Bishop Paul D. Erickson, Ph.D.

The Rev. Paul D. Erickson was elected June 4, 2016 to a six-year term as bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Erickson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., in 1983 and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 1989. He also earned a Doctor of Ministry degree in Congregational Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., in 2012.

He returned to the Greater Milwaukee Synod from St. Paul, where he served as the director of Agora, a ministry that works to develop lay leaders for immigrant and multicultural congregations in Minnesota and South Dakota. Erickson grew up in the Greater Milwaukee Synod, where he was a member of St. Matthew’s in Wauwatosa and Bethel in Muskego. Before attending seminary, he served in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps in Baltimore, MD and studied Spanish in Mexico. He has served congregations in Chicago, Milwaukee, and West St. Paul, MN before serving as Assistant to the Bishop for Evangelical Mission in the Saint Paul Area Synod from 2008-2014.

Bishop Erickson has spent much of his ministry working in cross-cultural settings and has traveled extensively to visit global companions in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Tanzania. He feels called to lead the church as it explores ways to move forward with curiosity, courage, compassion, and collaboration.

Paul and his wife, Lynn (an ELCA pastor serving in Milwaukee), have two children: David and Sarah.