October 29, 2009

CHICAGO – Throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), leaders and members have responded in a variety of ways to changes in the church's ministry polices, a decision made by voting members of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. Some members agreed with the decision. Some were opposed. Some weren't sure how to react.

Since the assembly, some ELCA congregations have taken votes to leave the denomination or redirect funds away from the ELCA. Leaders and members in a few such congregations report it's not always easy to make such choices, and there can be unintended consequences.

The 2009 assembly, which met Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis, adopted proposals to change ELCA ministry policies. One change makes it possible for Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

For some ELCA leaders and members, the assembly directive was inconsistent with their understanding of biblical authority. They often repeat the assertion that "the ELCA has left them."

The assembly also adopted by exactly a two-thirds majority a social statement on human sexuality. The statement addressed a wide range of matters related to human sexuality, but a portion of it addressed same gender relationships, causing disagreement among the voting members.

Through Oct. 27, the ELCA Office of the Secretary reports an estimated 50 of the ELCA's 10,396 congregations have taken first votes to leave the denomination or have scheduled them, nearly all because of the assembly's actions on sexuality. Five such votes have failed. The estimate is based on reports from synod bishops, said David D. Swartling, ELCA secretary.

Some Vote to Leave the ELCA or Try

Generally congregations that want to leave the ELCA are required to take two votes, at least 90 days apart, and must achieve a two-thirds majority of voting members present for each vote. They are also required to "consult" with the synod bishop between votes to leave. Former Lutheran Church in America congregations and ELCA-established congregations must be granted "synodical approval" before their ELCA membership is terminated. The same approval is needed if the congregation chooses to be independent or relate to a non-Lutheran church body.

At Wangen Prairie Lutheran Church, Cannon Falls, Minn., 31 members of the 40-member congregation voted 20-11 to leave but failed to achieve the required two-thirds needed under constitutional rules. That has left the Rev. Joy M. Gonnerman, who serves the congregation half-time, with a difficult situation. And she expects some members to challenge the vote.

Gonnerman told the ELCA News Service the congregation narrowly defeated an attempt to leave in 2005, after the churchwide assembly that year declined a proposal to change ministry policies. She said Wangen Prairie's ELCA membership "has been tenuous at best."

"I keep praying for them, keep preaching and keep administering the sacraments," she said.

Gonnerman noted that most of the 11 who voted to stay attend worship regularly, and many of the others don't. "I find that those so angry about the sexuality issue talk a lot about God, but not much about Jesus. We (Lutherans) read the Bible through the lens of Jesus," Gonnerman said.

Gonnerman said she focuses on keeping the congregation together. "I work on unity. My goal as pastor is to work on unity and welcome people with their diverse ideas." In the coming weeks she said she will offer guidance to members and keep in mind that whatever the congregation decides to do "must come from within."

A similar situation exists at Christ Lutheran Church, Cottonwood, Minn., which voted 74-44 on Oct. 18 to leave the ELCA, but the vote failed to achieve a two-thirds majority. The congregation's president, Joel C. Dahl, declined to be interviewed by the ELCA News Service, but said in an e-mail message, "I have hopes that after some further education of our congregation, we will vote again in the affirmative to separate from the ELCA and join another Lutheran denomination." He told the Marshall Independent newspaper that an informational meeting for the congregation is planned sometime next month.

The Rev. James L. Demke, pastor, confirmed that the 600-member congregation will have "more discussion about the issues."

St. John Lutheran Church, a 1,200-member congregation in Roanoke, Va., voted 342-143 to leave the ELCA Sept. 27, barely achieving the two thirds majority required. The congregation plans to take a second and final vote to leave the denomination Jan. 10, said the Rev. Mark A. Graham, senior pastor.

Graham explained that the congregation has been discussing issues of marriage, family and human sexuality for many years. After the churchwide assembly acted, he and St. John's two associate pastors recommended to the congregation council that St. John begin the process to leave the ELCA on the grounds that "the ELCA has left traditional biblical teaching."

It has not been an easy process. Graham expects as many as one-third of the members will leave the congregation. Some have already left.

"The last thing I ever expected is to bring a recommendation that would cause conflict and division," he said in an interview. "I know there are good Christians who disagree with us. It breaks my heart, but we see no other way."

Even if the pastors had not made their recommendation, Graham believes many members would have left on their own, perhaps more than the one-third St. John expects to lose. "We would have had conflict here either way if we had not taken action," he said.

And what will happen if St. John fails to achieve a two-thirds majority at its second vote in January? Graham paused when asked that question. He said he will have some decisions to make about his own future in the ELCA.

"We've had publicity about this, and it's not the kind I'm proud of. It's a hard thing to convince people that were not anti-homosexual. We're trying to convey a deep love for the Word of God. It breaks my heart that my own denomination would make decisions based on other factors," he said.

About five congregations have taken two votes to leave the ELCA so far this year, the ELCA secretary reports. Of those, the largest was Community Church of Joy, Glendale, Ariz., which formally left Sept. 27. Only 129 of its 6,800 baptized members were present for the second vote, which was unanimous.

Some Choose to Withhold Funds

Some ELCA congregations, unhappy with the assembly's actions, have stopped sending funds to support synod and churchwide ministries. The funds are used, for example, "to plant and renew congregations, to raise up and train leaders in seminaries and campus ministries, to send missionaries, to respond to hunger at home and abroad, and to rebuild communities after natural disasters," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, in a Sept. 23 letter to the church's professional leaders.

The ELCA Constitution requires the churchwide organization, synods and congregations "to share in the responsibility to develop, implement and strengthen the financial support program of this church." Similar required language appears in the ELCA's Model Constitution for Synods and the Model Constitution for Congregations, yet, decisions are being made in some places to direct funds elsewhere.

The congregation council at 250-member Peace Lutheran Church, Rockdale, Texas, suspended its benevolence payments to the ELCA shortly after the congregation's pastor, the Rev. Janice A. Campbell, returned from the assembly where she was a voting member. Instead, it sent its September funds to support a Lutheran orphanage in Tanzania and will send funds for the remainder of 2009 to a local food bank and Lutheran Disaster Response, a collaborative ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Peace's annual benevolence is nearly $21,000, according to the 2009 ELCA Yearbook.

Campbell told members from the beginning that she didn't want anyone to leave, and she urged the congregation members to respond together. Campbell said she is concerned about a member and a family that may leave the congregation. "I don't want to lose those people. It is important that we listen to one another," she said.

Some members are talking about joining Lutheran Congregations for Mission in Christ (LCMC), she said. "I don't know if I'm going with them or not. LCMC is not for me," she said. Campbell said she has been a strong supporter of the ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod in the past.

Global relationships are more valuable to Campbell than is the denomination, she said. In particular Lutherans in Africa have much to teach the ELCA, she said. Campbell said she was not happy that objections to the sexuality proposals voiced by Lutheran churches in Africa were "skimmed over" and not shared with voting members at the assembly.

"I wish there was a way for the ELCA to come to realization that this was a catastrophic (theological) error," she said of the actions on sexuality. "I will continue to pray for the ELCA, for the synod and for the bishops."

The congregation council at St. Luke Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove, Minn., made a similar decision. St. Luke's senior pastor, the Rev. Timothy J. Housholder, a churchwide assembly voting member, declined to be interviewed for this story. But he wrote to his congregation earlier this month that, since the assembly, he had received more than 100 communications, most expressing concern about the decisions. The council redirected remaining 2009 benevolence funds away from the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod and the churchwide organization, he said, "to allow time for St. Luke to ‘breathe' and discern what the ELCA's recent actions mean for us." Lutheran Social Services and Lutheran World Relief will be sent St. Luke's funds, Housholder reported. St. Luke has 2,200 baptized members, and gives about $43,000 annually in benevolence funds.

Not all are in agreement. Two members of St. Luke, Rebecca and Alan Holz, wrote to the South Washington County Bulletin newspaper saying that the decision to withhold the funds was made without approval of the church's members. "My husband and I feel strongly that this act is counter to what St. Luke's prior statement to the community was of ‘the Welcoming Church,' and we are deeply disappointed we were not allowed to express our views prior to the council's decision," their Oct. 14 letter said.

Member Natalie Seim also wrote the paper's editor to point out that the council's vote to begin "discernment" was not shared by all members.

The council has scheduled a forum for St. Luke members on Nov. 1.

ELCA News Service