wfn.org | Board Discusses Hospitality Report - MARGIN CORRECTED

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 1, 1999

BOARD DISCUSSES HOSPITALITY REPORT
99-12-070-JB

     LISLE, Ill. (ELCA)-- The Division for Outreach board of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) discussed a wide range of
issues related to ministry to gay and lesbian people, and board
representatives met informally with other church officials to discuss
ordination of homosexuals during their spring meeting here March 11-14.
     The discussion centered on a report from the division,
"Congregational Ministry with Gay and Lesbian People."  It was approved
by the board last fall and presented to the ELCA Conference of Bishops
for comment in early March.  The "hospitality report" has been shared
with 16 congregations which were studied for the ways they welcome
homosexuals, and in August a draft of a study resource on the subject is
expected to be ready for distribution to division-related congregations,
said Susan A. Thompson, executive for maturing congregations, ELCA
Division for Outreach.  The report will be forwarded with other reports
on ministry with gay and lesbian people to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
in Denver this summer.
     The report's findings focus on signs of welcome, leadership and
the process of becoming a congregation that welcomes gay and lesbian
people.  The report was authored by Thompson and Kathryn A. Sime,
research analyst with the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation.
The study was done by a nine-member team.
     The ELCA synodical bishops commented on the hospitality report at
their spring meeting in early March in Tucson, Ariz.  Some bishops
expressed concern about its content.  Others expressed support.  Some
bishops questioned why the ELCA was putting emphasis on welcoming a
small group of people versus a much larger group, such as those who are
economically deprived.
     "I was initially bewildered at the response of some of my
colleagues to the report," said the Rev. David R. Strobel, bishop of the
ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod.  Strobel is the bishops'
representative to the Outreach board.  He said the board "watches over
the whole church, and it's a bit disingenuous to say DO is not
responding to other causes."
     The 1991 and 1995 ELCA churchwide assemblies expressed support for
ministry to gay and lesbian people, and the bishops issued a letter of
support on the subject in 1996, Strobel said.
     "Your study and your report is an appropriate expression of where
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is on this issue now,"
Strobel told the board. "This is an appropriate and modest step
forward."
     The report on hospitality to gay and lesbian people will be
included in a "bundled report" of a variety of churchwide activities
relating to homosexuality.  The 1997 Churchwide Assembly requested that
a report from the ELCA's Divisions for Ministry and Church in Society be
brought through the ELCA Church Council to the 1999 churchwide assembly.
In 1998, the Church Council approved a recommendation from the
churchwide staff that the report also include the work of other units.
     Division for Outreach board members agreed to send a comment on
the introduction to the bundled report for the Church Council.  In it,
the board members said they understand that "people are equal in His
kingdom."  They were responding to a sentence in the bundled report's
introduction that said "we await a time of clearer understanding" on how
the church should relate to homosexuals.
     Thompson said she expectes the report on ministry with gay and
lesbian people to  generate some negative criticism.  "I ask for your
prayers," she said. "We want to respond with integrity, appropriately
and bravely."
     In a related development, members of the board met with
representatives of the ELCA's Division for Ministry board, who were
meeting the same weekend in Chicago.  The meeting included discussion of
the hospitality report and ordination of non-celibate homosexuals,
presently forbidden by the ELCA.
     The Outreach board members raised concerns that ordination of gays
and lesbians "is a logical next step" since the church welcomes
homosexuals to congregations but doesn't allow practicing gays and
lesbians to be ordained, said board member the Rev. Catherine K. Mode,
Neenah, Wis.  The meeting with ministry board representatives resulted
in no promises, but there was a willingness expressed to work together,
she said.
     There are presently gay and lesbian pastors in the ELCA who live
with "a terrible burden," said the Rev. Julius Carroll, board chair,
Pinole, Calif. "We are not talking about categories," Carroll said. "We
are talking about people in pain."
     "The hardest thing in all of this is being able to understand why
some of you can be set aside to be pastors and why some of us can't be
set aside if the call of the Holy Spirit comes," said Joe McMahon, DO
board member, Washington, D.C.
     Attending the last meeting of her term, board member Dora Johnson,
Washington, D.C., urged remaining members to continue work on issues
involving the roles of homosexuals in the church.
     "If we are the church of Jesus Christ, if we say these are things
we believe in, I'm pleading with you not to let go of this tiger," she
said.

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