Posted on 08/10/2006 1:13:35 PM PDT by Dane
Atlanta gay pastor faces expulsion Lutheran reverend says anti-gay policy destructive to ministry By ZACK HUDSON | Aug 10, 2:37 PM
A gay Lutheran pastor facing possible expulsion from his church says he will choose his partner over his vocation if he is disciplined for being in a gay relationship.
Pastor Bradley Schmeling of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta faces expulsion from the denomination for being in a same-sex relationship. Rev. Bradley Schmeling, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta, has been charged with violating pastoral conduct guidelines mandated under the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Southeastern Synod Bishop Ronald Warren filed the charges against Schmeling with the ELCA’s Discipline Hearing Committee. He announced his action in an Aug. 8 open letter to Lutherans posted on the ELCA Southeastern Synod website.
“After a lengthy process of prayerful discernment, today I filed charges against The Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling, presently serving as pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Atlanta, Ga.,” Warren wrote.
“Pastor Schmeling has admitted to me that he is in violation of ELCA ‘Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline...’ for ordained ministers. Specifically, Pastor Schmeling disclosed to me that he is in a sexual relationship with an adult male. He has declined my requests for his resignations from his call to St. John’s Lutheran Church and the ELCA clergy roster,” Warren wrote.
If the Discipline Hearing Committee rules against him, Schmeling could be fired and stripped of his clerical authority within the church.
“What I hope is that in the disciplinary process, I will be able to tell my story, and shed light on the church’s policy, which I think is destructive to the ministry of the church because good and otherwise qualified people are eliminated from the ministry,” Schmeling said Aug. 10.
“I feel like the church has a flawed policy that I feel like is destructive to the ministry. My plan is to make that case.”
Schmeling said that he strongly disagrees with church policy on clergy members and homosexual relationships. He disclosed his relationship to Warren in March, as he had previously agreed to do.
“When I came to St. John’s (six years ago), I told the bishop I wouldn’t agree to the guidelines of the church. I was single at the time, and told him that should that change, I would come and tell him,” Schmeling said. “So when that did change, I called him and told him. For me it was an issue of integrity and honesty. I’ve never been willing to hide or be in the closet,” he added.
Schmeling said he has enjoyed support from his congregation regarding his sexual orientation and his new relationship.
“These charges are not coming from the congregation. In fact, the congregation is very supportive of me on this issue, and in fact, isn’t divided in any way about this. They’ve known that I was gay since I came six years ago,” Schmeling said.
St. John’s Lutheran Church is one of hundreds of Lutheran congregations throughout the country that belong to Lutherans Concerned/North America, a gay-affirming ministry of the church. St. John’s is slated as the host church for a Lutherans Concerned training seminar scheduled for October.
There is no definite timeline for the disciplinary hearing, which could take up to a year. In the meantime, Schmeling remains pastor at St. John’s, which is located on East Ponce De Leon near Oakhurst.
Warren declined comment through a church spokesperson, who pointed to Warren’s letter and the ELCA web site for information regarding the disciplinary procedure.
Regardless of the outcome of the disciplinary process, Schmeling vows to stay with his partner.
“Nothing is going to change. I am in a lifelong, committed, wonderful relationship. None of this will impact this relationship,” he said.
Discipline sought against gay pastor
Second I have thought that Lutherans weren't being bombarded by the homosexual agenda as the Episcopalians ware.
Are there different Lutheran organizations(sects)?
Zack isn't releated to Rock, is he?
Schmeling something fishy here.
What is more interesting is that the adversary press worries about how this guy's 'ministry' will be harmed, but not how this guy's sexual misadventure harms his church.
Clearly, the reporter figures Atlantans should eat cake, as it were, on this topic.
The major conservative body is the Missouri Synod.
Lutheran's concerned can go straight to Allah. They've helped hijack the organization to promote a sickening social agenda.
A gay Lutheran pastor facing possible expulsion from his church says he will choose his partner over his vocation if he is disciplined for being in a gay relationship.
he made his choices.................
Lookie here.
He says he would give up his religion before he gave up anal and oral sex with a man?
Sounds like his religion is not very deep.
Homos say its about "love" but love does not require anal or oral sex. Those are recreational activities for perverts.
Why does he not abstain from sexual relations and just live with his partner as roomates? Can't live without the perverted sex???
This doesn't surprise me on East Ponce....
Geez ..is nothing sacred anymore?
Atlanta seems to be becoming the San Fransisco of the South.
We like to think of San Francisco as the Atlanta of the West.
I am lutheran and this is apparently an outlaw congregation!Its quite obvious this pastor was unfit and since he says he will choose his partner over his faith,then he has NO FAITH and cannot be accepting of the word of GOD.Yes,there are different synods and some more conservative than others,ie:Missouri synod as opposed to those evangelicals out west and in Kalifornia.
bttt
Outlaw congregation? More like a standard ELCA one.
Ping
This church is part of the pro-queer movement but yet he's the pastor of the church and the powers that be are firing his well-used a**. What's wrong with the picture? Something else going on behind the scenes?
Let 'em go start their own denomination if they want to. Just don't think they can get away with calling it "Lutheran" ... or "Christian" for that matter.
The ELCA is the liberal Lutheran church. Martin Luther cannot be pleased that they gather in his name.
The Missouri Synod (LCMS) is quite conservative.
I've been told the Wisconsin Synod is even more conservative.
At any rate, if the ELCA disciplines this guy at all, it's only because he's five or at most 10 years ahead of his time. The day is coming when the ELCA will have no problem with sodomites.
That bunch attempted to infiltrate our church about 2 years ago and it kept getting worse until the congregation had enough.That pastor(phoney to me)was sent packing back north where he belongs.They should've suspected something as he was a pastor in the prison system at Marion,Ill.
No sir,we are Missouri Synod and still looking for an acceptable pastor.
“I feel like the church has a flawed policy that I feel like is destructive to the ministry. My plan is to make that case.”
I feel...like...
You had the libs coming after your LCMS church? I have heard of a few congregations succumbing. My Pastor says that libs exist in the LCMS, but they kno wwho they are and have them surrounded.
Lot of Is and Mes instead of Wes and Ours among these people.
He sounds like a Valley Boy ditz...not a person I want to entrust with my spiritual life.
List?
ELCA is extremely liberal.
YUP they are as fractured as any American Christian denomination based upon liturgical faith.
Dane,
Yes, there are different Lutheran organizations. ELCA is as liberal as they come. Lots of my relatives are in ELCA congregations. The ELCA pretty much advocates exactly what the drive-by media finds good and salutary. Nuf said.
Here's the clearest statement I can find from the ELCA website about their stance on homosexuality: http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/policy/
Here's the LCMS view: http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/LCMS/wa_homosexuality.pdf
Have fun reading!
That pun stinks.
The Oakhurst section is full of Moonbats and Gays.The SBC had to dishfellowsip with Oakhurst Baptist a few years ago because they had a woman pastor and were accepting openly Gay people into membership and leadertship.
Basicly the lost in the 60's crowd.
My brother and sister in law are both ELCA and of course liberal. It is real hard for me to listen to their interpretation of the Bible as taught (or lack of teaching) by their church....
So, you think the problem with the ELCA is that it's too tradition bound?
You've been told right. I am a proud member of a Wisconsin (WELS) Church.
Take your pick pastor: Jesus in your heart, or some guy in your $ss. Lutherans are closer to Catholics in hierarchy and structure so I'm sure this pastor found plenty of alter boys and that was the biggest perk of the job. When I lived in LA, we had a queer Rabbi in a conservative temple who came out after about 10 years of performing secret 'commitment' ceremonies. When he came out, about 60% of the congregation bailed on him. And it became obvious why he had such an antipathy towards conservative Christians and other faiths which were, as it turned out, not exactly gay-friendly. The Temple basically became Reform overnight. I don't know what happened to them but they never saw me again or any of my money.
This man is not the only one who has chosen Satan over God.
>>I am lutheran and this is apparently an outlaw congregation!Its quite obvious this pastor was unfit and since he says he will choose his partner over his faith,then he has NO FAITH and cannot be accepting of the word of GOD.<<
Isn't "homosexual christian" an oxymoron?
>>Yes,there are different synods and some more conservative than others,ie:Missouri synod as opposed to those evangelicals out west and in Kalifornia.<<
I've always associated "evangelicals" with "conservatives" or "fundamentalists" (which is code for "Bible believing Christians"... Am I missing something here? A typo perhaps?
By the way, I'm a conservative, evangelical, Bible believing Christian that thinks that "homosexual christian" is an oxymoron.. (Romans chapter 1)
>>Second I have thought that Lutherans weren't being bombarded by the homosexual agenda as the Episcopalians ware.
Are there different Lutheran organizations(sects)?<<
Unfortunately, even the Southern Baptists are feeling the pressure from those that would promote the demonstration of "tolerance" and "acceptance" of homosexual lifestyle...
From a Biblical perspective it is clear that we should "love the sinner" and "hate the sin"....
I'm not talking about the poor people in the pews but the elected leadership and beauracracy.
"he made his choices....."
He could never choose who he loved.
This is something people fail to understand.
No one chooses to be homosexual.
I do not believe I said that. I find no problem with tradition-when tradition is bound to an easy to reconcile to Scripture. When any "church" applies something other than Scripture--metaphysics--mysticism --whatever that is where I have a problem.Luther was a Reformer.He opposed the
traditions of the Catholic--but some of the reform,perhaps done in his name I cannot reconcile to the proper hermeneutic of Scripture.
"I am in a lifelong, committed, wonderful relationship."
Yea, until the next good-looking guy comes along. How many times have we heard that from a sodomite?
(Chunky-industrial-waste puke alert)
Luther was actually a very conservative theologian. The notion that an unrepentant sodomite could serve in the clergy has no basis whatever in the Lutheran confession.
The ELCA is the primary reason I "Swam the Tiber" (Joined the Holy Roman Catholic Church) last year.
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