March 12, 2010

ITASCA, Ill. – Three ordained pastors on the roster of "Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM)" said they were pleased with the draft rite, "Reception onto the Roster of Ordained Ministers" that emerged from discussions March 5-9 in the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The bishops agreed March 8 by consensus to a draft rite for affirming ELM pastors and receiving them onto the official ELCA clergy roster, versus requiring them to be ordained again. The draft rite will undergo internal and external review before it is presented to the ELCA Church Council for authorization, perhaps next month.

The three pastors attended portions of the conference meeting here March 5-9: the Rev. Erik Christensen, St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square, Chicago; the Rev. Anita Hill, St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn.; and the Rev. Jen Nagel, Salem English Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. Christensen spoke to conference members, at their request, as they discussed how to receive ELM pastors onto the ELCA roster. He asked for the bishops to "affirm the calls we have received."

"I am really satisfied with the proposal that we saw, and I hope the final form of both the rationale and the rite look like this in their substance," Christensen said in an interview with the ELCA News Service.

The draft rite calls for the "laying on of hands" and prayer by a synod bishop – similar in form and text to the authorized rite of ordination, but for the purpose of affirming and receiving the pastor. Christensen said he welcomes that and often makes such a sign in his ministry.

"The laying on of hands is a sign of blessing and healing and reconciliation. It is entirely appropriate, as we lay claim to one another," he said.

Christensen expects that the members of St. Luke's of Logan Square will be pleased should the draft rite of reception be adopted by the council. He said he expects to discuss a timeline for reception onto the roster soon with the Rev. Wayne Miller, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod.

Hill said her synod candidacy committee – a committee which guides candidates as they seek to become ELCA pastors – approved her last month for reception onto the ELCA clergy roster, pending final changes in policy documents. That could happen in April, when the Church Council meets in Chicago and considers such changes.

"We're just waiting for that to be done," she said. "I'm hoping that I may have voice and vote at the synod assembly at the end of May."

Hill said she and others were not pleased with an early proposal that called for each to be ordained versus being received and affirmed. That's why she attended a portion of the Conference of Bishops' meeting and was pleased with the outcome.

"I feel relieved," said Hill, who was ordained in a widely publicized ceremony in 2001. She's also pleased for her congregation that worked for years for changes in ministry policies.

"Because this congregation worked very hard for years to try to help the ELCA move toward this decision made last August, we say my ordination is ‘owned' by the congregation. Most often we speak about it here as ‘our ordination,' not only Anita's," she said.

Nagel has served at Salem more than six years, and hopes to be on the roster of the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod perhaps this summer.

"I'm actually thrilled with it (the draft proposal)," she said in a phone interview.

"The tradition of laying on of hands in our church makes good sense to me in this kind of a case. I didn't want to be ordained again," Nagel said. She said she expects her congregation, which has prayed for her reception onto the ELCA roster for years, will be pleased.

"I have a profound respect for the way the Conference of Bishops works together in a collegial model," she said. "It was a privilege to watch how they work together. I'm also aware of the Holy Spirit's movement through this process."

ELM "expands ministry opportunities for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the Lutheran church," according to its Web site. The Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of bishops from each of the ELCA's 65 synods, plus the ELCA presiding bishop and ELCA secretary.

Christensen, Hill and Nagel are among 17 ELM pastors who are not on the official ELCA clergy roster, although many are serving ELCA congregations. ELM pastors follow the same educational process and a parallel credentialing procedure that ELCA clergy follow. Most are expected to seek to be on the official clergy roster.

Actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly made it possible for their acceptance onto the ELCA clergy roster. That assembly approved proposals that would create the possibility for Lutherans in committed, publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders.

ELCA News Service