Highlights

2022 Assembly Highlights

The 2022 Northern Illinois Synod Assembly was held via Zoom on two Sunday evenings, June 5 and 12, and then in person at Augustana College, Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18 under the theme, “For the Sake of the World” from our synod’s mission statement, Walking Together, loving Christ, loving all, for the sake of the world.

The election of a new bishop was a high point of this year’s assembly. The Rev. Stacie Fidlar was elected on the 5th ballot and will begin her 6-year term on September 1, 2022. A question-and-answer forum with the final seven nominees for bishop was livestreamed on the synod website Thursday, June 16, giving voting members a chance to hear from nominees before voting on the third ballot. The final three candidates had the opportunity to answer questions and speak to the assembly on Saturday morning before the 4th ballot.

Three-hundred-thirty-eight voting members participated in the assembly through the Zoom platform, 359 voting members attended the in-person portion of the assembly, and countless visitors watched the live stream on the synod website.

We centered our assembly in worship together. We heard reports from our officers, and learned about our synod committees, agencies, and institutions as well as our role in churchwide ministries. We engaged in elections, and adopted the FY 2023 budget and salary guidelines. We considered four resolutions. We celebrated retirements and special anniversaries of rostered ministers and congregations. We remembered those rostered ministers who have died since our last assembly in prayers of remembrance.

Special guests included The Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, Executive Director for the Service and Justice Home Area (formerly the Global Mission Unit) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (ELCA); Ms. Victoria Flood, Director for Mission Support, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who both served as our churchwide representatives; and the Rev. Yehiel Curry, Bishop of Metropolitan Chicago Synod, ELCA.