2025 Bishop Transition
Rev. Dr. Philip Hirsch Elected Bishop of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod, ELCA
The Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is pleased to announce the election of Rev. Dr. Philip Hirsch as its next bishop. Rev. Dr.…
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Synod Assembly Recap
The 2025 Synod Assembly, under the theme Bold and Boundless, gathered voting members, leaders, synod staff, and council for worship, discernment, and connection—including the important work of electing our next bishop, Rev. Dr. Philip Hirsch.
Click the button below for highlights of the business from the assembly, which you are free to share with your congregation as we boldly and boundlessly follow God’s call together.
The 2025 Bishop Election and Transition Team
Primary Contact: Jackson Droney, Chair at bishopelection@metrodcelca.org
About the Bishop Election and Transition Team:
The Bishop Election and Transition Team is responsible for surveying the current climate of the synod in preparation for the election of a bishop at the Synod Assembly. They analyze the results and host conference meetings to share information about the synod and the ecclesiastical election process. At the Synod Assembly, the team provides candidate information and hosts candidate forums while working with the election team to run the bishop election. Following the Synod Assembly, the team helps with the farewell of the current bishop and the installation of the next bishop.
Bishop Leila Ortiz shared that she will not seek another term as bishop in this letter from September 12, 2024.
Team Members:
Team members were selected to provide a spectrum of voices across age, gender, sexuality, synod conference, and rostered status demographics. Members include those who were part of the previous election process and those who are new to the synod in the past few years.
Pastor Lamar Bailey, Harolda Hedd, Jackson Droney–Chair, Pastor Craig Endicott, Nels Hendrickson, Ailen Mushi, Deacon Alyssa Prinzivalli, Pastor CJ Valenti, Katharyn Wheeler, Ren W.