Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Wishing a Blessed Reformation Sunday!
Posted on 10/25/2009 1:25:49 PM PDT by SmithL
A growing national schism within the country’s largest Lutheran denomination is also being felt locally, with several area churches considering breaking their ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).
At least one church — Christus Lutheran Church in Clintonville — has already taken the first step in the secession process, following a congregational vote in which 85 percent supported leaving ELCA. A second secession vote must still be staged, after a minimum of three months has elapsed from the first vote, prior to making the move to secede official.
The controversy stems from a vote by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. The ELCA policy change eliminated a long standing requirement that gay clergy remain celibate.
However, ELCA has told its member churches each congregation can choose for itself how to address the issue.
“For the 11 plus years that I’ve been in ministry, I’ve been told to encourage people to consider themselves part of a larger church,” said Christus Pastor Brian Crocker. “With this decision, they’re telling us the opposite — that each should go their own direction. That’s a dissonant teaching.”
ELCA has an estimated 4.7 million members in nearly 10,500 congregations across the country. The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, with approximately 2.41 million members nationally, and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, with more than 400,000 members.
The Missouri and Wisconsin synods have both issued statements criticizing the ELCA vote.
The largest showing of opposition so far from ELCA members involved about 1,200 congregants who meet recently in suburban Indianapolis. The gathering approved a constitution for the conservative umbrella group Lutheran CORE along with a resolution directing its steering committee to report back in one year on whether to remain within ELCA, form their own denomination or join another.
CORE leaders said their decision could lead to a reconfiguration of Lutheranism in the United States and Canada.
Crocker said the issue isn’t sexuality, but scripture, which he said is directly opposite of the stance ELCA has taken.
“The Lord we follow made it clear in his own words, ‘have you not read that from the beginning He created them male and female and the two shall become one flesh,’” Crocker said.
This is not the first disagreement individual congregations have had with ELCA, according to Crocker.
“In conversations I’ve had, people have said, ‘up until now we’ve been willing to hold our nose,’ or to tolerate it would be the better way to put it,” Crocker said.
The question being raised now — if the congregation does split from ELCA — is what happens next?
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Crocker said. “People are very hungry for information about options. What is the next step and with whom will we associate?”
The two organizations getting the most attention, Crocker said, are the Lutheran Congregations in Ministry for Christ (LCMC) and CORE.
More in today's Leader.
“In conversations I’ve had, people have said, ‘up until now we’ve been willing to hold our nose,’ or to tolerate it would be the better way to put it,”It's hard to sing when you're holding your nose.
Another of the six.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Wishing a Blessed Reformation Sunday!
I’m not sure how I can word this question in a nice way, sorry, but here goes: isn’t this one of the problems of congregationalism? Where if the good folks don’t get involved, groups can get hijacked by Code Pink?
You are right, that can happen, but most Lutheran synods are not true congregational style structures.
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