CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Deaconess Community of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected Sister Janet Stump, Saint
Johns, Pa., to serve a four-year term as its directing deaconess. After
more than a year without a director, the community met earlier this fall
at the St. Paul Retreat Center in Pittsburgh to elect a new director.
Although Stump said her election was unexpected, she said she has
experienced the election “as a call from God.” She sees the call “as an
opportunity to serve the church as a whole, to help the Deaconess
Community deepen its communal spirituality, grow in its effectiveness to
do justice and make peace in the world, and joyfully continue to engage
its mission of proclaiming the gospel and serving all people in love,
following the example of Jesus.”
“Our deaconesses serve in many capacities and individual
ministries. Part of our role is to help the church better understand and
claim its servant ministry in the world -- making connections between the
world and the church. It’s about serving people in the name of Christ,
speaking the gospel, and especially reaching out in service to those who
often are forgotten,” she said.
Stump earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education
from West Chester State College in West Chester, Pa., in 1976. She worked
as a mathematics teacher before discerning the call to prepare for
deaconess ministry. During that time, she also served as Sunday school
teacher, prayer circle coordinator and adult Bible study leader in a
congregation.
In 1987, Stump earned a Master of Arts degree with a concentration
in pastoral care from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
She continued her deaconess training and served an internship in two ELCA
congregations. A year later, with consecrations on hold until the ELCA
Study of Ministry would be completed, Stump was appointed by the ELCA
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod to serve as parish deaconess at St.
Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pine Grove, Pa. She was
consecrated in 1995 and continued to serve St. Peter until the end of
2001. The following September she accepted a call to St. John’s
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saint Johns, Pa.
In her vocation as deaconess, Stump has served in a variety of
ministries in the Deaconess Community and in other parts of the church.
The Deaconess Community is a community of professionally and
theologically prepared women consecrated by the church to a ministry of
word and service. Sisters in the community work in a variety of settings,
such as health care, Christian education, social services and
congregational ministry. Deaconesses are called to ministry by
congregations and synods of the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada. More information is available at http://www.ELCA.org/Growing-In-Faith/Vocation/Rostered-Leadership/Deaconess-Community.aspx.
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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
