“The experiences of Black Lutheran leaders like Rev. Jehu Jones (1786-1852) and those of today point to the uncomfortable truth that are not living into the freedom God gives each of us. Regardless of who we are our liberation is bound together. As Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “Until all of us are free, none of us are free.” The 66th Synod Reparations Fund creates space to engage the ministry of reconciliation, “that they [we] all might be one” and liberated together.
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— Rev. Angela “Angie” Shannon
The Rev. Angela Lynn Shannon
Pastor Shannon, affectionately known as “Angie” hails from Gary, Indiana. She will always consider home as she was shaped and formed by her parents, extended family and fictive kin. This is the long way of saying she was raised by her parents and Gramma’ nem. Being reared in Gary, a “Chocolate City” gave her the grounding to go out into the world as an empowered Black woman. She was educated at Valparaiso University received a BA in 1984. This is where she encountered Lutheran theology. Pastor Shannon’s axis shifted upon hearing the scandalous doctrine of Grace. This is a testament to the power of God at work, because she heard it in an environment that was, at times, indifferent to hostile to African American students.
She joined the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in 1985 and was confirmed by Rev. Karl E. Lutze at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University. A series of life changes both mundane but spectacularly numinous led her to pursue ordained ministry. In 1996, She graduated from THEE Lutheran School of Theology. She was an international Horizons Student Intern in Hyderabad in India. She was the first woman to complete a pastoral internship which was, at the time, the 150 year history of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church. It was seeing a brown woman, in a nearly formed pastoral capacity which help set the stage for the ordination of women.
Angela was ordained January 12, 1997 by Rev. Dr. Will Herzfeld (the former presiding bishop of the AELC, a predecessor body of the ELCA) making her the 37th African American woman ordained in the ELCA. Brothers and sisters gathered at her ordination but especially the “sisteren.” The Sisteren made sure that holy hands were laid on her in apostolic succession that traces to the Rev. Earlean Miller, the first African American woman whose memory we celebrate in the ELCA.
Pastor Shannon has served small, medium and large congregations as she follows in obedience to God in her vocation. She served sojourned briefly in seminary education to find her way her current call, All Saints Lutheran Church.
Pastor Shannon, is the national vice president of the African Descent Lutheran Association. A Silver Star plus, member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority Inc., A member of the National Council of Negro Women, US Masters Swim and volunteer organizer with GirlTrek. She is an Oblate of the Order of St. Benedict.
A world traveler, she loves encountering God in different cultures. Her favorite destination is outdoors. She enjoys walking, camping, hiking, swimming and learning new skills. In 2017, she hiked the last leg of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.