Minnesota native Rev. Herbert Chilstrom, first bishop of ELCA, dies at 88

Minnesota native and former Bishop Rev. Herbert Chilstrom is being remembered for helping to merge Lutheran churches together and for his commitment to tolerance. Chilstrom, 88, died Jan. 19 at his home in Arizona.

From Litchfield, Minn., Chilstrom was the first bishop to head the newly-formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1987, where he served until 1995. Although the merger was controversial for some Lutherans, the new denomination brought together about 5 million members.

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton said the congregations looked to Chilstrom to carry them through the merger with a strong identity.

“His faithfulness, his vision, his sense that ecumenism was an important feature of who we would be now as this new church,” Eaton said. “That all shaped who we would become over these 33 years.”

Chilstrom served as pastor at Lutheran congregations in Pelican Rapids, Elizabeth and St. Peter, Minn., according to the church. In 1976, he was elected as bishop of the Minnesota Synod of the Lutheran Church in America.

Chilstrom told MPR News that the shared theology kept the churches together during the merger.

“We can now move ahead in the confidence that we really are one family of faith,” Chilstrom said in a 1985 interview. “The thing that will be important is for all of us in leadership, and I’m talking now about hundreds of people all across the country, for all of us to work as diligently as we can to promote a spirit of unity.”

Eaton said Chilstrom was a man of deep faith, but also had a great sense of humor.

“He was very polished when he spoke, had a great ability to connect to world church leaders,” Eaton said. “But in a really charming way, he was just a good Minnesota boy, and he never forgot that, never lost that touch.”

Even in the early years of the church, Eaton said Chilstrom was a strong advocate for supporting the involvement of gay and lesbian Lutherans in the church. He later campaigned against a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

“God loves all people,” Eaton said. “He really believed that.”

Chilstrom also served on boards including Lutheran Social Services, Gustavus Adolphus College and the National Council of Churches.

Chilstrom also was a Minnesota Master Gardener and served briefly as interim director at Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus College. Director Scott Moeller said Chilstrom single-handedly tended “Grandmother Clara’s kitchen garden,” and would hand out produce to other volunteers and visitors.

“He really had a passion for the gardens here,” Moeller said. “He really shared that passion with a lot of people and was able to get a lot of converts, to turn them into gardeners.”

Moeller remembers a story that Chilstrom told of a very good friend he’d met in Arizona. They’d take long walks together despite differences in their spiritual beliefs.

”Here’s an ELCA bishop debating with a devout atheist, and yet they were able to be great friends,” Moeller said. “That to me speaks volumes about what it takes to have integrity and character and we could certainly use more of that in today’s climate.”

Chilstrom is survived by his wife of 65 years, Corinne, his daughter, his son and four sisters. Memorials are planned later next month in both Arizona and at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

Correction (Feb. 6, 2020): A previous version of this story misquoted Elizabeth Eaton. The quote has been corrected to distinguish that Herbert Chilstrom had a sense of ecumenism.

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