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Elected Nov. 1 as bishop of the Allegheny Synod, Kevin Shock understands the importance of congregations striving to spread good news among their neighbors.
Shock has served the synod as assistant to the bishop since 2022 and as director for evangelical mission from 2022 to 2023. Previously he served as pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Pleasant Gap, Pa., from 2006 to 2022. He shared with Living Lutheran his vision for a church centered in God and aware of the gifts of Lutheran identity. He will take office Feb. 1, 2026, and be installed Feb. 7.
Living Lutheran: What do you see as the biggest priorities for the synod, and/or what is your vision for the future of the synod?
Shock: In addressing our synod assembly, I named three priorities: building a team, listening and doing foundational work together. Beyond my personal priorities, everyone in the Allegheny Synod can practice these priorities. Our interim bishop, Barbara Collins, has shown us the value of gathering people together, inviting and listening to a wide variety of voices. That work must continue as we engage in ministry together, and alongside that work, we can read and discuss Scripture with one another, reclaim our reformation values in the catechisms and confessions, and pray together.
For the ministry ahead, we will be well-equipped if we are centered in God and aware of the gifts of our Lutheran identity. Lutherans have something to offer the world: a focus on the mystery of God’s grace, the value of sacrificial love, and worship and service rooted in the way of Jesus. Lately I’ve been wondering what it would take for us to stop an attempt at managing decline and embrace a practice of filling our congregations with a spirit of abundance and spreading good news among our neighbors.
How did you feel when you were elected?
The process of calling a bishop at our assembly filled me with a lot of uncertainty, and yet, God has shown me how uncertainty can create space for me to be open to new things and for the Spirit to work in and through me. Now I wait and listen to perceive what God is opening and what the Spirit is shaping.
What experiences in your ministry do you feel have best prepared you to serve as bishop?
Ministry has taught me that good and holy work unfolds over time. Sometimes the seeds that God has planted don’t push through the soil for generations. I have realized that I have to be OK with that reality in order to do effective ministry, and it becomes necessary for me to help coworkers in the gospel to be OK with that reality too. God is certainly at work among us in both apparent and hidden ways. Until all things are revealed, we are called to proclaim and live in promise.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the church?
Ephesians 1:18-19 has been speaking to me lately. Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is my prayer for the Allegheny Synod, the ELCA and the whole church today: that our hearts would be so enlightened to perceive the hope of God’s call, the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints and the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us.
