Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Posted on 10/07/2009 11:05:59 AM PDT by lightman
ELCA Bishops Told of Possible Changes in Domestic, Global Relationships 09-223-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Since the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the church's global mission personnel have been reaching out to partner Lutheran churches worldwide. While some churches have expressed disagreement with a significant decision of the assembly, only one church to date has said it will change its relationship with the 4.6-million member ELCA.
In August the churchwide assembly adopted proposals to change ELCA ministry policies to make it possible for Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. The assembly also adopted a social statement on human sexuality.
The Church Council of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, Czech Republic, wrote to the bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod to report it will propose ending its companion synod relationship with the synod because of the assembly decision. Next month, the church's assembly will consider the proposal, said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission.
"We are still in conversation with that church to see if this means severing the relationship with the ELCA or the companion synod," Malpica Padilla told the ELCA Conference of Bishops, which met here Oct. 1-6. The ELCA's 65 synods maintain more than 120 companion synod relationships, through which the synod and its international partner pledge to support each other, share resources and engage in mission.
One international congregation, the Lutheran Church of Guam, intends to end its ELCA relationship because of the assembly decision, Malpica Padilla said.
The Lutheran Church of Guam is a joint ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). Its pastor, the Rev. Jeffrey A. Johnson, told the ELCA News Service the congregation will vote Nov. 1 on a proposal to affiliate with Lutheran Congregations for Mission in Christ and maintain its LCMS affiliation. Johnson also confirmed he will resign from the ELCA clergy roster, and both he and his wife, Mary, will resign as ELCA missionaries, both effective Dec. 31.
Malpica Padilla told the bishops he sent a letter to more than 80 ELCA global partners, indicating that "we will continue to respect the practice and the policies of the local church in sending ELCA missionaries to serve among them." He also said the ELCA will not use financial support it provides to any global partner as leverage to require agreement or conformity with the ELCA's policies.
Malpica Padilla will visit Lutheran church leaders in Malaysia and Singapore this week. Both have said they don't agree with the assembly decision but won't sever relationships with the ELCA, he said.
The Conference of Bishops also heard other reports about ELCA ministries:
+ LCMS partners in federal chaplaincies are "uncertain" about their future cooperative relationship with the ELCA in military chaplaincy, said the Rev. Darrell B. Morton, Washington, D.C., executive assistant to the presiding bishop for chaplaincy ministries. Next year's LCMS convention may help clarify the situation, he said.
+ ELCA synod bishops were asked to maintain contact with leaders of ELCA full communion and ecumenical partners. "We really need you to interpret information about the churchwide assembly, to clarify and explain information," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. The ELCA has full communion partnerships with the Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church.
+ ELCA Treasurer Christina Jackson-Skelton reported that through Aug. 31, income to the churchwide organization is close to a reduced mission support income plan adopted by the ELCA Church Council in March 2009. Mission support has decreased in 51 synods compared to 2008, she said. "It continues to be very important that the churchwide organization and ELCA synods monitor income very closely and engage in contingency planning," Jackson-Skelton wrote in her report to the Conference of Bishops.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
Ironic that on the day when Lutherans Commemorate 18th Century Lutheran pioneer Pastor Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, more evidence emerges that Pr. Muhlenberg's dream for North American Lutheran unity ("one people, one book") is more elusive than ever.
The ELCA has had the wrong ecumenical priorities for almost all of its existence. Instead of pursuing "full communion" relationships with a myriad of other denominations, especially the Reformed, the top priorty should have been INTRALutheran unity; closely followed by greater ties with Rome and Constantinople.
Then the others--way down the line. Got it bass-ackwards.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Ping.
Leaving and shaking the dust from their sandals?
“He also said the ELCA will not use financial support it provides to any global partner as leverage to require agreement or conformity with the ELCA’s policies.”
My intial reaction to this was, “Yeah, sure; and tonight I’ll be watching those pigs flying off to the moon.” But it may be true for now. Looks like ELCA is going broke so any group which leaves is one less mouth to feed. But eventually those who do take the money and stay in communion with heretics will be branded as enemies of God. Funny, and sometimes dreadful, what money can do to ecclesial groups and churches.
It is tragic that the ELCA (in addition to ignoring the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions) has chosen to sacrifice intraLutheran cooperative ministries, global partners, and ecumenical relations with the twin poles of Rome and Constantinople for a handful of noisy, selfish Sodomites.
lightman —
Sorry we both missed the LCMC convention in Fargo, ended just minutes ago. I just talked with friends who were on their way home from it. We missed a good one. They are like family reunions.
I understand it will be in Iowa next year. You might want to start making plans to attend, and look us over.
It is a grievous state of affairs. At one time, there was a genuine possibility of Lutheran unity in America. Today, The LCMS and the ELCA are on divergent paths, and the split grows wider by the day. Personally, I find this tragic. I take no joy in the disunity among Lutherans. We are not talking about minor differences but a huge theological rift. It does remind me in many ways of suicide in that it is a totally selfish act. There is no concern about the feelings of others. That is exactly what the ELCA is doing. Liberal denominations are dying. The more liberal it is, the faster it dies.
"We really need you to interpret information about the churchwide assembly, to clarify and explain information,"In other words, they need false prophets.
UH-OH!!!!
Oh well, most of my giving to IOCC is for their Kosovo relief efforts, and I give directly to the Decani Monastery Fund as well. There's no LWF/ELCA partnership in Kosovo, for obvious reasons.
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