Rev. Erik Christensen will be received to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America clergy roster on Sunday, October 10th at 4:00 pm. The service will be held at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 1650 W. Foster Avenue, Chicago, IL. ELCA Metro Chicago Synod Bishop Wayne Miller will preside.

The Rite of Reception service was developed for pastors who had been credentialed for ministry by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and who were extraordinarily ordained (ordained outside the regular process of the ELCA). There have been 17 such ordinations in the United States over the last twenty years. The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to change polices that previously barred partnered LGBTQ pastors and rostered lay leaders from serving in the ELCA, paving the way for the reception of pastors rostered with ELM.

Erik is pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago, IL. He has been pastor there since he was ordained on October 21, 2006. Prior to receiving the call at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square, Erik served as the Director of East Coast Operations with StandUp For Kids, a national non-profit organization working with and for runaway and homeless youth. A graduate of Macalester College (’95); Candler School of Theology, Emory University (’02); and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (’04), Pastor Erik brings a wide variety of interests and experience to his ministry with St. Luke’s. Pastor Erik serves as Co-Chair of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.