Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Be rooted in Christ!
Posted on 08/15/2012 4:40:46 AM PDT by rhema
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - The ELCA vote of 2009 divided Lutherans forever. The decision to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to be ordained into ministry caused a ripple effect of defections.
On Tuesday many of those ripples gathered for a Lutheran conference at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley.
Some of them reflecting on who they have become as a faith community since then.
"The positive part about it is its helped people to I think discern who they are and what they believe and what is important in life and ministry," Pastor Steve Dornbusch of Calvary Lutheran Church said. His church parted with the ELCA but has not affiliated itself with another group.
In the aftermath of that decision a new group was formed; the North American Lutheran Church.
Its Bishop says it was needed for those Lutherans who could not embrace the ELCA's decision on GLBT ministry inclusion.
"We think that advancing agendas where you end up compromising some of the most basic of doctrine in the church is not faithful." NALC Bishop John Bradosky said.
The NALC is just one of several groups convening this week in Golden Valley.
Another is Lutheran Core, a group that says is trying to bridge the gap of ELCA members who wanted to keep with the ELCA, but who also believe marriage is only sacred between a man and a woman.
"There are a lot of issues we don't agree about but realize the issues we do agree on are far more important than the ones we don't agree about," Core member Steve Shipman said.
Those other issues, these folks say, are what they want to focus on moving forward from the division still so clearly visible looking back.
A spokesperson for the ELCA says that the organization is as strong today - if not stronger - since the vote back in 2009.
The ELCA has clearly mastered the Baghdad Bob press release.
I think Martin Luther is sadly looking on as Satan has divided the church he began so long ago. These are truly dangerous times.
Dammit. I just wish they wouldn’t lump ALL Lutherans in the headline. This is the ELCA they’re talking about. I am Missouri Synod, and when I tell people I’m a Lutheran, they make that face and you know what they’re thinking.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Be rooted in Christ!
Those of us in the LCMC, the NALC, and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod share your pain.
We're all being mistaken for the rogue elephant.
Is there a bridge that connects the opposite shores of good and evil where meeting in the middle of the bridge will offer a Christian solution to the issue?
If anyone thinks there is, I have this bridge in Brooklyn to sell to this dreamer......
Leni
The only viable bridge is to bring them back into the fold of the Bible’s teaching.
I wonder what the forcast is for Golden Valley?
LutheranCORE is very much needed to support those ever-diminishing faithful orthodox Lutherans who remain within the ELCA.
Their reasons for remaining vary. Some are fighting mightily through trying to introduce synod legislation; some by having their congregations restrict or redirect giving to their Synod and thus to “churchwide”.
Some, sadly, have essentially sold out in order to retain a position. “I have only a couple of years until retirement” says one Pastor. “I just started a new Call” says another. “I don’t know if I could get a Call in another Lutheran body” says another. Those sound too much like the excuses offered up by those who spurned the invitation to the Great Feast.
And I grieve for such, for they are friends.
With the entrenched views of the liberal leaders of that synod, I'd say this is a losing battle. It's obvious church leaders are on a political mission instead of adhering to the Biblical message God has given us. Legislation, restriction of funds, whatever internal motivations they contrive, will fall on deaf ears. Because the synod has become deaf to scripture.
And that's why I wrote that the only bridge is one of bringing them home to the one true Faith. The ELCA is a lost cause. When President Harrison of the LCMS has called the ELCA to be in heresy (see post#12 in the above link), that's a statement worthy of note - and action.
I wish there was a NALC congregation nearby. The nearest one appears to be in New York state. The local ELCA church is under the absolute control of the liberals.
By their adherence to the three Ecumenical Creeds as well as the foundational Confessions, orthodox Lutherans believe that there is but one Holy Christian Church.
Of course, they also recognize that: in this life many hypocrites and evil persons are mingled therewith. Augsburg Confession Article IIX
“A theological point collateral to this thread: Martin Luther would have vehemently denied that he began a church.”
I defer to your point of view as I know very little about the man...in any event...any Christian would be and are saddened by so many churches being led away from Christ by false prophets...
Yes we do my friend. I still proudly say that I am “old school Lutheran”. My Church, which was formed by ex-pats from our ELCA congregation, is affiliated with the NALC and LCMC.
Well stated.
We call the Lutheran movement the Reformation because he sought to correct abuses which had developed, not to launch a new church divorced from its apostolic roots.
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