Title: Military Chaplaincy, Ongoing Ministries Focus of ELCA-LCMS Meeting ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 27, 2006
Military Chaplaincy, Ongoing Ministries Focus of ELCA-LCMS Meeting 06-060-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) discussed military chaplaincy issues and reviewed the status of various ministries within their churches when they met April 6 here at the churchwide office of the ELCA.
The leaders met as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) to discuss topics of mutual interest and concern.
The ELCA has 4.9 million members in 10,461 congregations; the LCMS has 2.5 million members in 6,151 congregations.
The leaders spent considerable time discussing military chaplaincy. It has been difficult for the chaplaincies as a whole to recruit for the armed forces, said the Rev. Ted Wuerffel, LCMS associate director of Ministry to the Armed Forces, who reported on behalf of the LCMS and ELCA. Wuerffel noted that, because of the larger number of "second-career" seminarians, the recruiting pool for the armed forces through seminaries is smaller than in previous years because of age limits on entry into military service.
The ELCA has 100 active-duty military chaplains, and 175 chaplains in the military reserves or National Guard. The LCMS has 89 military chaplains on active duty and 115 in the National Guard or reserves. Because of the war in Iraq, Wuerffel said the U.S. Army is the branch most likely to call National Guard or reserve chaplains, many of whom are pastors of congregations.
When a guard or reserve chaplain has completed a tour of duty, re-entry into a role as congregational pastor can be difficult, said the Rev. C. William Hoesman, chair, LCMS Council of Presidents, and president, LCMS Michigan District, Ann Arbor.
"We do not do well with that. We find that congregations and pastors have issues to deal with sometimes. This has not always been a smooth thing," he said.
The LCMS started a doctor of ministry (D.Min.) track at its Ft. Wayne, Ind., and St. Louis seminaries "to help keep military chaplains on a par with civilian pastors getting a D.Min.," Wuerffel said.
Wuerffel addressed recent concerns raised about prayer and religious practices in the military, particularly at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The U.S. Air Force conducted an official investigation and issued interim guidelines following publicity regarding concerns about the influence of evangelical Christians at the Academy. Under the interim guidelines, the Academy must work to accommodate the religious beliefs of all cadets and cannot promote a specific faith through its religious practices, he said.
Responding to the interim guidelines, the Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, St. Louis, shared copies of a March 14 memo he wrote to Gen. T. Michael Moseley, U.S. Air Force chief of staff, and Michael W. Wynne, secretary of the Air Force.
In that memo, Kieschnick wrote, "considering the pluralistic nature of the military and First Amendment guarantees of the free exercise of religion and freedom of expression, we believe that the current interim Air Force policy runs counter to the right of every chaplain to pray publicly using Jesus' name, whether or not that right is exercised."
"At the same time we would like the firm assurance from your office that should any of our chaplains choose for conscience reasons not to pray publicly that they will not receive negative consequences upon their military careers," he wrote.
Wuerffel also gave the Lutheran leaders an official statement on prayer in the U.S. Navy from the chief of Navy chaplains. It emphasized "mutual respect, cooperation and inclusiveness in delivering prayers at command functions." It also said that if a chaplain chooses not to pray at an official military function "he or she may do so without adverse consequences."
The Lutheran leaders also discussed other topics:
+ World Council of Churches (WCC) Ninth Assembly, Porto Alegre, Brazil, Feb. 14-23: The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said a presentation on Christian identity by the Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican Communion, was a highlight of the assembly. It was "tragic" the assembly could not respond to Christian-Islamic relations in the world, and, he said, there was "great appreciation" for a critique of the actions of the U.S. government offered by the U.S. Conference of Churches of the WCC, he said.
Carlos Pena, ELCA vice president, Galveston, Texas, a member of the CLC, was elected to the WCC Central Committee; the Rev. Walter Altmann, president, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, was elected WCC moderator.
The LCMS did not have a representative at the WCC assembly, said the Rev. Samuel H. Nafzger, executive director, LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, St. Louis. Nafzger said the LCMS, which is not a member of the WCC, was not invited.
+ LCMS Update: Kieschnick reviewed several LCMS initiatives including "Ablaze!" intended as a "movement" by members to reach 100 million people worldwide with the gospel by 2017, including 50 million in the United States; "Fanning the Flame,"a fund- raising effort to raise $100 million for Ablaze!, start 200 new congregations and increase the number of missionary families from 65 to 100; an effort to assist partner churches with special needs such as restoring church buildings in Eastern Europe; "For the Sake of the Church," a ministry aimed at doubling the number of students in the Concordia University system; and a ministry to increase recruitment and retention of church workers.
The Synod also has two "blue ribbon" task forces. One is examining how the church will fund its mission and the other is studying church structure and governance. A new LCMS worship book will be available in September, Kieschnick added.
+ ELCA update: The ELCA has had "a good year" since the 2005 Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Fla., Hanson said, acknowledging that some people were disappointed with the defeat of a proposal that would have made it possible for people who are gay or lesbian and in a committed relationship to serve as ELCA clergy. "As a church body we have a sense that we matured through that experience," he said.
A series of new worship resources, "Evangelical Lutheran Worship," will be available in October, which includes a new worship book and downloadble resources; the ELCA churchwide organization is "living into" a plan for mission and reorganization implemented by the churchwide assembly; "identity, unity and mission" are themes running throughout the ELCA, and Hanson said his video greeting to synod assemblies this spring will focus on the words, "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America."
An "ominous sign" is a statistic suggesting that less than 30 percent of ELCA members are in worship each week, he said. In addition, 54 percent of ELCA congregations have less than 100 people in worship each week, while larger congregations have greater numbers in worship each week. The ELCA is facing "huge transitions" in leadership in 2007: more than 20 of the 65 synods elect bishops, and many incumbents are unable to serve again because of term limits or retirements.
+ Nafzger said the Synod released a booklet, "Christian Faith and Human Beginnings: Christian Care and Pre-Implantation Human Life;" it is preparing a Bible study on the "Left Behind" series of popular books; and it will address "public sin and the 8th Commandment," homosexual behavior, and relationships between men and women. Nafzger said he participated in the opening session of the latest round of U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue and was "pleased to be part of that."
+ Finances: the LCMS expects to finish the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2006, about $2 million behind budget, much of that due to the start-up costs for "Fanning the Flame," said Ronald Schultz, administrative officer, LCMS board of directors. This fiscal year the denomination raised about $13.3 million for international and domestic disasters, he said.
The Rev. Charles S. Miller, ELCA executive for administration and executive assistant to the presiding bishop, said the ELCA's fiscal year, ending Jan. 31, 2006, was "an outstanding year for us financially." Income was up, particularly for the World Hunger Appeal, which received $17.7 million in gifts, he said. Gifts for disaster relief, especially tsunami and hurricane relief, were $36.8 million.
The ELCA churchwide organization is now working on a long- range plan in which budget resources will serve the denomination's Plan for Mission, he said. "I believe that in five years we won't look the same in the way programs are delivered," Miller said.
+ Next meetings: The CLC will meet Oct. 3 in St. Louis. The following day leaders of both churches will engage in a theological discussion on a 1971 report, "Function of Doctrine and Theology in the Light of the Unity of the Church." That report is "the most salient and concise analysis" of issues that divide and unite Lutherans, said the Rev. Randall R. Lee, executive, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations.
In addition to Hoesman, Kieschnick, Nafzger, Schultz and Wuerffel, other LCMS representatives on the CLC who attended were the Rev. William R. Diekelman, first vice president, and the Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig, LCMS secretary.
In addition to Hanson, Lee, Miller and Pena, other ELCA leaders on the CLC are the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, and the Rev. E. Roy Riley Jr., bishop of the ELCA New Jersey Synod, Hamilton Square, and chair, ELCA Conference of Bishops.
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Information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is at http://www.ELCA.org on the Web.
Information about the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is at http://www.lcms.org on the Web.
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