Church Installs First Transgender Bishop

He calls himself “they,” and he’s now the primary transgender bishop within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Rev. Megan Rohrer was put in Saturday at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, in keeping with The Associated Press.

“My name is … to be as much as the identical messy, loving issues I used to be as much as earlier than,” Rohrer mentioned in an announcement.

“However principally, if you happen to’ll let me, and I believe you’ll, my hope is to like you and past that, to like what you like.

“I step into this function as a result of a various neighborhood of Lutherans in Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voted to do a historic factor,” he mentioned.

“My set up will have a good time all that’s potential after we belief God to shepherd us ahead.”

Rohrer was previously pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco and served as a chaplain coordinator for the town’s police division.

Thanks @TheAdvocateMag in your story about tomorrow’s @elca bishop set up. https://t.co/oY389gv7cC

— Bishop Megan Rohrer (@mmrohrer) September 10, 2021

He was elected bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod in Might, and can now serve a six-year time period.

As bishop, Rohrer will oversee about 200 congregations in California and Nevada.

The ELCA has 65 synods and about 3.3 million members, making it one of many largest Christian denominations within the nation.

The progressive church started ordaining LGBT pastors in 2010.

.@mmrohrer will likely be put in Saturday as the primary transgender bishop within the @ELCA—or any main U.S. denomination.

They hope individuals will see God can “do greater than we observed, with extra individuals than we thought potential and in additional locations than we imagined.” https://t.co/2cUSkCGskK

— Emily McFarlan Miller (@emmillerwrites) September 10, 2021

Rohrer grew to become the primary transgender head pastor of a Lutheran church in 2014 and is amongst seven LGBT pastors within the ELCA.

He’s married and has two kids.

Rohrer mentioned his upbringing with KALW-FM in 2014.

“I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is the Midwest and cultural heartland of Lutherans,” Rohrer mentioned.

“The motto [there] is like: Be within the paper whenever you’re born and whenever you die and don’t get credit score for something in between. As a result of your job is to only, like, slot in.”

He mentioned he determined he was transgender throughout his time at Augustana College, a Lutheran school in Sioux Falls. He then studied at a progressive Lutheran seminary in Berkeley, California.