Also re-elected were:
- Rev. Robert D. Beinke, pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Norwalk, Conn., first vice-president;
- Rev. Scott R. Schuett, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Lebanon, Conn., second vice-president; and
- Rev. Dr. James E. Butler, pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Dedham, Mass., third vice-president.
The elected officers were installed during the convention.
Under the theme “Let us not grow weary of doing good,” from Gal. 6:9, delegates voted to:
- create a Worker Support Team to ensure the well-being of the district’s church workers. Leading that effort will be Deaconess Tiffany Manor, as director of Worker Support. Since Manor began her service with the district in 2014, several congregations have called deaconesses, which is “seen as a strength of the district and its mission of caring,” according to a district spokesman.
- “respond to gender identity issues with truth and love.” The adopted resolution affirms the creation of humans as male and female, endorses a biblical view of marriage and calls on district congregations to be “places of great hospitality and pastoral care for persons struggling with gender identity issues.”
In other business, the convention offering of $709.28 was designated for new church plants. The action begins a new fundraising effort to support the planting of congregations in New England, which is among the least “churched” regions of the country.
Posted June 19, 2018
