Faith: Church members to meet new bishop

Bishop Erik Gronberg

Staff Writer

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There are more than 105 congregations in the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area, according to the NT-NL website. But only one, Clovis’ Trinity Lutheran Church, resides west of the Texas border.

Despite the church’s geographic isolation, the synod’s newly elected bishop wants the congregation to know it’s not alone.

Members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clovis, such as John and Ann Sharp, will get the chance on Saturday to meet and pray with Bishop Erik Gronberg in Lubbock.

As John Sharp explained, meeting their new bishop “is like getting a new boss.”

“Even though it’s a church,” John Sharp said, “there are ways of conducting business and matters. The way things will be managed and handled are different; how things are accomplished are different.”

A former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Worth, Texas, Gronberg was elected in April to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area, a synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Having attended various gatherings for mission assemblies and church councils for more than a decade, Clovis’ Trinity Lutheran Church Pastor Bonita Knox already knows Gronberg well. But she said for local church members, the gathering is a unique experience.

“It’s not every day that a new bishop gets elected,” Knox said. “We may often elect bishops, maybe every six to 12 years, but this will be new for us.”

Trinity Lutheran Church in Clovis is one of 12 Panhandle Mission Conference congregations invited to the meet-and-greet event hosted by Shepherd King Lutheran Church in Lubbock.

“We have the opportunity, a wonderful opportunity, to share time with our newly elected bishop,” Knox said. “This is an opportunity to meet and talk to all who show up. It’ll be a hospitable time, sharing what Bishop Gronberg’s visions are and what he would like to share with us about ministry as we go forward.”

John Sharp said he’s looking forward to taking the trip with his wife to meet Gronberg.

“It’s always exciting when you see a change like this in leadership,” John Sharp said.

“I think the most important part,” he said, “is the fact that it gives you that connection to the larger church body that we don’t always get. You realize there are people out there doing the same things as you for our area. So to meet the leader and meet the bishop and make those connections is valuable to your faith and connection with what we do in Clovis — connecting it to the wider Lutheran Church.”

Gronberg will officially be installed as bishop at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth on Sept. 17, but said he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to familiarize himself with individual congregations in the surrounding area.

“It goes back to one of my first priorities when I first became bishop,” Gronberg said. “Being present with communities … I think it’s important to meet people face-to-face and be physically present with the congregation.”

Gronberg said having the meet-and-greet is a way to not only discuss what his visions are as bishop, but also to hear the needs from different congregations — especially the smaller ones.

“Every one of our congregations are in a different context,” he said, “no matter where they are. That’s a unique congregation there in Clovis. My role as bishop is to remind people that they’re a part of something bigger.

“I think that’s why we care so deeply about these congregations — wherever they are — but especially in those smaller towns. I want them to know they’re being heard.”