The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has continued a change by electing its first African American presiding bishop, who will follow the denomination's first female leader.
The Rev. Yehiel Curry, serving as bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, was chosen for a six-year term as presiding bishop during the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly held in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday.
Curry emerged victorious on the fifth ballot with 562 out of 799 votes, while his opponent, the Rev. Kevin Strickland, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, garnered 237 votes.
He is set to take on his new role in October, succeeding the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, elected in 2013 as the first female presiding bishop of the denomination.
In a statement on Thursday, the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod expressed joy over Curry's election and called upon members for prayers “amid this time of celebration and transition.”
“We are grateful for his leadership and ask you to join us as we pray for Bishop Curry, this synod, and the whole church during this time of transition,” they noted.
The synod added, “When Bishop Curry moves into his new role, we will receive an interim bishop by appointment. We will also initiate a bishop pre-identification process aligned with our governing documents and proceed with a bishop election at next year's synod assembly.”
A native of Chicago, Curry obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois, in 1995, and later earned a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013.
Curry led Shekinah Chapel Lutheran Church in Riverdale, Illinois, as pastor from 2013 until 2019, before his election as bishop of the Chicago Synod. He is married and a father of three daughters.
In a 2019 interview with Living Lutheran, Curry recounted his journey to Lutheranism, which began when a friend invited him to an ELCA-affiliated camp.
“I used to say I would have never intentionally joined a Lutheran church,” Curry shared with the publication. “But I say it this way to my community: ‘I know where the gold is hidden: the gold is hidden in the Lutheran church.’”
“The more my network and friends and family learned about the tenets of Lutheranism, the more we started falling in love,” he stated.
