wfn.org | Lutheran CORE Plans Next Steps, Intends to be 'Free-Standing' Synod

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutheran CORE Plans Next Steps, Intends to be 'Free-Standing' Synod
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>September 10, 2009  

Lutheran CORE Plans Next Steps, Intends to be 'Free-Standing' Synod
09-198-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Saying the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) has "fallen into heresy," because of actions taken at last month's
churchwide assembly, the chair of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform)
said the organization intends to be a "free-standing synod" which will
carry out ministries apart from the ELCA.

In addition CORE is expected to consider initiating conversations
with member Lutheran congregations and reform movements in the United
States and Canada toward a possible reconfiguration "of North American
Lutheranism," said the Rev. Paull E. Spring, State College, Pa., Lutheran
CORE chair.  Spring is a former bishop of the ELCA Northwestern
Pennsylvania Synod.

Those and other ideas will be discussed when Lutheran CORE holds a
convocation Sept. 25-26 at Christ the Savior Lutheran Church, Fishers,
Ind. Nearly 700 people have registered as of Sept. 8, said the Rev. Mark
Chavez, Landisville, Pa., CORE director and vice president, WordAlone
Network, New Brighton, Minn. WordAlone is a member of Lutheran CORE.

Lutheran CORE is a coalition of pastors, lay people, congregations
and reform groups in the ELCA. CORE expressed distress and sadness over
the assembly's decisions on human sexuality.  The assembly adopted by a
two-thirds vote an ELCA social statement, "Human Sexuality: Gift and
Trust," which CORE said changed ELCA teaching and policy on same-gender
relationships.  Voting members also directed that changes be made to ELCA
ministry policies to make it possible for people in committed, same-
gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy,
deaconesses and diaconal ministers. CORE opposed that change, citing
biblical teaching on marriage and homosexuality.

Following the assembly's decisions on sexuality, CORE announced it
was ending its relationship as an independent Lutheran
organization "officially recognized" by the ELCA.  The organization is
also encouraging ELCA members and congregations to send finances directly
to ministries they support versus giving to the ELCA.

More than 1,000 people have contacted Lutheran CORE since the
assembly, most expressing sadness and asking questions, Spring said.
However, CORE is "encouraging people to remain in the ELCA -- for now,"
Spring said in a telephone interview with the ELCA News Service. "I
myself intend to remain on the ELCA clergy roster and remain a member of
an ELCA congregation," he said, adding that he and others may not
participate much in the ELCA beyond the congregation.

Despite his own "disappointment and shock" over the assembly's
actions, Spring said he hopes Lutheran CORE can "be a visionary, future-
oriented group."

"We have no desire to look back at what happened in Minneapolis.  We
need to look to the future with confidence, amid much uncertainty,"
Spring said.

CORE's 2009 convocation is expected to adopt a proposed
constitution, authorize proposals for developing fiscal plans and
authorize its steering committee to initiate conversations
with "congregations and reform movements" within Lutheran CORE, Lutheran
Congregations for Mission in Christ, and other compatible organizations,
Spring wrote in a Sept. 4 e-mail to CORE supporters. There's also much
planning to do over the course of the next year, he said.

Convocation speakers include the Rev. Kenneth H. Sauer, Columbus,
Ohio, former bishop of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod and former chair of
the ELCA Conference of Bishops; Ryan Schwarz, Washington, D.C., a CORE
steering committee member and runner-up in the election for ELCA vice
president at the 2009 assembly; plus Spring and Chavez.

"We will try to be churchly," Spring said of the upcoming CORE
convocation.  "We are trying to be responsible.  There's a lot at stake
here, including the future of Lutheranism in the United States."

>---

Editors:  Pastor Spring's first name is correctly spelled as "Paull."

For information contact:

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