirit of a church that is freed in Christ to serve.

As we prepare for the assembly, I extend my gratitude for the creative and imaginative ministry of service flowing through this church -- through each of you, our more than 10,000 congregations, our 65 synods and our churchwide ministries. Together we share commitment to do God’s work with our hands throughout the world.

In God's grace,

Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America