MetroLutheran

The Rev. Glenn W. Nycklemoe was named interim bishop by the Synod Council of the Minneapolis Area Synod (MAS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, it was announced this morning. Nycklemoe served as the bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota, from 1987 to 2001. He will replace the Rev. Craig Johnson, who is has resigned as MAS bishop in order to accept a call as interim pastor at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, the largest Lutheran congregation in the U.S.
Nycklemoe served as pastor of a number of congregations, both before and after his terms as bishop. These congregations include St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Chicago; Three Point Rural Parish, Taylor, Wisconsin; Our Savor’s Lutheran Church, Valley City, North Dakota; Our Savor’s Lutheran Church, Milwaukee; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Beloit, Wisconsin; St. Olaf Lutheran Church, Austin, Minnesota; and Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester.
A graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, Nycklemoe graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1962. He also received a doctoral degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago in 1977.
Nycklemoe will serve as bishop until the next synod assembly, according to Nancy Johnson, synod assembly co-manager. An open bishop’s election for a full six-year term will take place at that time. “The 2012 synod assembly was planned to concentrate on education and inspiration,” Johnson told Metro Lutheran, “but now it will include the business of a bishop’s election.”

“Congregations [that], at their annual meeting, elect their voting members to conference and Synod Assembly may need to make arrangements to select their voting members prior to their annual meeting.”

The dates for the MAS assembly have changed in order to hold the bishop’s election sooner. According to Michelle Reichow, synod vice president, the assembly will now be held February 16-18, 2012, at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church in Prior Lake, Minnesota. (If weather precludes an assembly at that time, alternative dates of April 19-21 will be used.)
Under rules passed by the MAS assembly in 2007, nominations in advance of the assembly take place through the 11 synod conferences. Each conference can put together as many as three names for consideration. All conferences will meet jointly on November 20, 2011, at one as-of-yet-undetermined place. (Roland Martinson, professor of children, youth, and family ministry at Luther Seminary, will be the keynote speaker for the conference assemblies’ gathering.)
“Nominations can also still be open from the floor on the first day of the synod assembly,” Nancy Johnson further explained. These names will be added to those presented by the conferences.
“Our constitution mandates the conference assemblies be held a minimum of 60 days prior to the synod assembly, necessitating the early conference assemblies date,” Reichow wrote in a press release. “Congregations [that], at their annual meeting, elect their voting members to conference and Synod Assembly may need to make arrangements to select their voting members prior to their annual meeting.”
Craig Johnson had been the MAS bishop for 10 years. Reichow expressed support for Johnson’s new call, saying, “Our prayers go with him as he begins his call at Mount Olivet on August 1, 2011.”
Nycklemoe will begin his interim assignment on August 1 as well.

Tags: Craig Johnson, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Glenn Nycklemoe, Glenn W. Nycklemoe, LSTC, LTSP, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, MAS, Michelle Reichow, Minneapolis Area Synod, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, Nancy Johnson, Rev. Craig Johnson, Rev. Glenn Nycklemoe, Rev. Glenn W. Nycklemoe, Roland Martinson, Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church Prior Lake, Southeastern Minnesota Synod, St. Olaf College, St. Olaf Lutheran Church Austin, Zumbro Lutheran Church Rochester