Posted on 08/25/2010 12:26:33 PM PDT by SmithL
The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America responded to plans for a rival church body, urging fellow Lutherans to avoid slander.
"We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, as he recited words from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Hanson made the statement in a pastoral letter Tuesday, days before hundreds of dissenting Lutherans are scheduled to constitute a separate denomination called the North American Lutheran Church.
The NALC is intended to provide a home for Lutherans discontent with the ELCA's "ongoing movement away from the authority and teaching of the Bible."
Dozens of congregations have taken votes to sever ties with the ELCA over the past year since the ELCA's highest legislative body voted to allow gays and lesbians in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships" to serve as clergy.
"It was not our choice to leave the ELCA, but the ELCA has chosen to reject 'the faith once delivered to the saints,' so now we are acting to maintain our position within the consensus of the Church catholic," explained Ryan Schwarz of Washington, D.C., chair of Lutheran CORE’s Vision and Planning Working Group.
Lutheran CORE is aiding the formation of the new Lutheran body.
In response to the NALC, Hanson alluded to a possible future relationship between the ELCA and the new body but added a cautionary note.
"[W]e must ask how this separation in the body of Christ will serve the ministry and message of reconciliation entrusted to us by God," he stated.
"The ELCA has and will continue reaching out to others for the sake of the gospel and serving our neighbor. Standing together, we are known as a church that rolls up its sleeves and solves problems, the church that is catalyst, convener and bridge builder. Our strong ecumenical relationships and global partnerships testify to that commitment.
"Yet before the ELCA can undertake any such efforts with a new Lutheran church body, I believe we must commit to obey the commandment against bearing false witness and commit to live its meaning in every setting, both private and public."
Amid the debates and disagreements, Hanson made clear to members of the ELCA that there is room for divergent views on sexuality within the denomination. While calling for dialogue, he urged restraint against judgments.
"We live in a world that is plagued by incivility, willful misunderstanding and hurtful caricatures of those with whom one disagrees. Let us declare that such behaviors will stop with us," he stated. "There is room in this church for vigorous dialogue that witnesses to faith without rushing to judgment and closing off discussion."
The NALC convocation is scheduled to begin on Friday in Grove City, Ohio, with more than 1,000 participants, including representatives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus – two of the largest Lutheran churches in the world.
In my former Church it is about 120 so far. More come every week when they actually see what we have.
Is the ELCA going to discontinue all ecumenical talks with the Roman Catholics? Not sure how well their teachings on homosexuality serves the ELCA’s ministry and message of reconciliation entrusted to us by God
Praying for mercy for self-satisfied and self-directed souls who have yet to know the release and joy of Jesus’ grace poured out in his precious blood for sinners such as I.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6LAdMTDLY
What grace is mine that He who dwells in endless light
Called through the night to find my distant soul
And from His scars poured mercy that would plead for me
That I might live and in His name be known
So I will go wherever He is calling me
I lose my life to find my life in Him
I give my all to gain the hope that never dies
I bow my heart, take up my cross, and follow Him . . . .
There is no NALC. After this meeting, the NALC will presumably be constituted. However, it will have no congregations in it until they start joining.
Many ELCA sources trumpet the “minuscule” numbers of congregations that have left the ELCA sine the ill-fated 2009 “churchwide assembly”, and the fact that those that have left are divided between several church bodies. These ELCA sources try to represent the NALC now being formed as very insignificant and unimportant.
If NALC is so microscopic and insignificant, why is “Bishop” Mark Hanson taking the time out of his busy, globe-trotting schedule to address the constituting meeting?
The answer is that it seems that many ELCA congregations (and their pastors) have been waiting for the formation of the NALC before leaving the ELCA. Others that have already left are planning to join the NALC or will at least consider doing so. No one (especially not this Orthodox layman) knows how many congregations will join the NALC—it may be a tiny number, or it may be the 1,000 congregations that have been mentioned by some.
Moreover, the hemorrhaging of members and of member contributions from the ELCA continues. This will happen whether the NALC attracts a large number of congregations or not.
As for Hanson, he is spouting the same old song-and-dance to the NALC constituting meeting as he has spouted before. It’s sheer gobbledy-gobble, means nothing, and will have no influence. But it might even drive away more members and congregations from the ELCA!
No there are not anywhere near 20,000 congregations. The ELCA website claims only 10,500.
I am confused as to the need for the NALC when most congregations that have already left went to the LCMC. What is the difference?
Lightman can probably give a better answer, but I would say that NALC would be more on the evangelical catholic side whereas LCMC would appeal more to the congregationalists. I think it has to do mostly with church polity and, to some extent, worship style.
NALC will also organize itself as a real church body. LCMC is a coalition of independent congregations.
LCMC welcomes evangelical catholic congregations, by the way, but real evangelical catholicism is not congregational. That is one reason why at least some congregations are waiting for NALC before they leave the ELCA.
OK, then how will the NALC differ from the LCMS?
NALC will ordain women.
If it weren’t for the insistence on women’s ordination, all the conservative/confessional Lutherans in the ELCA and LCMC would join LCMS, the Orthodox Church, or the Roman Catholic Church.
they are staying because of the ordination of women? i would think it would be the opposite.
They are willing to take a half step to get back to Biblical principles but they're not willing to go all the way.
....These people [joining NALC or LCMC to support women’s ordination] will eventually be back in the same soup they think they’re escaping now.....
You’re right!
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/MorrisFeminism.php
You and aberaussie became LCMS, I became Orthodox, and Michael Root (the former dean of the ELCA’s Southern Seminary) has just become Roman Catholic.
http://scecclesia.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/news-just-in-michael-root-becomes-catholic/
So at least some ELCA Lutherans are not stopped from joining churches that do not ordain women.
By the way, with the departure of Dr. Root from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, if anyone who has any connection with the Traditional Christian faith at all is thinking of becoming an ELCA pastor—don’t do it!!!! With even Southern Seminary becoming hollowed out, ALL the ELCA seminaries will be lousy, not to mention heretical!
NALC will ordain women.ELCA, LCMC, and probably NALC, celebrate open communion. LCMS & WELS celebrate close/closed communion.If it weren’t for the insistence on women’s ordination, all the conservative/confessional Lutherans in the ELCA and LCMC would join LCMS, the Orthodox Church, or the Roman Catholic Church.
Like women's ordination, that's a deal-breaker for some people.
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