The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will take a leave of absence for at least four months.
The ELCA announced on Thursday that Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton will take a four-to-six-month leave of absence effective Nov. 17, as approved by the ELCA Church Council Executive Committee.
The Rev. Michael Burk, former bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, will serve as “Presiding Bishop Pro Tem” while Eaton is on leave.
“We give thanks for Bishop Eaton’s tireless dedication and leadership and pray for her during this time of rest and rejuvenation,” stated the ELCA in the announcement.
The Christian Post reached out to the denomination for more information on the reasons surrounding Eaton’s leave of absence. However, a response was not returned by press time.
A former bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod, Eaton was elected the first female presiding bishop of the denomination in August 2013, defeating incumbent Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson.
“We are a church that is overwhelmingly European in a culture that is increasingly pluralistic,” Eaton stated in remarks delivered shortly after she was elected presiding bishop.
“We need to welcome the gifts of those who come from different places; that is a conversation we need to have as a church.”
In 2019, at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Eaton was reelected presiding bishop on the first ballot, getting 725 votes out of the 897 votes cast.
Like many other religious groups in the United States, the ELCA has experienced a considerable decline in membership during Eaton’s time as presiding bishop.
In 2013, the ELCA reportedly had over 3.9 million members. The figure eventually dropped to around 3.3 million members by the end of 2020.
In March, the first trans-identified bishop in ELCA history filed a lawsuit against the denomination after being forced to resign due to assorted allegations.
Megan Rohrer, a biological female who identifies with both gender-neutral and masculine pronouns, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The complaint claims that Rohrer was terminated “after suffering harassment and engaging in whistleblowing,” arguing that ELCA leadership engaged in “animus” and “demonstrated its lack of acceptance of LGBTQIA+ people.”
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