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As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton finished their final day Monday of campaigning before the Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania, a different election process unfolded for local Lutherans.

Five candidates sat at First Lutheran Church in Onalaska and discussed their backgrounds and the issues facing the La Crosse Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

At a June synod assembly, one candidate will be elected to replace Bishop April Ulring Larson, becoming the synod’s third bishop.

The Rev. Jim Arends, 55, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in La Crescent, Minn., talked about being informed by God’s word and people.

To a question about how the church should minister to homosexuals, Arends said his gay and lesbian friends would prefer the term “minister together” than “minister to.”

He also called on the church to think of global mission in a way that a baby baptized in one’s church is no less a brother or sister than a baby baptized in China.

The Rev. David Bersagel, 64, senior pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in West Salem, called for a paradoxical bishop, who could hold onto tradition while being open to change, who could encourage congregations and call them to task, who is Lutheran yet ecumenical.

To the question about how to minister to the homosexual community, Bersagel talked about the power of seeing a gay ELCA pastor preach in Atlanta.

“They belong in the pews, and they probably also belong in our pulpits,” Bersagel said.

The Rev. Brian King, 37, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls, Iowa, said while it’s easy to be pessimistic about the church, it can be a bridge.

To a question about interfaith dialogue, King described a trip to Asia in which he and others stayed in Buddhist monasteries. “We have much to learn from others,” he said. “The question is whether or not we’re humble enough to seek that out.”

The Rev. Mark Solyst, 57, senior pastor at English Lutheran Church in La Crosse, said a bishop has to help people face challenges such as poverty and hunger from God’s perspective.

To a question about poverty and minorities, Solyst said the church needs to respond to people’s needs, even if they don’t belong to the church, and people need to “try not to distinguish in the life of congregations between those who have means and those who don’t.”

The Rev. Lanny Westphal, 47, assistant to the La Crosse Area Synod bishop and ELCA mission director, said he’d focus on having strong, faithful pastors and supporting young people in the faith, among other things.

To a question about interfaith dialogue, he described the church as “remarkably resilient,” and said it is “able to learn from almost any single tradition.”

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