December 17, 2009

CHICAGO – Sunday, Dec. 6, was the first good Sunday in a very long time for the Rev. Gail Sowell and members of St. John Lutheran Church. On that day, the Edgar, Wis. congregation held a special meeting and elected new leadership.

"We turned a corner," Sowell said in an interview. The congregation's strong faith and a desire to move forward in mission have resulted in a positive spirit among the members today.

Sowell left a Green Bay congregation last summer to accept a dual-parish call in Edgar, where she was looking forward to a new ministry experience. Her installation Aug. 23 marked the start of her work with two congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) – Peace Lutheran Church and St. John.

Members and colleagues use word such as "bright," "relational," "positive," "kind" and "principled" to describe Sowell. She and other members would need all of those qualities and more to survive a turbulent autumn.

Almost from the start of Sowell's ministry St. John and Peace were caught up in whirlwind of conflict. Serious questions arose in both congregations about the actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and what the congregations should do in response. Some members didn't like the fact that Sowell said she favored those decisions.

The 2009 Churchwide Assembly adopted a social statement on human sexuality by a two-thirds vote. It also directed changes to ministry policies that created the possibility that people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships could serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. While many in the ELCA rejoiced over the decisions, the congregations in Edgar and in other places didn't seem to agree.

Emotions were high, members were polarized and lay leaders in both congregations wanted to vote quickly to leave the ELCA. St. John congregational council members held a meeting that first week and voted unanimously, with one abstention, to recommend the congregation leave the ELCA. The council member who abstained said the congregation should slow down. Similar proceedings began at Peace.

False stories about Sowell began to circulate through the congregations and the community. Sowell, who never wanted the congregations to leave, also tried to get the leaders to think about what they were doing. But "nobody would listen to any pleas to slow down the process," Sowell said.

The St. John council set a vote to leave the ELCA for Nov. 8. It held two congregational forums, on Oct. 18 and Nov. 1. The Oct. 18 forum was particularly nasty, with many members reported to be "yelling and screaming" at one another, Sowell said. She wasn't there, because at the time of the forum Sowell was leading services at Peace. The Rev. Duane C. Pederson, bishop of the ELCA Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, and the Rev. William Christiansen, representing Lutheran Congregations for Mission in Christ (LCMC), also met with members during that turbulent month. LCMC was mentioned as a possible destination for the congregations after the ELCA.

"I had many conversations with Gail," Pederson said in an interview, "often daily e-mails, trying to help her navigate the situation. I know she got many phone calls of support. I asked some colleagues to call her."

"I can't imagine starting a job and two days later this whole thing kind of blows up," said Lavone Runge, a 7-year member and librarian in nearby Marathon City.

The uneasiness in the congregation caused many members to stay away from worship from Oct. 18 until the Nov. 8 vote.

What happened next was a surprise to many. St. John members voted 106-67 on the proposal to leave the ELCA, but failed to achieve the required two-thirds by four votes. That night the council and other congregational leaders met and resigned their leadership positions. The one exception was the deacon who had earlier asked his colleagues to slow down. It was the end of a very difficult day.

"I was completely blindsided by this. I was not expecting it," Sowell said. "I just sat there with tears running down my face wondering what's happening to this congregation."

"I had never seen anything like this," said Runge. "The sad part to me is that I joined the ELCA because it is all-inclusive. What made the church desirable to me is what kind of ripped it apart." She added that members seemed to forget the good things the ELCA has done, particularly its work to advance the mission of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, across town, Peace Lutheran Church was having issues of its own. The congregation president had called Sowell during the upheaval and said some members didn't like the way she preached. The congregation didn't agree with the churchwide assembly decisions on human sexuality. Worship attendance had fallen to about 20 per Sunday. Sowell had to go before members would return, the council president said. All Sowell wanted to do was keep the congregation together as a worshipping community.

A few weeks ago, Peace took its first vote to leave the ELCA – which passed unanimously – and changed worship times to conflict with St. John, making it impossible for Sowell to serve there, though she still remains as its called pastor.

Finances were down in both congregations, and her salary had been cut. Unofficially, Sowell was out of a job at Peace, and unsure about her future and the congregation's future at St. John.

St. John experiences a revival

On Nov. 15 Sowell and others prepared for worship at St. John, not knowing what to expect following the divisive vote just one week before.

What happened was another surprise: 145 people showed up for worship – the most that had been there since Sowell was installed. "We had people come back who had stopped coming at least since the Oct. 18 meeting," she said. With a shortage of Sunday School teachers, the result of the previous week's resignations, six people volunteered on the spot to teach, Sowell said. Since that time, "dozens and dozens" of members have stepped forward to volunteer for various roles at St. John.

"Remarkable," is how Runge describes the sudden turnaround. She was one of those who stayed away until the Nov. 8 vote because the hostility among members made her weary. "The next Sunday I saw such warmth in the people that were left. We've seen a real consensus of people who really wanted to make this work."

John Hamann, former council president at St. John, now worships at a "new" Lutheran congregation in the Wien Town Hall. He still worships at St. John, too. "I'm worshiping now in both places. I haven't made up my mind what I'm going to do," he said. In fact, Sowell said, most of the former council members have not given up their memberships at St. John.

Runge, who was elected to the council and is now secretary, and other members, want Hamann and the others who left to return. "We want each and every one of them back. It's not about the money. It's like part of our family is missing," she said.

St. John and the future

St. John's newly elected president, Rick Mueller, was baptized in the congregation and has been a member for 49 years. A homebuilder by vocation, Mueller said the congregation needs to heal first. "Time heals everything. We will try not to look back. We will look toward the future. We want to try to get people to come back."

Pederson described the situation at St. John as "like a death and resurrection experience."

"My role is to support the new leadership that has emerged and to support the pastor of a congregation that is in ‘deep transformation,'" he said.

Sowell plans to invite the synod staff to work with the congregation on its mission and vision. Next year, St. John will celebrate its 125th anniversary, she said. Sowell said that she realizes now that God called her to St. John for a reason.

"I have grown so much because of this," she said. "I have been carried by the prayers of my former congregation. People have called me out of the blue to say, ‘I'm praying for you.'"

"I am sure St. John is not only going to survive, it's going to thrive," Sowell said.

Information about St. John Lutheran Church and Peace Lutheran Church is at http://www.stjohnelcaedgar.org/, on the Web.

ELCA News Service