Letter to Synod with Staff Announcement
“God, you watch our going out and our coming in: bless this time of ending and beginning.” –Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Occasional Services for the Assembly, based on Psalm 121:8
Dear ones of the East Central Synod of Wisconsin,
I write to share news of the Holy Spirit at work in transitions, endings and beginnings. Pastor Amy Engebose, Bishop’s Associate for Rostered Leadership and Congregations in Transition, will be leaving synod staff to return to parish ministry. She has been called to be the pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Neenah. Pastor Amy joined the synod staff in October, 2016 and has worked with congregations in transition, call process, mobility, first call, candidacy, and Reimagining Church. “I have met some amazing people in this synod! It has been a privilege to work with them and serve the congregations and leaders of the synod for the past four years”, said Pastor Amy. Her last day in the synod office will be January 15. Please join me in giving thanks for Pastor Amy’s leadership, accompaniment and ministry with congregations and leaders in transition as Bishop’s Associate and for her joyful and faithful discernment of this new call to ministry with the people of St. Paul in Neenah. We will ask God to bless this transition in ministry for Pastor Amy and for our synod as part of a synod-wide Zoom worship service on January 9 at 1 pm (link and more information about this service will follow.)
As we mark Pastor Amy’s transition from synodical ministry into parish ministry, we also prepare to welcome a new colleague in the synod office. Pastor Asher O’Callaghan was called by the East Central Synod of Wisconsin Council on December 28 to be Associate to the Bishop, Director for Transitions and Discernment. His first day will be Feb. 3. Pastor Asher is currently serving as pastor at Highlands Lutheran Church in Denver, Colorado. To his new call he brings training and background in interim ministry as well as work with people and congregations in candidacy/call/mobility processes during his time as Program Director for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. Pastor Asher writes: “As a transgender pastor, I am intimately acquainted with transition. In fact, it was my own gender transition that first sparked my passion for these tumultuous times. Transitions are holy ground—they are both uncomfortable and good. During these times, God invites us to let go of all that no longer serves the direction we’re headed. As difficult as this letting go is, it frees us up to discover new life, new possibilities, new callings. I began to sense a call to ordained ministry in this church during my gender transition. Letting go of who I had been paved the way for who I would become. Similarly, it has been a joy to experience congregations finding new identity and direction during times of leadership transition.”
I asked Pastor Asher about his priorities when he gets started in his new call, and he responded: “My first priority will be learning more about how you have been doing church together as the East Central Synod of Wisconsin. It’s my hope to build on the good work that has been going on there already, so before anything else, I want to learn all about who you are as a synod and the ministry you’ve been doing.
Next, I plan to tend to the process for leadership transitions. What has already been working well? What further structures might be helpful for the vitality of congregations and rostered ministers in transition from one call to the next?”
While Pastor Asher will begin his work with the synod remotely, he and his wife, Pastor Leslie O’Callaghan, are excited to relocate to Wisconsin and begin this new chapter of ministry. “I’m looking forward to working with Bishop Anne Edison-Albright as a leader who cares deeply about this church’s role in working towards a more just world,” Pastor Asher wrote. “I can’t wait to begin forming relationships with congregations and leaders in the synod, to learn about a different part of the church geographically, and work within the synodical expression of this church. And I’m delighted to get to work on shaping the processes used for leadership transition and candidacy, ensuring that they bend towards vitality.”
Please join me in welcoming Pastor Asher O’Callaghan and his family to the East Central Synod of Wisconsin!
Let us pray:
God of thin spaces and in-between times, we give thanks for your Holy Spirit’s creative and disruptive work in our lives and in our synod. Bless Pastor Amy and Pastor Asher in this time of hellos and goodbyes, of lasts and firsts. In the midst of many changes, give them everything they need: tenderly bless their farewells to people and ministries they are leaving, and give them joy in the new ministries they are beginning. We give thanks for these two leaders and the gifts you’ve given them for accompanying people in times of transition; send us to accompany them, now, and welcome them with your love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Gratefully,
Bishop Anne Edison-Albright (she/her/hers)
bishop@ecsw.org
