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The Conference of Bishops of the ELCA met March 3-7 at the Eaglewood Resort and Conference Center in Itasca, Ill. The conference is an advisory body of the ELCA that comprises 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and the secretary.
In his presiding bishop’s report to the conference, Yehiel Curry reinforced the priority area he has identified for his first three years in office: A connected church and sustainable church: Raising the bar together.
Curry described his vision of connection as a shared ownership across the church. “It is not mine. It is yours. It is ours,” he told the conference. “It is one of the three priorities that we lifted up as the ELCA that we said were important priorities to us. How do we take this one priority and in three years be certain that we [embody] it?
“Raising the bar together [ensures that] we know who we are, where we’re going, and we do it as a collective. I think that’s built for a better connection.”
Curry’s report also addressed the 2026 churchwide organization budget decrease of $3 million that resulted in reductions in staffing, grants, and travel and administrative costs. These shifts were designed to align personnel and resources with core mission priorities while minimizing disruption to essential functions.
An encouraging sign, he noted, was that the percentage of Mission Support received in 2025 surpassed the amount anticipated, allowing the churchwide organization to recalibrate projected budget gaps for 2026. But he also noted that the churchwide organization may face a $6.8 million budget decrease in 2027 and asked for the conference’s help in preparing for the future.
“I want to hear from you about how we can be nimble,” he said. “Many of you have asked me, ‘What should we do? What can I do to help?’ And I’m going to say to you today, the churchwide organization needs you. … I need to hear from you about those things we have to do and [what] we’ve been doing.”
Curry also updated the conference on the Vision team, now referred to as the Exploration team, which is working alongside the ELCA’s Research and Evaluation and Innovation teams on its current grant to support a unified approach to future-focused work.
In key business, the conference elected Deborah Hutterer, bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, as its chair. Greg Busboom, bishop of the ELCA Central/Southern Illinois Synod, was elected as vice chair. Both positions are effective July 1. The conference adopted new three-year terms for these positions during this meeting. Previously, Curry and Hutterer were elected to four-year terms as the respective chair and vice chair in 2023.
Reflecting on the spring meeting Hutterer said, “Throughout the week we were reminded that our ministry as bishops is deeply relational. Through worship, Bible study, prayer, conversation and honest listening, connections were strengthened to one another, with ELCA seminary presidents and with the churchwide organization. We left encouraged by the Spirit’s work among us and by the shared calling that unites us in Christ.”
