Mass for Pride, St. John's Lutheran Church, Manhattan, Sunday, June 23 at 5:00 pm

As part of June PRIDE celebrations, the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will host a Mass for Pride to start Pride Week at St. John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street in Manhattan on Sunday, June 23 at 5 pm.

The Rev. Amanda Nelson, Executive Director of "Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries," will preside.  And the Rev. Kevin Strickland, former and recent Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA and now Bishop-Elect of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, will preach.

A reception following the mass will provide a time for fellowship.

St. John's Church, 81 Christopher St, Manhattan. (212) 242-5737

Meet Amanda Nelson

I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, in between Boston and Providence, RI and am a true New England girl at heart. I attended the Lutheran church my great-grandparents helped to form and received much of my faith formation there. I attended Wheaton College in Norton, MA and majored in International Relations and German Studies.

After college, I worked at a Domestic and Sexual Violence agency before following my call to the ministry of word and sacrament and attending Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. In April 2015, I was called to be the pastor of Faith Lutheran Church and the community of East Hartford, Connecticut.

In 2017 I was called to serve as the Executive Director of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.

 The work of ELM began when two San Francisco congregations – St. Francis Lutheran Church and First United Lutheran Church – extended calls to openly gay and lesbian pastors, in violation of ELCA policy.  These actions led in 1990 to the formation of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries which provided financial support for calls to LGBTQIA+ pastors. 

In 1993, the Extraordinary Candidacy Project was created to provide a credentialing process for publicly-identified LGBTQIA+ people called to Lutheran ministry.

These groups worked together until 2007, when the two groups merged to form Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.  The newly formed ELM defined its mission as expanding ministry opportunities for LGBTQIA+ people called to ordained Lutheran ministry.

Meet Kevin Stickland

The Rev. Kevin Strickland was elected bishop Sunday, June 2, of the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). 

He is the second openly gay man elected bishop of one of the ELCA's 65 synods. Bishop-Elect Stickland also is married.

ELCA churches in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee are part of the Southeastern Synod.

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