On 5 May of this year, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected pastor Patricia A. Davenport as bishop.
Pastor Davenport is the first pastor of African descent to be elected as bishop in the American church. At present she serves as director of evangelical mission and assistant to the Synod bishop. She is a member of the Jedidiah “Spirit and Truth” prayer centre in the state of Pennsylvania. Patricia A. Davenport graduated from the Community College of Philadelphia, and obtained her master’s degree in theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, now called the United Lutheran Seminary. This seminary is one of the seven theological colleges of the American church. Davenport’s consecration as bishop will take place on 22 September 2018.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, 6 May, the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America elected pastor Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld as bishop during its assembly.
Pastor Thomas-Breitfeld (pictured) is the first pastor of African descent to be elected as bishop in the American church. For the time being she serves at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Beloit, in the state of Wisconsin. Thomas-Breitfeld obtained her bachelor’s degree at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1979 she graduated from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, obtaining her master’s degree in theology. Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld will be consecrated as bishop on 18 August of this year. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States and the Caribbean region, with 3.5 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations. On 14 August 2013, pastor Elizabeth A. Eaton was elected as Presiding Bishop (Archbishop) in the American church.
The LALWT has already written about this earlier here.
Source: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America https://www.elca.org