October 6, 2009

CHICAGO – "It would be a blessing" if certain actions taken by voting members of the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) were not implemented, said the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick.

Kieschnick included the comment in an Oct. 1 letter to the ELCA Conference of Bishops, an advisory body of the ELCA consisting of the church's 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and secretary. The conference met here Oct. 1-6.

Kieschnick wrote to the ELCA bishops about an assembly action which directed the ELCA to change policy to make it possible for Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

"Bishop Hanson and Conference of Bishops, I share this letter with you to confirm what I have already stated, namely, that this is a very serious matter, one that we cannot ignore," a portion of Kieschnick's letter said. "To the greatest extent possible, it would be a blessing to our ongoing cooperative relationships if the actions taken at the ELCA Assembly were not implemented, nor given influence, in the context of inter-Lutheran ministries involving the LCMS and the ELCA, so that these relationships would be neither damaged nor destroyed."

"Out of deep concern for the people who receive ministry from such organizations and for the continuation of those ministries, I share with you this letter and pray that it will be received in the spirit of fraternal, collegial dialogue with which it is sent," the LCMS president wrote.

Other portions of his letter reviewed previous actions of the LCMS regarding its relationship with the ELCA. Kieshcnick included the advice he has given LCMS district presidents when matters concerning the ELCA assembly actions arise.

Last week in Baltimore, Kieschnick and other LCMS leaders met with ELCA leaders, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop. That meeting was one of two regularly scheduled meetings held annually.

In that meeting, leaders of the two Lutheran churches agreed to do all they could to continue their cooperative ministry work and remain faithful to their respective doctrinal positions. Cooperative ministries include Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services in America, which provides a variety of human services through social ministry organizations, Lutheran World Relief, an international relief and development agency, and other ministries.

Kieschnick addressed the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August after it voted to direct the change in ministry policies. The decisions will undoubtedly cause additional stress and disharmony within the ELCA, he said. "It will also negatively affect the relationships between our two church bodies. The current division between our churches threatens to become a chasm," he said.

Kieschnick told the assembly it grieved him, the LCMS, and those in the ELCA and other Christian bodies who don't see the decisions as "compatible with the Word of God or in agreement with the consensus of 2,000 years of Christian theological affirmation regarding what Scripture teaches about human sexuality."

The LCMS General Convention will meet in Houston in 2010. Kieschnick said that convention will certainly discuss relationships with the ELCA in light of the assembly action.

The text of President Kieschnick's letter is at http://www.lcms.org/?15828, on the LCMS Web site.

ELCA News Service