From a WordAlone email received today
NEWS RELEASE: ELCA assembly slips practicing gays in back door to pulpit
While the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical LutheranChurch of America shut the front door for now on allowingministers in same-sex relationships to serve thedenomination, they essentially told them to go to the backdoor and come in.
The assembly, meeting in Chicago this week, voted to refermost resolutions on homosexual behavior and ordinationstandards to a task force on human sexuality that ispreparing a social statement for the 2009 churchwide assembly, thus taking the resolutions out of considerationat this assembly. More significantly, the assembly closedthe front door when it defeated a resolution that wouldhave changed the standards, allowing practicing homosexuals to become lay ministers and be ordained.
But the assembly opened the back door when it voted 538 to431 to urge bishops, synods and the presiding bishop torefrain from disciplining pastors or lay ministers incommitted same-sex relationships. This resolution wasrecommended by a discipline committee that defrocked a practicing homosexual but delayed enforcement until afterthe assembly and made clear its opinion that the standards needed loosening. Twenty-one synod assemblies had approvedresolutions recommended by that discipline committee this spring.
"Some synodical bishops will use this as an excuse toordain people in same-sex relationships and to certify layministers even though the 'Vision and Expectations' and'Definitions and Guidelines' on ministry haven't changed.It's deceptive and lacks integrity," said Pastor Paull Spring, who is chair of Lutheran CORE, which along withWordAlone is working to renew and reform the ELCA.
WordAlone Network President Jaynan Clark Egland added: "Idon't know as a Christian, as a pastor and as a parent what really would be worse--a church with no Biblical standards to govern our ministry or standards we don't intend toenforce. To refrain from discipline in the home is bad parenting, but we're about to do so in Christ's Church."
"Isn't this really a local option? Talk about introducingeven more chaos to the ELCA's roster. Some bishops alreadyare allowing people in same-sex relationships to serve.More may join them. But not all will look the other way andstill may discipline. This leaves the ELCA withinconsistent patterns of discipline and standards, andpossibly increases the church's liability in legal casesinvolving sexual impropriety," Egland said.
"The assembly spoke against making any change now by referring the main resolution on ordaining practicing homosexuals to the human sexuality study task force. It's a shame they opened this door allowing ordinations of persons in same-sex relationships," Spring commented.
The campaign to get homosexual behavior before the assembly prior to consideration of the social statement in 2009 seems to have started with an Atlanta, Ga., pastor's confession to his bishop that he, a known homosexual, had a"committed relationship" with another man. A discipline hearing was scheduled and held in early February.
The hearing committee ruled that the pastor was inviolation of current ELCA standards and should be removed from the denomination's clergy roster, but delayed his removal until Aug. 15, after the assembly. The disciplinecommittee also questioned the appropriateness and constitutionality of present ordination standards.
That committee also asked the ELCA's 65 synods to pass resolutions requesting the 2007 assembly to begin the process to change the standards to allow for non-celibate clergy and lay ministers. In addition the committee askedthe synod assemblies to consider other resolutions for thechurchwide assembly to go easy in the meantime ondisciplining any ministers serving the church who are inhomosexual relationships. Both sides appealed the ruling.
In July, the appeals committee ruled that Brad Schmeling, the Atlanta pastor, should have been removed from the roster in February and removed him effective with theirfindings. The appeals group also chastised the discipline committee for overstepping its bounds by delaying thepastor's removal, for commenting on the standards and for asking this year's assembly to approve changing them.
About an hour before the assembly ended, when more than 400 voting members had departed, the assembly approved by amargin of 318 to 309 a motion that calls for ELCA bishops to discuss their accountability to the "adopted policies,practices and procedures" of the ELCA. The motion furtherdirects the bishops to bring to the 2009 assembly adocument that clarifies the lines of accountability. Perhaps the assembly realized it had voted for chaos earlier in the day by urging bishops not to uphold standards.
