December 16, 2004

CHICAGO - The task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Studies on Sexuality discussed key issues regarding the church and homosexuality, and it made significant decisions about recommendations it will place before the church Jan. 13 for action in August by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

The task force met here Dec. 10-12 and drafted recommendations on how the ELCA should answer two key questions on homosexuality - whether or not the church should bless same- gender relationships and whether or not it should allow people in such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and ordained ministers.

"Although many things were decided this weekend, the task is not yet fully completed," said the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, chair of the 14-member task force and bishop of the ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Mass.

"We will be in further communication with one another. I think it would betray the confidence of the task force to speak about what is not yet finally determined, but it will be very clear when the report comes out," she said in an interview after the meeting. The meeting was in closed sessions, allowing only limited reporting.

The recommendations will be accompanied by a report on the task force's activities. The report will summarize the communication the task force has received from the church as it prepared its recommendations, said the Rev. James M. Childs Jr., director, ELCA Studies on Sexuality.

Since its first meeting in May 2002, the task force developed two studies, "Journey Together Faithfully" parts one and two, and has received more than 28,000 responses to the second part alone. Task force members have also been involved in hearings across the church and have received speakers on a variety of related topics.

"The report will, of course, have to reflect how our work together as the task force, in dialogue with the responses of the church and in prayerful beseeching of the Holy Spirit through the Word, developed the rationale which surrounds the recommendations we make," Childs said.

"We are committed to making an honest report," Childs said. "This report will reflect what we have heard from the church and how we have related to one another on specific items," he said.

"The task force has, since its beginning, represented a spectrum of the views one can hear from within our church," Childs said. "They [the members] have been very forthright and with great integrity able to share those views in our discussions over the years. That has not stopped," he said.

"Despite their diverse viewpoints they are united by a common commitment to be servants of the church and its gospel mission," Childs said. "We can be proud of our task force for the manner in which they dealt in good faith with one another and in good faith concern for the well-being of the church, as this report goes into its final stages."

Payne said the report and recommendations will illustrate how the task force struggled with issues related to the ELCA and homosexuality and will "provide a model for how wider communities in the church also can begin to think of themselves as servants of the gospel, talking in faith with one another despite differing opinions, exploring Scripture and theology together."

"The amount of information that we've received and worked with over these three years has been enormous," Payne said. Task force members reviewed all the information and "want it to be clear that all of the study and work was done under Scripture and in reference to God's Word and the theology of the Lutheran church and Confessions and tradition. They hope that people will see evidence of how we've thought and struggled together with differing understandings and beliefs on the issues," she said.

Current ELCA policy expects ministers to refrain from all sexual relations outside marriage, which it defines as "a lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman." The church has no official policy on blessing same-gender relationships. In 1993 the ELCA Conference of Bishops stated it does not approve of such ceremonies but expressed a desire to remain in dialogue with those providing pastoral care for gay and lesbian Lutherans.

The ELCA is organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the church's synod bishops, presiding bishop and secretary.

When the Report and Recommendations Go Public

The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, ELCA Department for Communication, spoke with task force members about the ways in which their report and recommendations would be made public.

The task force report and recommendations are embargoed from release until noon (EST) on Jan. 13.

ELCA leaders will receive a confidential preview of the report and recommendations by e-mail at noon (EST) on Jan. 12. Shafer said a question-and-answer document would accompany the preview, to help the church's leaders interpret the report and recommendations for their congregations and communities.

The ELCA's 10,657 congregations may study the report and recommendations January through March, with responses directed to synod councils and assemblies. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is expected to discuss the report and recommendations when it meets March 3-8 in Dallas.

The boards of the ELCA Division for Church and Society and the ELCA Division for Ministry will meet here March 10-13. They are expected to review the task force report and recommendations and forward them to the council with any additional comments from the boards.

The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.

The council will meet here April 8-11. It is to receive the task force report and recommendations with any additional board comments and to transmit the report and recommendations to the 2005 Churchwide Assembly. The council will prepare a resolution for the assembly action on recommendations.

April through June the ELCA's 65 synods meet separately in synod assemblies. They may discuss the report and recommendations and address the 2005 Churchwide Assembly through resolutions called "memorials." The churchwide assembly will receive the report and recommendations, and it will consider the council's resolution, synod memorials and other related resolutions from voting members of the assembly.

The ELCA's chief legislative body is the churchwide assembly, which meets every other year; the next assembly will be Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla. The 2001 assembly mandated the study in preparation for decisions the 2005 assembly is to make.

An ELCA Social Statement on Human Sexuality

In addition to the report and recommendations, the 2001 assembly asked that a social statement on human sexuality be developed for the assembly to consider in 2007. The task force will continue to work on a proposed social statement.

The Rev. Kaari M. Reierson and Roger A. Willer, associate directors for studies, ELCA Division for Church in Society, will direct the task force's work on the statement. Childs remains director of the studies until after the 2005 Churchwide Assembly, when he will assume a role as advisor to the task force.

Reierson and Willer spoke with the task force about the steps involved in preparing a social statement. They will begin planning the topics, nature and scope of the statement at the next task force meeting here Feb. 18-20.

The first draft of the proposed social statement on human sexuality will be published by spring 2006. The proposed social statement will be ready by spring 2007 for consideration here at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2007.

Reierson is also associate pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Evanston, Ill. Willer is a doctoral candidate in theology, University of Chicago.

Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site.

ELCA News Service