wfn.org | ELCA Task Force Hones Recommendations On Homosexuality

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 16, 2004

ELCA Task Force Hones Recommendations On Homosexuality
04-234-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The task force of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Studies on Sexuality discussed key
issues regarding the church and homosexuality, and it made
significant decisions about recommendations it will place before
the church Jan. 13 for action in August by the ELCA Churchwide
Assembly.
     The task force met here Dec. 10-12 and drafted
recommendations on how the ELCA should answer two key questions
on homosexuality -- whether or not the church should bless same-
gender relationships and whether or not it should allow people in
such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and
ordained ministers.
     "Although many things were decided this weekend, the task is
not yet fully completed," said the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, chair
of the 14-member task force and bishop of the ELCA New England
Synod, Worcester, Mass.
     "We will be in further communication with one another.  I
think it would betray the confidence of the task force to speak
about what is not yet finally determined, but it will be very
clear when the report comes out," she said in an interview after
the meeting.  The meeting was in closed sessions, allowing only
limited reporting.
     The recommendations will be accompanied by a report on the
task force's activities.  The report will summarize the
communication the task force has received from the church as it
prepared its recommendations, said the Rev. James M. Childs Jr.,
director, ELCA Studies on Sexuality.
     Since its first meeting in May 2002, the task force
developed two studies, "Journey Together Faithfully" parts one
and two, and has received more than 28,000 responses to the
second part alone.  Task force members have also been involved in
hearings across the church and have received speakers on a
variety of related topics.
     "The report will, of course, have to reflect how our work
together as the task force, in dialogue with the responses of the
church and in prayerful beseeching of the Holy Spirit through the
Word, developed the rationale which surrounds the recommendations
we make," Childs said.
     "We are committed to making an honest report," Childs said.
"This report will reflect what we have heard from the church and
how we have related to one another on specific items," he said.
     "The task force has, since its beginning, represented a
spectrum of the views one can hear from within our church,"
Childs said.  "They [the members] have been very forthright and
with great integrity able to share those views in our discussions
over the years.  That has not stopped," he said.
     "Despite their diverse viewpoints they are united by a
common commitment to be servants of the church and its gospel
mission," Childs said.	 "We can be proud of our task force for
the manner in which they dealt in good faith with one another and
in good faith concern for the well-being of the church, as this
report goes into its final stages."
     Payne said the report and recommendations will illustrate
how the task force struggled with issues related to the ELCA and
homosexuality and will "provide a model for how wider communities
in the church also can begin to think of themselves as servants
of the gospel, talking in faith with one another despite
differing opinions, exploring Scripture and theology together."
     "The amount of information that we've received and worked
with over these three years has been enormous," Payne said.  Task
force members reviewed all the information and "want it to be
clear that all of the study and work was done under Scripture and
in reference to God's Word and the theology of the Lutheran
church and Confessions and tradition.  They hope that people will
see evidence of how we've thought and struggled together with
differing understandings and beliefs on the issues," she said.
     Current ELCA policy expects ministers to refrain from all
sexual relations outside marriage, which it defines as "a
lifelong covenant of faithfulness between a man and a woman."
The church has no official policy on blessing same-gender
relationships.	In 1993 the ELCA Conference of Bishops stated it
does not approve of such ceremonies but expressed a desire to
remain in dialogue with those providing pastoral care for gay and
lesbian Lutherans.
     The ELCA is organized into 65 synods, each headed by a
bishop. The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the
church, consisting of the church's synod bishops, presiding
bishop and secretary.

When the Report and Recommendations Go Public
     The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director, ELCA Department for
Communication, spoke with task force members about the ways in
which their report and recommendations would be made public.
     The task force report and recommendations are embargoed from
release until noon (EST) on Jan. 13.
     ELCA leaders will receive a confidential preview of the
report and recommendations by e-mail at noon (EST) on Jan. 12.
Shafer said a question-and-answer document would accompany the
preview, to help the church's leaders interpret the report and
recommendations for their congregations and communities.
     The ELCA's 10,657 congregations may study the report and
recommendations January through March, with responses directed to
synod councils and assemblies.	The ELCA Conference of Bishops is
expected to discuss the report and recommendations when it meets
March 3-8 in Dallas.
     The boards of the ELCA Division for Church and Society and
the ELCA Division for Ministry will meet here March 10-13.  They
are expected to review the task force report and recommendations
and forward them to the council with any additional comments from
the boards.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies.
     The council will meet here April 8-11.  It is to receive the
task force report and recommendations with any additional board
comments and to transmit the report and recommendations to the
2005 Churchwide Assembly.  The council will prepare a resolution
for the assembly action on recommendations.
     April through June the ELCA's 65 synods meet separately in
synod assemblies.  They may discuss the report and
recommendations and address the 2005 Churchwide Assembly through
resolutions called "memorials."  The churchwide assembly will
receive the report and recommendations, and it will consider the
council's resolution, synod memorials and other related
resolutions from voting members of the assembly.
     The ELCA's chief legislative body is the churchwide
assembly, which meets every other year; the next assembly will be
Aug. 8-14, 2005, in Orlando, Fla.  The 2001 assembly mandated the
study in preparation for decisions the 2005 assembly is to make.

An ELCA Social Statement on Human Sexuality
     In addition to the report and recommendations, the 2001
assembly asked that a social statement on human sexuality be
developed for the assembly to consider in 2007.  The task force
will continue to work on a proposed social statement.
     The Rev. Kaari M. Reierson and Roger A. Willer, associate
directors for studies, ELCA Division for Church in Society, will
direct the task force's work on the statement.	Childs remains
director of the studies until after the 2005 Churchwide Assembly,
when he will assume a role as advisor to the task force.
     Reierson and Willer spoke with the task force about the
steps involved in preparing a social statement.  They will begin
planning the topics, nature and scope of the statement at the
next task force meeting here Feb. 18-20.
     The first draft of the proposed social statement on human
sexuality will be published by spring 2006.  The proposed social
statement will be ready by spring 2007 for consideration here at
the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2007.
     Reierson is also associate pastor of Grace Lutheran Church,
Evanston, Ill.	Willer is a doctoral candidate in theology,
University of Chicago.
-- -- --
     Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news