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PDF versionConservative Lutherans form new denomination
Feb. 22, 2010
Saying they're done with efforts to reform the nation's largest Lutheran body, dissidents unveiled blueprints Feb. 18 for a rival denomination, the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).
The new body, which will hew to a more traditional line on issues of human sexuality, is expected to be formally launched in August as a conservative alternative to the 4.6 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
So far, at least seven ELCA congregations have voted to leave after the Chicago-based denomination lifted restrictions last summer on non-celibate gay clergy. An additional 28 congregations appear poised to leave.
The ultimate size of the new denomination remains unclear. Congregations seeking to leave the ELCA must garner a two-thirds majority in back-to-back votes. So far, 64 of the 220 ELCA parishes that moved to secede couldn't muster the necessary votes, both sides said.
The new denomination will be "faithful in its preaching and practice to the Holy Bible and to the teachings of the Lutheran Confessions," organizers said. Still, they said remaining in the ELCA is also a "faithful course" for individuals or congregations that choose to stay.
Organizers are "united in a common confession of the Christian faith and commitment to submit to the authority of God's Word over all matters of faith," said the Rev. Mark Chavez of Landisville, Pa., director of the group Lutheran CORE, which is overseeing the breakaway.
Chavez said Lutheran CORE would remain as a network of Lutherans across the ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, NALC and perhaps even the more conservative Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Lutheran CORE expects to work alongside the new denomination on evangelism, theological training and social services. Former ELCA Bishop Paull Spring, who chairs Lutheran CORE's steering committee, said there are no plans to dissolve Lutheran CORE into the new NALC.
Whatever the group's future, organizers made clear they're fed up with years-long fights within the ELCA.
"These proposals are a way for Lutherans to move forward ... while leaving behind past struggles to reform the ELCA," said Ryan Schwarz, a NALC organizer from Washington, D.C.
The new body would mark the second major U.S. church schism over homosexuality in as many years. In 2009, conservative Episcopalians launched the rival Anglican Church in North America, which now claims some 800 congregations in the U.S. and Canada; Episcopal Church headquarters puts the number of breakaway congregations at no more than several dozen.
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The new Lutheran church body was announced on the 464th anniversary of the death of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, a date on which Lutherans celebrate their founder as "a renewer of the Christian church," officials said.
Recently released ELCA membership figures reported a 1.6 percent drop in 2008 -- losses incurred well before last year's policy change.
For its part, the ELCA issued a statement saying church leaders will go forward on implementing the policy changes while regretting the decision of "a few congregations" to leave the denomination.
"As the ELCA carries out the directives of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, we continue to encourage congregations, synods and the churchwide organization to remain in conversation about these matters," the ELCA statement said.
I hope the liberals are
I hope the liberals are seeing a pattern here. There day of leadership is coming to an end. The time of basing morality not on Jesus Christ and Scripture but on popular vote and prevailing societal trends is coming to and end, praise God!
There have always been
There have always been differences as to how to interpert the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture. And these differences can often be quite passionate, I understand that. Yet, I often think these differences can be respected. I don`t think reducing the other side to a dismissiveness of basing their beliefs on "popular vote and prevailing societal trends" is respectful or, for that matter, accurate. I get the feeling that the same was said, in one form or another, when these denomations first broke from Rome.
Also, if you are seeing that the congregations that are voting to leave is a sign that liberal interpertation on these issues is coming to an end, you are failing to acknowledge the congregations that are adapting the liberal view on these matters of sexuality. To get a proper picture, it is always important to see and acknowledge even that which you don't want to.
I realize that there are splits within these congregations and I respect that. Actually, I don't always think a split is wrong. For evey move out of an assumed position, there will always be a backlash. Some of that backlash will be permemant, I am sure. However, when I look at all of the data, it seems to me that the yonger generation, who did not grow up with so much misinformation about Gay and Lesbians, are much more open to seeing God present in their lifestyle.
I know that this will not be the same for all. But the time when there was a general agreement as to the "evil" of a Gay lifestyle, seems to me, to be what is coming to an end. For this I praise God. So, my anonymous friend in Christ, we see things differently with this issue. Yet, I wish you Peace and offer you my prayers for your journey.
John David
On the contrary. It's like a
On the contrary. It's like a repeat of the 1860s when most of the mailine Protestant churches in the US split over slavery. The conservative splitters were wrong then. They are wrong now.
So how long till the Vatican
So how long till the Vatican issues "Lutheranorum Coetibus"?
The ELCA, along with the rest
The ELCA, along with the rest of Protestantism, is getting exactly what it deserves! The issues instigating this present split may be new, but faction and sectarianism are the run of the mill for Protestantism. Why don't these disaffected Lutherans in the ELCA just link up with the LCMS? Thats simple; because they can't agree with one another, despite the fact that they are both conservatively oriented Lutheran groups. Even if they did link up, they would still insist that conservative, evangelical Presbyterians are apostates! A joke!
Christ established "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." They should consider joining it one day, instead of being part of a "denomination."
They are already part of the
They are already part of the "one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church" as they affirm when they recite the creed. It is you who are reducing the catholic church to a denomination rather than affirming the deeper meaning of catholicity.
The progressive's days of
The progressive's days of LEADERSHIP in all Christian (Catholic and Non-Catholic) Communities is really just beginning! The seeds that were planted during the Second Vatican Council are just beginning to show new buds on the vine. The coming Church that will most closely mirror the teachings of Jesus and NOT the imperial and triumphalist demagoguery of the current crop of men at the Vatican. The ultra conservatives of the various branches of Christianity all have one thing in common and that is VERY NARROW MINDS.
Memo to Conservative
Memo to Conservative Lutherans:
Save your time and energy and just ask the current Pope to change the Anglican in "Anglicanorum Coetibus" to "Lutheranorum"
and join your homophobic cousins in Christ.
http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/004054.html
Interesting that they are not
Interesting that they are not hooking up with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Honestly, (I know several people in that synod) I can't imagine getting more conservative than they.
How come nobody here says
How come nobody here says that since they're Protestants, they are all going to Hell anyway? Thus it's a non story :)
Who told you the Protestants
Who told you the Protestants were going to hell? I thought that was reserved for Catholics?
Perhaps because that way of
Perhaps because that way of thinking was rightfully dismissed by Vatican II. And no reasonable person would hold that to be true. You were joking, weren't you?
As a so called 'conservative'
As a so called 'conservative' Lutheran, I have to say that this split in the ELCA is not solely the result of the the ELCA Churchwide Assembly's sectarian endorsement of homosexuality. In fact, that is merely the straw that has broken the camel's back. Traditionalists in the ELCA have become increasingly marginalized over the years. Changes in the liturgy that reflect the ELCA leadership's obsession with pushing feminist "inclusive" language (no male pronouns for God, an aversion to "Father and Son," etc.), ecumenical agreements with protestant denominations which differ from us on essential matters such as the Real Presence of Christ in the holy Eucharist, social statements on issues such as abortion that are not in accord with the Holy Scriptures and the tradition of the Church Catholic, and I could go on and on--all these things have led to the present state of crisis within the ELCA. The traditionalists have been beaten up very badly by the ELCA leadership. Finally, after years of putting up with it, we are getting out of this abusive relationship. And if the ELCA headquarters thinks it just a matter of "a few congregations," they are sadly mistaken! Personally, I pray for a Lutheranorum Coetibus. May the Holy Father act charitably toward us.
TO PARAPHRASE JAMES JOYCE'S
TO PARAPHRASE JAMES JOYCE'S DEFINITION OF RC CHURCH "HERE COMES EVERYONE" AS A CONSERVATIVE[CATHOLIC & OTHERWISE]I AM NOT HOMOPHOBIC NOR INTOLERANT. THE CHURCH IS UNIVERSAL ALL ARE WELCOME; HOWEVER IF ONE CANNOT ABIDE BY ITS TENETS LEAVE IT.EVERY REVOLUTION COMES FULL CIRCLE,VATICAN II IS NOT AN EXCEPTION.
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