MUNDELEIN, Ill. (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected the Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich to a four-year term as director of the ELCA Department for Synodical Relations. In that position she will be an executive assistant to the presiding bishop. She has served the ELCA Division for Outreach as executive for leadership since 1997.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide assemblies. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is in August 2001 in Indianapolis.
The council met July 28-30 at the Center for Development in Ministry, University of St. Mary on the Lake. It elected Schwich after a brief executive session July 30.
The 10,862 congregations of the ELCA are organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop. The nomination of the director of the Department for Synodical Relations was ratified by ELCA Conference of Bishops -- the synod bishops, as well as the presiding bishop and secretary of the church.
Schwich will succeed the Rev. Michael Cooper-White on Sept. 1. Cooper-White will be inaugurated Oct. 25 as president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.
Born in Saginaw, Mich., Schwich, 46, is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Mich.; and Luther-Northwestern (now Luther) Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
Ordained in 1986, Schwich served as pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Traverse City, Mich., 1986-1988, and St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Park Ridge, Ill., 1995-1997. She was director of church relations for Stephen Ministries, St. Louis, 1988-1991, and bishop's associate for developing a healthy ministerium, ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod, = 1992-1995.
Schwich and her husband, Dan, are parents of three sons. The Rev. Daniel J. Schwick is director of government relations, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, Des Plaines.
EDITORS: "Schwich" and "Schwick" are both spelled correctly.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities 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:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
