Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod

Bishop Lawrence L. Hand, 59, head of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a leader of the ecumenical movement in the Philadelphia area, died Saturday night, apparently of a heart attack. He collapsed on the dance floor at a wedding reception and was taken to Montgomery Hospital in Norristown, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Rev. Mike Merkel, the bishop's administrative assistant. He lived in Norristown. In April 1988, Bishop Hand, who served on Lutheran synods for 26 years, became the first bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Bishop Lawrence L. Hand was elected bishop Saturday of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the recently formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Hand had been the bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of three Lutheran bodies that merged last month to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He was elected by delegates from 187 Lutheran congregations in the five- county area. The delegates, who gathered in Valley Forge and represented an estimated 124,000 Lutherans, also adopted bylaws passed by the new church's national leadership last month, said Pastor William M. deHeyman, spokesman for the synod.

The Rev. William A. Janson, 77, who served as the first bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, died Thursday of kidney disease at his home in Phoenixville. For 15 years, from 1968 to 1983, Pastor Janson presided over the 125,000-member synod that included more than 180 churches in Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Philadelphia Counties. Pastor Janson's leadership went beyond the church to the community at large. He helped lead a "March of Penitence" after weekend shootings in Philadelphia in 1971.

Six votes. For Pastor Roy G. Almquist, that was the difference between continuing his work as a West Chester minister or becoming the next bishop to lead the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Mr. Almquist takes his new post July 1. In a surprising victory, Pastor Almquist of Calvary Lutheran Church in West Chester, became the synod's bishop-elect Saturday at the group's annual conference at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel and Convention Center.

In a close election for the leadership of the 115,000-member Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Dr. Roy George Almquist of West Chester defeated incumbent Bishop Michael G. Merkel. The election was held during the synod assembly, which ran from Thursday until yesterday. Almquist, 54, won with 218 votes to 212 on the fifth ballot. He will serve a six-year term heading the synod, which embraces the five-county Greater Philadelphia area and includes 178 congregations.

In a significant ecumenical event, the spiritual descendants of Martin Luther gathered yesterday in the city's Catholic cathedral, built in the last century at the height of Protestant-Catholic tension in Philadelphia, to worship with their new bishop. About 2,000 Lutherans filled the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul to participate in the inauguration of Bishop Lawrence L. Hand as the first bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Lutheran High School of Philadelphia, which was founded 15 years ago to provide an alternative for black and Latino students at risk of academic failure, has been named an "outstanding Lutheran high school" by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Officials of the school and representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church announced the award yesterday. The school, which is in St. John's Lutheran Church in Overbrook, is the first recipient of the national award, according to Billie Navarro, schools director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Rev. Richard D. Stephens, 78, of Harleysville, retired pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Kulpsville, died Thursday, Sept. 9, of kidney cancer at Grand View Hospital in Sellersville. Pastor Stephens graduated from Germantown High School and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Pennsylvania State University, where he was active in the Lutheran Student Association. He worked briefly as a civilian for the Army Corps of Engineers on a Delaware River flood-control project before entering Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

More than 2,000 Lutherans gathered yesterday in a Catholic cathedral to commit their bishop's soul to God. They came to mourn Bishop Lawrence L. Hand, who collapsed and died, apparently of a heart attack, on the dance floor at a wedding reception Feb. 24. He was 59. Lutheran bishops from around the country gathered with members of Bishop Hand's flock and leaders of other denominations for the funeral service at the Cathedral Basilica of...

The new pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Narberth is still settling into his office and learning about his congregation, but he has set an agenda for the future. The Rev. Caleb D. Harms, 33, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., said his first order of business was to enroll new members. "We are open to people who have not been going to church, as well as to those who are looking for a new place to worship," Mr. Harms said. One way he plans to spread the word is to simply knock on doors and introduce himself.

The mostly aging white congregants of Immanuel Lutheran Church in East Lansdowne had no clue that their future was intertwined with the fate of a teenage preacher in an African refugee camp. The church members, about 20 in number, were just trying to keep the sanctuary doors open in a changing neighborhood and with dwindling finances. Continents away, the minister was just trying to stay alive. In a story of experimentation and happenstance, the young preacher and the dying church would join together in a turn of events that saved one congregation and provided an incubator for another.

The Rev. Richard D. Stephens, 78, of Harleysville, retired pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Kulpsville, died Thursday, Sept. 9, of kidney cancer at Grand View Hospital in Sellersville. Pastor Stephens graduated from Germantown High School and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Pennsylvania State University, where he was active in the Lutheran Student Association. He worked briefly as a civilian for the Army Corps of Engineers on a Delaware River flood-control project before entering Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia.

The Rev. William A. Janson, 77, who served as the first bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, died Thursday of kidney disease at his home in Phoenixville. For 15 years, from 1968 to 1983, Pastor Janson presided over the 125,000-member synod that included more than 180 churches in Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Philadelphia Counties. Pastor Janson's leadership went beyond the church to the community at large. He helped lead a "March of Penitence" after weekend shootings in Philadelphia in 1971.

Dr. Addie J. Butler, born a Philadelphia Baptist, had her first brush with Lutherans in the streets of Washington. A minister and members of a Lutheran church near Howard University, where she was a student, were trying to keep the peace in a troubled inner-city neighborhood in 1969. She liked what she saw, and joined up. "The pastor was African-American, the congregation was predominantly African-American, so I figured that was characteristic of the Lutheran Church," Butler said.

The newly constructed St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church, 1855 Middletown Rd., Edgmont Township, will be consecrated and dedicated at an 8:45 a.m. service Sunday. The relics of St. Herman will be carried in a procession around the exterior of the church and then sealed within the altar table. Archbishop Herman of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania will lead the ceremonies and will be assisted by the Rev. John J. Perich, pastor of the church. GUEST PREACHERS The Rev. Edward Maurer, evangelist, singer and songwriter, will be the speaker at the 8:30 a.m.; 10:30 a.m.; and 6:30 p.m. worship meetings Sunday at Praise Fellowship Church, 120 E. Uwchlan Ave., Exton.

The Rev. John P. Dougherty will be installed during a special communion service at 3 p.m. Sunday as the new pastor of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, East Street Road, Feasterville. Bishop Roy Almquist, of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will preside. The Rev. Robert Hughes, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, will deliver the sermon. Mr. Dougherty, a former Philadelphia policeman, was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended parochial schools in Philadelphia.

Bishop Roy G. Almquist of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be the honored guest at a special ecumenical service at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church, Gay and New Streets. Bishop Almquist, formerly pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church here, was elected bishop in July, defeating the incumbent, Bishop Michael G. Merkel, at the synod's annual conference. As head of the synod, Bishop Almquist oversees 177 churches and their 115,000 members in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties.

It is historic, say those familiar with the nation's most progressive Lutheran denomination, that a newly elected bishop has chosen a team of three women ministers to help him carry out his plan for the church. But Bishop Roy G. Almquist says he wasn't thinking of making history when he asked the Revs. Claire Schenot Burkat, Asha George-Guiser and Susan Ericsson to be his assistants in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "Someone said, 'Do you realize they are all women?

The new pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Narberth is still settling into his office and learning about his congregation, but he has set an agenda for the future. The Rev. Caleb D. Harms, 33, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., said his first order of business was to enroll new members. "We are open to people who have not been going to church, as well as to those who are looking for a new place to worship," Mr. Harms said. One way he plans to spread the word is to simply knock on doors and introduce himself.

When Calvary Lutheran Church celebrated its 70th anniversary last Sunday, the Rev. Roy G. Almquist wore a name tag that read: Still Pastor Almquist. Mr. Almquist was simply telling members of his congregation of the last 10 years that he wasn't about to change, even though he will become head of a much larger flock July 1. On that date, Mr. Almquist will become bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, overseeing 177 churches and their 115,000 members.