Posted on 02/05/2011 2:20:30 PM PST by SmithL
The Rev. Matthew Harrison has a vision of what the future of American Protestantism might look like – and it includes a potentially big realignment.
Harrison, who was pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne in the 1990s and early 2000s, was elected last year to head the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a 6,200-congregation denomination with 2.3 million baptized members. The synod is the second-largest and most traditional among the branches of Lutheranism in North America.
In an interview last month during a visit to the Synod’s Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Harrison said he sees opposition to homosexuality and support of traditional marriage as leading to new ties among dissident members of diverse Protestant groups.
“I certainly see it happening,” he said. “It’s a very interesting moment worldwide.”
In recent years, several U.S. denominations including Lutherans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians have seen splinter groups form in reaction to policies that broadened acceptance of homosexuals.
Now, he says the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s recent move to allow some non-celibate gay clergy is affecting the church’s mission in the developing world, where different branches of the faith have traditionally cooperated.
He called the decision “the worst blunder in the history of Lutheran missions,” saying it makes it harder for the church’s message to be heard.
In Africa it’s because of homosexuality’s connection to the AIDS epidemic, he said. In countries such as Indonesia where Islam is prevalent, he added, Islamic radicals seize on the issue as proof that the Western Christian church is decadent and should be rejected.
Harrison said the issue may present an opportunity for his denomination in some countries.
In the past several years, Lutheran groups in Madagascar, where the population is 25 percent Lutheran, have made informal overtures to the Missouri Synod. Lutherans in the country have historically aligned with the ELCA, he said.
Another sign of the realignment, he added, is that his denomination and the Anglican Church in North America have begun formal dialogue seeking common ground.
The Anglican body formed in 2008 in a split from the U.S. Episcopal Church largely over the issue of allowing homosexual bishops and priests. It has ties to Anglican churches in Africa that opposed homosexuality, including Uganda, Nigeria and Rwanda.
Anglicans and the Missouri Synod are talking “to be able to affirm each other in significant ways as fellow Christians, stand together against certain societal and ecclesial trends and cooperate together in works of mercy,” according to the synod’s description of the dialogues. They began in November and will continue this year.
Still another sign of movement is a declaration signed by Harrison in December on marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The declaration was endorsed by leaders of about 20 Protestant Christian groups as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church.
Harrison said for Missouri Synod Lutherans, the issue of homosexuality strikes at the root of the authority of Scripture.
“The difficulty we have runs to the very heart of the Gospel – is there salvation outside of Christ? The Bible says no,” he says, adding that those who claim acceptance of homosexuality are imposing their interpretation of the texts.
Harrison last year also wrote a letter to U.S. lawmakers saying that the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the U.S. military “will sorely inhibit our chaplains’ ability to call all sinners to repentance.”
He said the new policy will likely lead to openly homosexual chaplains and added that Missouri Synod members may be counseled not to partake of their services.
“But the challenge for the Missouri Synod on this whole issue is simply not to be the denomination of ‘no.’ ” he said.
“It is my deep desire to refrain from statements against homosexuality, at the same time affirming the biblical stance and that the church has a role in assisting people who struggle with this issue,” Harrison said.
In Fort Wayne, Harrison was known for spearheading a project with neighboring St. Peter Catholic Church that rejuvenated the Hanna-Creighton neighborhood.
Dilapidated homes were cleared from a 10-block area around the churches and replaced with new development, such as the Pontiac branch of the Allen County Public Library and the headquarters of the Urban League.
After leaving Fort Wayne, Harrison served as executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care.
Harrison is a good man. I'm glad he was elected. I was a delegate to the convention last summer, and I voted for him.
She wasn't ordained in the LCMS, they don't have female clergy. She could be a deaconess but as far as 'presiding' during the service I'd have to know the context.
Oh, he will do that! I know the man personally, and he is a very able theologian, top-drawer.
“Lutheran leader sees Protestants aligning”
Short of the second coming of Christ, that’s not how we roll. Not gonna happen.
Look, I think I know what he means by this (if indeed this is being quoted correctly and in context). There is no doubt in my mind that Harrison regards homosexual behavior as sinful. And our synod maintained its strong stand against the sin of homosexuality once again last summer, when the convention adopted several resolutions against what the ELCA has done.
But I think Harrison's point is that we want to do more than just say "We're agin' it!" And we don't want to focus solely on that one sin. Plus, we want to make clear there is forgiveness for repentant homosexuals too.
This is true. Both synods have their problems with goofy pastors and congregations that do "contemporary worship." And, on the other hand, you can also find many pastors and congregations in both synods that do the liturgy well, sing solid hymns, celebrate the Sacrament often, and have good, Christ-centered preaching. Nowadays you have to check out things on a congregation-by-congregation basis.
sola scriptura plus pride = no unity.
Is this possible?
However, there are some wacky liberal congregations on our left fringe that do things they're not supposed to do, so I can't say it's not "possible."
But I'd also have to know more details to make a judgment--i.e., what is meant by "preside at one point."
...an openly sodomite chaplain, I had not considered that. I’m sure the Unitarians and Epixcolians have one on standby immediately. Oh boy.
Thanks.
So that infection I found so prevelant in the ELCA has spread across North American Lutheranism?
The talks with the ACNA may be an excellent vehicle for restoring liturgical order.
“sola scriptura plus pride = no unity.”
Protestant = Don’t care what Rome thinks, even if we can’t get along with other Protestants
Women can’t be ordained pastors in the LCMS. Might be an LCMC (splinter from the ELCA), but not LCMS.
That is one of the “trip wires” for me and a great many MoLu’s.
If “went liberal” you mean NOT calling all other Protestant denominations heretical, you may be right...but the LCMS is still VERRRRRRRY CONSERVATIVE (still requiring closed communion, after all) within the evangelical world.
No female clergy and closed communion puts the LCMS still to the far right amidst evangelical Protestants.
I’m sure you’re correct though that Wisconsin Synod is way to the right of that. How far right in religion though, is wrong?
I really think news and discussions amidst Protestants should be within “Caucus” or “Closed” titles, to avoid the inevitable snide comments by Roman Catholics and others.
NOTHING it seems can be posted about Protestant issues without various cranks creeping in trying to bash the Reformation.
So, does it mean that the “Thou shall not...” commandments will also hold the same “refrain from statements against..” so as not to be a “denomination of no”? Where does it stop? I’m hoping that Harrison used a poor choice of words but, sadly, I believe his meaning is clear.
one thing the pinkos do not realise (or perhaps they do) is that the steps they perform in the west has a lot of repercussions in AFrica and Asia. When Gene Robinson was made “bishop” in the ECUSA, then devout anglicans in Nigeria were attacked by Moslems as “they supported gays”
My Mom was raised in the Wisconsin Lutheran Church and because of its refusal to allow Scouting, the American Legion and Free Masonry, we were not interested in it.
When my son and I moved back up to New Hampshire, the nearest church was a WELS one and I went once and was not welcomed at all. I found it cold and barren. In this day and age, women have too much to offer to be shut out from voting. Clergy, I can go either way, but too much of the ELCA women clergy are lesbian influenced or radical feminist at the least. Most of the women clergy I have met have chips on their shoulders.
I am comfortable in the LCMS.
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