Lutheran synod to install first female bishop on Reformation Day
A Pennsylvania-based regional body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will soon install its first female bishop.
The Rev. Jennifer K. Dee will be installed as the fifth bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod on Oct. 31, Reformation Day, at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. Dee began her six-year term on Sept. 1.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry, who became the denomination's first black leader last year, is scheduled to preach at the service and install Dee, according to the NEPA Synod.
“This new call comes with joy, hope and humility,” said Dee, as quoted by the synod. “It is a gift to serve the larger church, connecting people and congregations across the synod.”
Dee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Keene State College in New Hampshire in 1996 and a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, now part of United Lutheran Seminary, in 2007. She was ordained in 2008.
Dee served as pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Loogootee, Indiana, from 2008 to 2011, then as associate pastor and later lead pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Robesonia, Pennsylvania, from 2011 until this year.
In June, Dee was elected on the fifth ballot to a six-year term as bishop during the synod assembly, which took place at Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania.
On the fifth and final ballot, Dee received 215 votes for bishop out of 308 ballots cast, more than the 155 needed to win, beating Pastor R. Zachary Labagh, who got 93 votes.
During her remarks before the final ballot was cast, Dee responded to the question of why she felt called to be bishop of the synod, telling those gathered that it was “because of you.”
“You all have been so open to this being a Spirit-led true call process,” she explained. “You all have faithfully entered into this process to ask hard and heart-filled questions of future leaders of this synod and of yourselves.”
“I feel called to be your next bishop because you have lifted me up, you have asked me serious and hard and silly and fun questions, and I continue to feel called to serve the Church.”
Dee succeeds the Rev. Christopher deForest, who had served as bishop of NEPA Synod for a single term and was eliminated from contention in the fourth ballot.
For the first ballot, deForest had received the most votes, getting 96 out of 318 ballots cast, while Dee had only five. However, the required minimum for election in that round was 239 ballots.
