Margaret Payne re-elected bishop of ELCA New England Synod

by Katherine Hinck*, ELCA News Service

The Rev. Margaret G. Payne, 59, was elected to a second six-year
term as bishop of the New England Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at the synod assembly June 8-10
in Worcester, Mass. Payne was re-elected on the first ballot for
bishop with 365 of 434 votes. The next highest vote totals were
for the Rev. Dennis P. Kohl, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Warwick,
R.I., with 15 votes, and the Rev. John J. Marschhausen, Our
Savior's Lutheran Church, Newington, Conn., with 10 votes. There
were 27 nominees on the first or nominating ballot.

Born in Philadelphia, Payne graduated from Muhlenberg College,
Allentown, Pa., and earned a master of divinity degree from
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J. She also
received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg College.
Muhlenberg is one of 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA.
Ordained in 1984, Payne served as pastor of Prince of Peace
Lutheran Church, Princeton Junction, N.J., and assistant to the
bishop of the ELCA New Jersey Synod. She also served as interim
pastor for Christ the King Lutheran Church, Wilbraham, Mass.
Payne was first elected bishop in 2000, succeeding the Rev.
Robert L. Isaksen, who retired. She will begin her second term
on Sept. 1 after her first term ends Aug. 31. Payne and her
husband John are the parents of four adult children.

The New England Synod includes 71,611 baptized members in 188
congregations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and three counties in northeast
New York. The synod office is in Worcester, Mass.

*Katherine R. Hinck is a senior journalism and religion major at
Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. This summer she is an
intern with the ELCA News Service.