Welcome to Our Synod
We are glad you found this site and welcome you to learn about the ministries of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod. Perhaps you are looking for a church home. Perhaps you are here to find information as a leader or congregation. Whether you’re here for a specific reason or just curious, you are welcome here.
As the ELCA professes, we are the church that shares a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person—questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God’s work in Christ’s name for the sake of the world.
Synod Assembly is this Friday & Saturday
The 39th Synod Assembly of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod is June 5-6 at the Q Center in St. Charles.
In addition to electing our next bishop, we gather for inspiration, business, worship and fellowship.
All participants (voting members and visitors) must be registered in advance. Others who want to follow the election—or the entire assembly—may join us on livestream (see buttons below). More information can be found in the Synod Assembly section of this website; check out our schedule below.
2026 MCS Assembly Schedule
Friday, June 5
MORNING
7: Registration, check-in opens
8-9: Worship
9-10: Plenary I:
- Rules of Organization & agenda approval
- Introduction to bishop election process & test vote
- First ballot for bishop
10: Break and vendor time
10:15-11: Workshops
11: Break & vendor time
11:15 – 11:45: Plenary II:
- Churchwide report
- Report of the first ballot for bishop
11:40-1 p.m.: Lunch & vendor time
AFTERNOON
1-3: Plenary III:
- Process for second ballot for bishop
- Second ballot for bishop
- Keynote speaker
- Report of the second ballot for bishop
- Nominations & Elections
- Nominations & Elections results
- Report of the Treasurer
3: Break & vendor time
3:15-5:15 Plenary IV:
- Process for third ballot for bishop
- Bishop nominees biography review
- Third ballot for bishop
- Resolutions Part I
- Third ballot results
Saturday, June 6
MORNING
8: Doors open
8:30-10:35: Plenary V
- Bishop nominee forum
- Fourth ballot for bishop
- Bishop Wayne Miller’s report
10:35: Break & vendor time
10:45 – 11:45: Plenary VI:
- Fourth ballot results
- Fifth Ballot for Bishop
- Report of the Secretary
- Report of the Vice President
- Sunergos Award
- Fifth Ballot for bishop results
- Remarks from elected bishop
- Closing of 39th MCS Assembly
11:40-12:40 p.m.: Worship with Eucharist
12:40-1:40 p.m.: Lunch
Who We Are
The Metropolitan Chicago Synod (MCS) is made up of 148 congregations and nine Synod Authorized Worshiping Communities (SAWC). We are both urban and suburban, with 60,805 baptized members in four counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane and Lake. We are one of 65 synods in the ELCA.
Our mission statement calls us to proclaim the gospel, make disciples and do justice in Jesus’ name. We hope the images and information on these pages will introduce you to our synod—our faith and values, ministries and events. These pages are filled with practical information for congregations and leaders, and will help you become familiar with the synod staff and governance.
A Letter from the Bishops of the ELCA
Beloved in Christ,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we write to you in this moment of national and global tension with clarity and conviction. Our faith compels us to stand where Jesus stands—with and for those whom society often seeks to exclude, erase, or diminish…
Get connected to the MCS by signing up for publications and following us on social media.
As a synod, our work focuses on supporting and partnering with our congregations.
Lay and clergy, find resources that will assist you in the work to which God has called you.
God’s work takes many and various forms. Learn about the ministries of our synod.
Our Stories
Good News Garage
They came from a country in the middle of Africa to a city in the middle of America. Husband, wife and four sons, ages 20, 15, 8 and 5. They have been here since January and during the summer were finally settling into their apartment. The oldest son needed a bike for his full-time work and the 15-year-old needed transportation for his after-school job. The younger boys just needed bikes to be kids.
It started with Seeds
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church of Northbrook helped area folks usher in the summer by hosting their fourth annual Native Plant Fest on the last Saturday morning of May. More than 100 people from the community browsed tables of plants that had been nursed by members throughout the winter in their gallon plastic milk jugs.
Irving Park pantry and congregation build new pantry with $1 million grant
The Irving Park Community Food Pantry, which Irving Park Lutheran Church (IPLC) has long supported and is intentionally partnering with to help identify a potential new space, in early summer received news of a $1,035,617 grant from the City of Chicago. The grant may be used to reimburse half the cost of construction of a new facility for the pantry, to be built on land owned by IPLC and adjacent to the church.
Metropolitan Chicago Synod Office
Ph: 773-248-0021 | Address: 1420 W. Dickens Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614