6/23/2016 4:00:00 PM

CHICAGO – The Rev. Barbara Jeanne Collins, Selinsgrove, Pa., was elected June 18 to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Upper Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The election was held during the Synod Assembly June 17-18 at Weber Chapel at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove.

Collins was elected on the fifth ballot with 133 votes to 122 votes for the Rev. William S. Henderson, pastor of Christ’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewisburg, Pa.

“I’m humbled by and in awe of being given this responsibility by our Synod Assembly voting members. The Holy Spirit is definitely doing something new here,” said Collins. “This confirms the growing sense for mission across our synod. We’re talking about renewal and about building relationships. We’re talking about how we are blessed by God’s abundance – empowering us to be generous in our living. I am impassioned to be able to help engage others in this vision to be the church, to be the change, and to be in the midst of our communities where God is calling us to be.”

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