OUR CONGREGATION
Our congregation is a member of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a denomination of 4.9 million Lutherans. We are led by our Presiding Bishop, the Reverend Mark Hanson. We were incorporated in 1988 when three Lutheran denominations merged into one. They were the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The national offices are at 8765 W. Higgins Rd, Chicago, Illinois, 60631. The website can be found at www.elca.org. Our denomination is divided geographically into 65 synods. We are part of the Lower Susquehanna Synod (www.lss-elca.org) which spreads from Fulton County to Lancaster County running West and East and from the Maryland state line north to Perry, Dauphin, and Lebanon Counties. Our bishop is the Reverend B. Penrose Hoover. Each synod is divided into conferences. We are part of the Chambersburg Conference which covers all of Franklin and Fulton Counties and includes the 25 Lutheran congregations on its territory. Each conference has a Dean who acts as a liaison between the Bishop’s office and the churches and pastors of the conference.
LOWER SUSQUEHANNA SYNOD ASSEMBLY
The Synod has an annual assembly held the second weekend of June at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. The assembly begins either Thursday night or Friday morning and ends on Saturday. The pastor and two members of the congregation, one male and one female, attend the assembly as voting members. They are briefed on the agenda at a conference wide Spring Assembly held sometime in late April or early May.
SISTER SYNOD – KONDE DIOCESE, TANZANIA
Our Synod has a sister relationship with a Diocese (synod) in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. We signed a covenant agreement with the Konde Diocese in the early spring of 1996. Our responsibilities for each other include regular prayer for the people and leaders, sharing material goods as needed, sharing our histories and mission as the Lutheran Church around the world in service to the one Lord Jesus Christ.
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