wfn.org | ELCA Bishops, Church Boards Comment about Task Force

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

ELCA Bishops, Church Boards Comment about Task Force Recommendations on
Homosexuality
Church Council to Prepare Resolution for Action by 2005 Assembly

CHICAGO, United States of America/GENEVA, 30 March 2005 (ELCA NEWS/LWI)
- Ahead of the April 8-11 meeting of the Church Council of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Conference of Bishops
and two church boards have issued separate statements concerning three
recommendations on homosexuality released by a task force for the ELCA
Studies on Sexuality this year. 

The Council, ELCA's board of directors and its legislative authority
between biennial churchwide assemblies, will, at its meeting next month,
prepare a resolution for action on the task force's recommendations by
the 2005 Churchwide Assembly. The assembly will meet August 8-14, in
Orlando, Florida.

On January 13, the task force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality released a
report on its first three years of work. The report included three
recommendations for the assembly to review at this year's meeting, when
it is expected to answer two key questions on homosexuality: Should the
church bless same-gender relationships? Should the church allow people
in such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and
ordained ministers?

The task force recommended that the ELCA:
+ concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst
of disagreements.
+ continue to respect the pastoral guidance of a 1993 statement of the
ELCA Conference of Bishops opposing the blessing of homosexual
relationships but remaining open to pastors wanting to provide pastoral
care for gay and lesbian Lutherans.
+ continue under current standards that expect unmarried ministers to
abstain from sexual relations -- defining marriage as being between a
man and a woman -- but, respecting the consciences of those who find
these standards in conflict with the mission of the church, the ELCA may
choose to refrain from disciplining gay and lesbian ministers in
committed relationships and from disciplining those who call or approve
partnered gay or lesbian people for ministry.

Division for Church in Society, Ministry Boards Consider
Recommendations

At their meetings March 10-12 in Chicago, the Division for Church in
Society (DCS) and Division for Ministry (DM) drafted a joint response to
the report and the three recommendations. The boards met in small groups
and in plenary sessions, together and separately, to consider what to do
with the task force report and recommendations on homosexuality.

In their joint statement, the DCS and DM boards said they were
supportive of the first recommendation. While the DCS board appreciated
the second recommendation's "allowance for prayerful support for couples
in same-sex committed relationships," the DM board's response was "more
mixed." 

"Although both boards voted in a straw poll against adopting
recommendation three as presented by the task force, many expressed a
desire to 'create space,' picking up a phrase from the task force
report," the boards said. Some board members were concerned that "create
space" was not defined, while others "welcomed the term as a means to
express their desire to allow exception for those who, as a matter of
conscience, would act contrary to churchwide policy."

Conference of Bishops Acknowledge Members are "Not of One Mind" 

Following its March 3-7 meeting, the ELCA Conference of Bishops,
acknowledging its members were "not of one mind" on issues related to
homosexuality, sent a message to the church urging the affirmation of
two recommendations of the task force, but could offer no definitive
advice on the most controversial of the three recommendations.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church,
consisting of the 65 ELCA synod bishops, ELCA secretary and ELCA
presiding bishop. Their message was intended to advise the DCS and DM
boards, and the ELCA Church Council, as each considers what to do with
the task force report and recommendations on homosexuality.

"We acknowledge that as a conference we are unable to offer a
definitive word of advice on recommendation three," the Conference of
Bishops said. "Some bishops are convinced there should be no change in
the practice and policy of our church. Other bishops favor changes both
in policy and in practice, although there is no consensus as to how such
changes should take place."

Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site. Additional
information is available from the ELCA News Service at
http://www.elca.org/news 

The ELCA has nearly 5 million members, and joined the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) in 1988. Its presiding bishop, Rev. Mark S. Hanson is
LWF President. 

Meanwhile, the LWF Task Force for Discussion on Family, Marriage and
Sexuality, will hold its first meeting from April 4 to 7 in Geneva. The
team of eight persons drawn from the seven LWF regions is expected to
propose guidelines and processes by which "respectful discussion might
be pursued among member churches on issues of family, marriage and human
sexuality where there are agreements and disagreements," its terms of
reference state. The task force was appointed by the LWF Council at its
meeting last September. (830 words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million Christians. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be
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