From Synod Vice President, Stephen McDougal

June 24, 2020

After agonizing and prayerful reflection, the Executive Committee of the La Crosse Area Synod voted unanimously last week to recommend to the Synod Council that we cancel our 2020 Synod Assembly and extend all committee appointments scheduled to expire in 2020 until the next regular Synod Assembly. The bishop election is postponed until then. Bishop Arends will continue to serve as our bishop.

The Synod Council voted in May to be guided by the best medical advice available to us. Although things are improving in other parts of Wisconsin, the La Crosse County Health Department rates the risk of infection in our area as “severe.” Without a medically-based prediction of conditions later this summer or in the fall months, expectations for holding the 2020 Assembly safely and effectively grew dimmer and dimmer.

In the end, the uncertainty of the pandemic conditions in the La Crosse region makes even contingency planning untenable. The next Synod Assembly is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, June 11-13, 2021.

Yours in Christ,
Steve McDougal