Feb. 1, 2009
Restructuring at ELCA leads to new synod staff
The Rev. Wolfgang D. Herz-Lane has accepted a call as an Assistant to the Bishop and Director for Evangelical Mission (DEM) in the Delaware-Maryland Synod, effective February 1, 2009, according to an announcement by Bishop H. Gerard Knoche. "We are delighted to welcome Wolfgang as a full member of our staff," the bishop told Synod Council members at their January 24 meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church, Joppa, Md.
This new call is part of a churchwide restructuring of the staff of the ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission (EOCM) unit. While the call comes from the ELCA Church Council and his compensation is being paid by EOCM, Pr. Herz-Lane will be an integral part of the synod staff and, along with the other assistants, the Revs. Mary Miller-Zurell and Virginia Price, will be supervised by the bishop. He is expected to attend all Synod Council and synod staff meetings.
As deployed EOCM staff, Pr. Herz-Lane will wear the two "hats" of previous EOCM positions, namely that of Mission Director and of Stewardship Specialist. Specifically, he is charged with working with three "synod mission tables," or steering teams, that will be developed to advance the synod's mission in these areas:
- new and renewing congregations - that is, new mission starts, redevelopments, transforming ministry processes
- discipleship education and stewardship, especially mission support and mission interpretation
- strategic planning for mission, such as the existing Latino Outreach Strategy or the African Descent Strategy that is currently being developed. As part of this third synod mission table, Pr. Herz-Lane will be the synod's "point person" and staff support for the Coalition of Lutherans Advancing in Mission (CLAIM), formerly the Baltimore Urban Regional Partnership, the synod's area mission strategy for Baltimore City and congregations within and close to the Beltway.
Cynthia Van Vliet, Pr. Herz-Lane's administrative assistant since August 2008, is transitioning to part-time synod staff and will continue to work as his support staff two days a week. Cindy, a psychologist and legal secretary by training, serves as Church Council president of her home congregation, Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, Severna Park, Md.
Roger Smith, who has been serving in Region 8 as the EOCM Stewardship Specialist for many years, concludes this work as of April 30, 2009.
Wolfgang Herz-Lane has served as EOCM Mission Director in both Delaware-Maryland and Metropolitan Washington D.C. synods since 2006. As part of the restructuring, Metro DC Synod will now call its own deployed Director for Evangelical Mission. Before coming to Baltimore and Washington, Pr. Herz-Lane was mission developer for the multicultural Bridge of Peace Community Church in Camden, N.J., (2000 ñ 2006) and ELCA Mission Director for the New Jersey Synod (1992 ñ 2000). Pr. Herz-Lane, who maintains a part-time residence in northeast Baltimore while his family continues to reside in Camden, is a native of Germany who came to the United States as a volunteer with a peace organization in 1975. He is married to the Rev. Margaret E. Herz-Lane, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Camden, N.J. They have two adult sons.
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