Oregon Synod (ELCA)
Bishop Bishop A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the... :	Bishop David Brauer-Rieke
Affiliation:	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them... Region 1
Congregations:	116
Members:	46,000
Mailing Address:	2800 N. Vancouver Avenue Suite 101 Portland, Oregon 97227-1643
Official Website:	http://www.oregonsynod.org/

The Oregon Synod (ELCA) is a synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...

 (ELCA). It encompasses congregations in the state of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 and one congregation in Northern California

Northern California

Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

, and supports the congregational mission throughout this territory.

In May 2007, Rev

The Reverend

The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...

. David Brauer-Rieke was elected as Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the synod. Rev

The Reverend

The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...

. Paul R. Swanson, the first person to serve as Bishop, was elected in 1987 and is now retired.

Bishop Brauer-Rieke also serves as an officer of the synod council, which is the governing body of the synod between assemblies. It is composed of the Bishop and 23 members elected from each of the 13 synodical geographic regions called clusters. There are one-hundred and sixteen Lutheran congregations in the synod.

The ELCA has partnered its synods with other regions throughout the world and the companion synod for Oregon is the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland.