2007 Devotional Guide
for ELCA Congregation Councils and Committees
by Margaret Payne
Artwork by Mira Skocka

About the Author
Margaret G. Payne was reelected bishop of the New England Synod of the ELCA in June 2006. A graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Payne began her career as an English
teacher in Punjab, India, on a Fulbright grant. She was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Church in America in 1984 following graduation from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

In 1991 after several years in parish ministry, she was called to be assistant to the bishop in the New Jersey Synod. She was elected bishop of the New England Synod in 2000. As a member
of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, she served as chair of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, and serves as advisory bishop to the Racial Justice Coordinating Team and the Multicultural Ministries program unit of the ELCA.

With her husband, she raises grass-fed Black Angus beef and runs a sawmill and forestry operation in western Massachusetts. She has four children and three grandchildren who love to visit the farm.

< Back