Regarding Installation…
In the documents that follow, readers will find general rites that include the identification of roles and ministries for rostered leaders (clergy and deacons) and also lay leaders within the Lutheran churches of the ELCIC (Canada) and the ELCA (America). The Theological Premise set before each Call Committee charged with securing a new rostered leader provides an important frame for understanding the calling and installation of a new pastor.
Rostered leaders serve on the active or retired rosters of the church that holds their professional credentials as being in good standing. The rites below, as for ordination, or Confirmation (Affirmation of Faith) and even the Installation of Church Council Members, are all of the same forma: presentation of the candidates, Scriptural understanding of the task the person or persons are being called to (and entrusted with), then prayers and blessings for the work, followed by rejoicing together. The Letter of Call - Rostered Pastor signed by Council Members of St. Paul’s on behalf of the congregation, and also by Pr. Karen, indicates the minimum Call expectations for Pr. Karen and for the people of St. Paul’s and is at the heart of the mutual commitments made before God during the Installation Service.
For Lutherans, context for the rites matters. One part of the Theological Premise states that “the Lutheran call process is unique because it is an effort to discern what God wants for this local church and for the whole church, in order that the Gospel may be proclaimed and the sacraments administered in accordance with the Gospel. A context for installation is the local church while concurrently being the “whole church.” Considerations can be found on pages 35 and 36 of the Call Manual Sections 6a, c, d and files below are referenced in Section 6.
The liturgical context for the rite of installation is another key context. Will the public worship service be held in a pentecostal, or a penitential season? Who will be or should be present as the Good News of the Gospel is proclaimed and animated through this work (who is impacted by what happens at 63 Grand Ave N. - neighbours etc.. For Lutherans, general rites are always contextualized so the Gospel may be heard as Good News for those in need of it. One reason this may be different than in other ecumenical traditions is that ordination (and by extension installation) is not a sacrament in the Lutheran Church. For Lutherans, all people are called to the Priesthood of All Believers and of these, some will serve as ordained deacons (Ministers of Word and Service) and others will serve as pastors or bishops (Ministers of Word and Sacrament). However, for Lutherans, ordination does not elevate the ordained person or their work above any others, it particularizes and gives rights and responsibilities to those who are set aside in such ways.
Given the unique Call to teamwork between St. Pauls and Pr. Karen based on the Breakthrough mandate of St. Paul’s, as well as the Mission Profile strategic priorities and mutual commitments made in the Call Process in furtherance of the constitutions of St. Paul’s and the Eastern Synod, ELCIC, the January 25, 2026 Installation should further the Calling to which God has set before St. Paul’s as a congregation of the Eastern Synod, and of Pr. Karen, a rostered clergy thereof.
The local Dean of the Eastern Synod presides over the rite of Installation within their Ministry Area on behalf of the Bishop of the Synod responsible for the relevant roster . Shirley Grumme currently serves on Dean Heike Toeller’s leadership team for the Grand River Ministry Area, of which St. Paul’s is a part.
Rostered colleagues in active ministries of the Ministry Area, whether congregational ministries or calls to special service, and also their congregations and synodically recognized ministry communities, are appropriately invited to take leadership roles in the service as their ministries in the collegiums, the congregations, and communities of the local contexts serve the Gospel in overlapping and mutually animating ways. This is also true of Anglican Church of Canada and Moravian Church in North America colleagues and congregations. The ELCIC and ELCA are in Full Communion relationship with these ecumenical traditions in Canada. Rostered colleagues who are not actively serving in ministries, or may be serving in other Ministry Areas, may be invited to participate in the service. All people are invited to the service, Christians and non-Christians alike as worship is Public Ministry. Leadership within the service and event day should honour Lay-leadership (persons of all ages) as well as ordained leadership (which by the requirements of serving on the roster means persons beyond the age of college and university graduation).
Most importantly, an Installation prayerfully invites the Holy Spirit to lead and animate among the people gathered and those whom they serve. Installations happen for the edification of God’s church writ local and writ large and not for the elevation of the pastor or people. Installations are for the uplifting of God’s work in God’s world by God’s people in worship (liturgy means work of the people), in service (to God, self and neighbours), in witness (sustaining dignity for those whose beliefs may yet be different) and in learning, that all may fulfill the callings to which God calls in pursuit of the oneness of unity to which God calls all.