February, 2022
My beloved Rostered Ministers,
I am writing to share my concerns about two difficult situations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that have caused ripples of mistrust, anger, and heartbreak – particularly among Black, Indigenous, Latine, and People of Color across this church.
You may know that the Rev. Nelson Rabell-Gonzalez was removed by the Sierra Pacific Synod both from his pastorate with a Latine mission congregation and, this past week, from the clergy roster of the ELCA. Social media has also raised questions about the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding the forced resignation of former Bishop Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld, the second elected African American woman ELCA bishop, in the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin. These are two of the actions across the church that are causing great pain to our rostered ministers and lay leaders of color.
My point is not to comment on nor question the actions of other synods. Instead, I write to you to express my grief and disappointment that our beloved church – the whitest denomination in the U.S. – continues to struggle and fail at living into racial equity and authentic diversity. I am profoundly saddened, for example, by the fact that rostered ministers of color often serve struggling congregations with lower compensation than their white colleagues.
Amid these waves rippling through the ELCA, I want to restate our synod’s strong commitment to anti-racism, the gift of diversity, and our call to see and include all of God’s children. We are blessed to be one of the most diverse synods in the ELCA, but our work is far from over. Here is some of what your synod is doing now:
- Our anti-racism team is implementing the action of our synod assembly to require all rostered ministers to have regular anti-racism training.
- We continue to raise up future professional leaders of color through our candidacy process, and our staff and deans work hard to find calls that are good fits for them.
- We have a task force working to strengthen our welcome to our LGBTQIA+ siblings, and providing regular training for congregations committed to being more inclusive.
Broken by sin, we have yet to bring about God’s dream for equity, equality, and inclusion. I am fervently praying that our church will do better living into our stated intention of modeling diversity. I pray for pastors Rabell-Gonzalez and Thomas-Breitfeld and their families, for the Sierra Pacific and South-Central Wisconsin synods, and for the people of color across the ELCA who are suffering because of the ways they and their leaders are misunderstood and marginalized by our system.
I hope you will join me in offering your prayers as well.
Your servant in Christ,
The Rev. Patricia A. Davenport
Bishop
