Delegates at the 2025 ELCIC National Convention have elected Rev. Dr. Larry Kochendorfer to serve as its fifth National Bishop.
The sixth and final ballot was cast by 156 voting delegates at the 2025 ELCIC National Convention in Winnipeg on Saturday morning.
“Dear siblings, you have committed through your baptism into Christ to a journey together. Based on this commitment, I am pleased and honoured to serve you as your National Bishop,”
Kochendorfer said.
“Dear friends, hope, faith and love, these are the tools of our calling,” Kochendorfer added. “We don’t know the future, but we have what we need. Just look around you. Look at this room that God has created. We have what we need. Jesus is feeding us; we have bread, we have wine, we have the scriptures, we have each other. We know that we will not get to where we’re going without going together and with others. And to think of that Emmaus journey (Luke 24:13-35), we remember that Jesus comes alongside. Love is at our side.”
Kochendorfer becomes the fifth National Bishop in the ELCIC, following Donald Sjoberg (1986-1993), Telmor Sartison (1993-2001), Raymond Schultz (2001-2007) and Susan Johnson (2007-2025).
Currently, Kochendorfer is serving as interim pastor at Our Redeemer, Penticton, B.C., as well as assistant to the bishop in the British Columbia (BC) Synod. Following the announcement of the election, Kochendorfer asked for prayers for his congregation, the BC Synod and his Synod Bishop, Rev. Kathy Martin.
Kochendorfer served as Bishop of the Synod of Alberta and the Territories (2012-24) and has also worked in congregations in Dickson, Lethbridge and Edmonton, Alberta.
Having served the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) as a council member from 2017-23, Kochendorfer is currently chair of the LWF’s Mutual Responsibility Task Force and was recently co-chair of the Lutheran portion of the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission.
“We are committed as a church to this journey together,” Kochendorfer concluded. “I ask you continue to pray for Bishop Susan, the national staff and National Church Council. Would you pray for Cathy, for me, our family, Our Redeemer Lutheran in Penticton and the BC Synod.”
Kochendorfer has been married to his wife Cathy for 42 years, and the two have raised four children together.
