Presiding bishop
senior bishop (general concept)
A presiding bishop is an ecclesiastical position in some denominations of Christianity which have episcopal polity. The term is typically conferred to a church's highest ranking bishop and often denotes authority over the entire church body. The position of presiding bishop exists within various Lutheran, Anglican, Latter Day Saint, and Pentecostal churches.
Lutheranism
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the chief ecumenical officer of the church, and the leader and caretaker for the bishops of the synods. The presiding bishop chairs the biennial Church-wide Assembly and provides for the preparation of agendas for the assembly, the Church Council and its executive committee, the Conference of Bishops, and the Cabinet of Executives. The Presiding Bishop of the ELCA is elected to a six-year term, available for re-election and is charged with initiating policy, developing strategy and overseeing administration of the entire church. The presiding bishop also serves as a figurehead and speaks on behalf of the entire church.
The ELCA has had five Presiding Bishops. Herbert W. Chilstrom, from 1987-1995, H. George Anderson, from 1995-2001, Mark Hanson, from 2001-2013, Elizabeth Eaton, first female bishop from 2013-2025, and Yehiel Curry, beginning his term in 2025.
The ELCA's predecessor denominations, the American Lutheran Church (ALC), Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) were each led by a presiding bishop, having previously used the term "president" until 1980.
The public source identifies “Presiding bishop” as senior bishop (general concept). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Presiding, bishop and senior.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2115223. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1995, 2001 and 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “Presiding bishop” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.