August 12, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. – Voting members at the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) began official deliberations on matters of sexuality by urging the ELCA to remain united as a church, despite its widely differing beliefs on homosexuality.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here August 8-14 at the World Center Marriott and Convention Center. About 2,300 people are participating, including 1,018 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever."

In the first resolution, adopted by a vote of 851-127, the ELCA stated that "its members, congregations, synods, churchwide organization, and agencies and institutions – be urged to concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreements, recognizing the God-given mission and communion that we share as members of the body of Christ."

The recommendation is one of three before the assembly today, Aug. 12. The second and third recommendations attempt to answer two questions related to the church's ministry: whether or not to allow pastors to perform blessings of same-sex relationships and whether the church should ordain gay or lesbian candidates and other rostered leaders in life-long, committed and faithful same-sex relationships.

Before discussion began, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and chair of the assembly, summarized the process undertaken by the church, which began its study following actions of the 2001 Churchwide Assembly. Hanson told the voting members "the Church Council formed a task force for the ELCA studies on sexuality. The task force invited the whole church along with our partner churches to ‘Journey Together Faithfully.' We have done this work well. We've listened to each other. We've learned from each other. We've prayed for and with each other. And I believe we've journeyed together faithfully."

The recommendation was not amended in discussion that lasted 40 minutes. The first voting member to speak, the Rev. Eric D. Ash Sr., ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, said, "Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed that all of his followers might be one; unity therefore should be a high priority for us." He continued, "There will continue to be disagreements over the controversial issues that will be decided here today. But let us begin our process by affirming our desire to live together in the faith and unity of Christ."

Louis Hesse, voting member, ELCA Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, questioned the appropriateness of an assembly vote on unity. "The surest sign of disunity is scheduling a vote on unity," he said. "Unity is a gift of God. It either is or is not." Hesse concluded, "The issue of unity should not even be coming before this assembly."

Stephanie M. Quigg, voting member, ELCA Southeastern Minnesota Synod, told the assembly, "I have a close family member who is lesbian, and when I told her I would plan to vote against any change in the church – even though we are in different sexual places – we still were able to live together and have a very close relationship in spite of our differences." She felt the church should be able to do the same.

The Rev. Kurt Handrich, voting member, ELCA South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, indicated that to him, the first recommendation was the "most essential of the three resolutions" before the church at this assembly.

The assembly went to work on the second recommendation of the three, with discussion scheduled to continue in the afternoon of Aug. 12.

Information about the ELCA Churchwide Assembly is at http://www.elca.org/assembly/05/ on the Web.

ELCA News Service