wfn.org | ELCA Ministry Board Meets, Discusses Topics of Homosexuality

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 27, 1999

ELCA MINISTRY BOARD MEETS, DISCUSSES TOPICS OF HOMOSEXUALITY
99-260-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) Division for Ministry will continue to study issues related to
homosexuality, especially the possible ordination of gay or lesbian
Lutherans.  Several conversations and actions taken during the
division's board meeting here Oct. 14-17 "reflected a desire to continue
a discerning conversation on this whole topic," said Kevin J. Boatright.
     "In the past we have been operating under a directive from the
churchwide assembly," said Boatright, Madison, Wis., newly-elected board
chair.  That directive culminated in five churchwide units preparing a
"bundled" report for the 1999 Churchwide Assembly on "Homosexuality and
the Church."
     In his report to the board, the Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, the
division's executive director, listed "several key issues for the future
which are emerging and which in one way or another we will be engaging
in all of our programs in the coming years."  He included "human
sexuality," saying it "defines our very natures and brings with it great
power for good and for pain."
     "Our division again is in the spotlight on the question of the
potential ordination of practicing gay and lesbian persons.  How can our
discerning conversation continue to develop in ways that are
constructive and reassuring to the church rather than damaging and
frightening?" Wagner asked.
     Other "key issues" Wagner listed were inclusiveness, ecumenism,
engagement with youth, shared leadership between rostered leaders and
lay members of congregations, and the health and wellness of rostered
leaders.
     "We would like to look at specifically at least one of those at
each of our next few board meetings," said Boatright.  "There were a
number of topics addressed that we will continue to use to guide the
agenda of this board for the next couple years."
     Zane K. Buxton, manager of judicial process, Office of the Stated
Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Ky., gave the board a
brief history of the Presbyterian church's dealings with the issue of
ordaining homosexual people since 1966.
     The Presbyterian General Assembly of 1970 affirmed by a nine-vote
margin that "the practice of homosexuality is sin," he said.  The 1978
assembly added, "Our present understanding of God's will precludes the
ordination of persons who do not repent of homosexual practice."
     Buxton concluded that, for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),
church membership for gay and lesbian people is appropriate, while
ordination is not -- although celibacy is an option.  The protection of
civil rights is appropriate, while homophobia is not, he said.
Presbyterians are free to disagree with but not defy this
interpretation, Buxton added.
     The ELCA "Definition and Guidelines for Discipline of Ordained
Ministers" states: "Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the
ordained ministry of this church."  The church's "Vision and
Expectations" states: "Ordained and commissioned ministers who are
homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from
homosexual sexual relationships."
     The ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly denied a motion to suspend
enforcement of these standards.  A second motion, asking the Division
for Ministry and the ELCA Conference of Bishops to propose strategies
leading to the removal of these standards, was also defeated.
     A previous meeting of the division's board proposed that it hear
reports from representatives of church bodies with which the ELCA has a
relationship of full communion to learn how they have dealt with the
possible ordination of gay and lesbian members.  At this meeting the
board proposed that a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC) be
invited to its next meeting.
     The UCC's 204 regional associations set their own policies and
standards for ordination and several have ordained openly gay or lesbian
people.  The UCC's national body of delegates, the General Synod, has
urged the associations not to deny ordination solely because of a
candidate's sexual orientation.
     Presidents of the ELCA's eight seminaries informed the Division
for Ministry board of continuing conversations on their campuses about
issues related to homosexuality in the life of the church.  The board
asked the presidents "to prepare periodic reports, papers and
perspectives from the seminary communities regarding this matter."
     In other business, the board authorized the ELCA Fund for Leaders
in Mission to award eight full-tuition scholarships to students
attending each of the church's eight seminaries in Spring 2000.  The
action outlined a two-stage process of selection which asked each
seminary to nominate three candidates and the Fund for Leaders in
Mission steering committee to direct the final selection.
     Cynthia J. Halverson, national director of the Fund for Leaders in
Mission, told the board the fund has about $500,000 in it with another
$1.2 million expected.  She said the fund's goal is to gather $200
million in the next 25 years, so it can help all ELCA seminarians.
     "This is very important to this division," said Boatright.  "It is
basically an attempt to raise private dollars to support the tuition and
fees of students attending our seminaries.  This fund has been in the
works for a couple years, and we have been waiting anxiously to see its
beginning."
     The ELCA Division for Ministry board:
 + elected Boatright to a two-term as chair; Phyllis C. Wiederhoeft,
Madison, Wis., as vice chair; Phyllis Stromme, Kennewick, Wash., as
secretary; and Vincent Peters, New Brighton, Minn., and the Rev.
Lawrence R. Wohlrabe, Redwood Falls, Minn., as executive committee
members.
 + approved a 2000 budget of $6,020,435 for the Division for Ministry,
including $3,979,900 in grants to the eight ELCA seminaries.  The
division budget is $20,000 larger than the previous year's, and that
money bolstered the budget of specialized pastoral care ministries.
 + organized itself into a structure of five committees: ministry in
church and world, ministry formation, ministry education, ministry care
and ministry support.  Four or five of the board's 21 members serve on
each committee, bringing motions to the full board.
 + granted $10,000 to each of the ELCA's three clusters for theological
education for implementation of their "research and development"
proposals.
 + heard a report on "Recruiting and Equipping Indigenous Leaders for
Mission Responding to God's Call" by the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, ELCA
director for multicultural leadership development, and agreed to change
the name of the "alternate route to ordination" to "Theological
Education for Emerging Ministries."
 + assigned money and personnel to produce two brochures in Spanish
which invite Lutherans to consider and pursue careers in the church, and
requested a comprehensive plan for development of division resources in
languages other than English.
 + heard a report from the Rev. Donald A. Stiger, ELCA director for
specialized pastoral care, on the findings of a survey conducted among
1,046 ELCA members in Specialized Pastoral Care ministries.
 + approved five continuing education institutes as ELCA Life-Long
Learning Partners:  Augsburg College, Office of Continuing Education,
Minneapolis; Crossways International, Minneapolis; ELCA Wittenberg
Center, Wittenberg, Germany: Lutheran Center for Theological Studies,
Rocky Mountain Region, Englewood, Colo.; and The Melanchthon Institute,
Houston.
 + appointed the Rev. Frederick D. Fritz, Mankato, Minn., to the board
of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev. Todd A. Hunter,
Darlington, Wis., to the Fund for Leaders in Mission steering committee;
the Rev. George Murphy, Talmadge, Ohio, to the ELCA Working Group on
Science and Technology; Richard Rouse, Tacoma, Wash., to the Faith and
Life Forum board; and Robert Sandoval, Albuquerque, N.M., to the board
of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.
 + received an interim report from the Rev. Norman D. Eitrheim, former
bishop of the ELCA South Dakota Synod, who is overseeing a study of
"clergy supply and demand," with the final report expected in March
2000.
 + raised a number of issues regarding the consistent treatment of
"ordained ministers, commissioned associates in ministry, consecrated
diaconal ministers and consecrated deaconesses" and asked the division's
staff to work with other church officials in preparing a report for the
board's next meeting in March 2000.

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