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Title: ELCA, LCMS Leaders to Continue Cooperative Ministries, When Possible
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>October 1, 2009  

ELCA, LCMS Leaders to Continue Cooperative Ministries, When Possible
09-217-JB

BALTIMORE (ELCA) -- Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) agreed they
would do all they can to continue their longtime cooperative ministries,
despite decisions made by voting members of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide
Assembly regarding human sexuality.

The ELCA is a 4.6-million member church based in Chicago. The
2.4-million member LCMS is based in St. Louis. The ELCA and the LCMS
do not have "altar and pulpit fellowship" with each other because of
doctrinal disagreements.

Meeting as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC) Sept. 28-29,
the leaders spent most of their time discussing the future of their
present work together. Meeting with them were leaders of three such
ministries: Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Lutheran Services
in America, which provides a variety of human services through social
ministry organizations, and Lutheran World Relief, an international
relief and development agency, all based here.

At the center of the discussion were ELCA assembly actions taken in
August. Assembly voting members adopted a social statement on human
sexuality and a series of proposals to change ELCA ministry policies,
including a change to make it possible for Lutherans in lifelong,
publicly accountable, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as
ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

The Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, said the decisions
were incompatible with the Word of God, and do not agree with the
consensus of 2,000 years of Christian teaching about what Scripture says
regarding human sexuality. He also repeated words from his address to the
ELCA assembly in Minneapolis that the actions of the ELCA
would "negatively affect the relationships between our two churches," and
that the current division between the LCMS and ELCA "threatens to become
a chasm."

Setting the stage for the discussion on cooperative ministries was
Ralston B. Deffenbaugh, former president, Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Service (LIRS). He reviewed the history of Lutherans' response to
global human need and said the capacity of Lutherans to respond is
considerable. "The world is crying out to Lutherans to continue this
response," he said.

The church leaders also met in groups to discuss the ministries.
Most agreed that despite differences over human sexuality, the churches
should continue working together as much as possible when it can be done
without compromise. "I have a great concern for the ongoing ministries in
which we do have a joint interest -- and there are many of those,"
Kieschnick said to the ELCA leaders, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson,
ELCA presiding bishop and president of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF).

Kieschnick shared correspondence he has written to LCMS leaders,
advising them that the LCMS president and vice presidents will continue
to monitor the relationship with the ELCA. He offered suggestions to LCMS
district presidents about how to respond when working with the ELCA in
joint ministries when matters arise concerning the ELCA assembly
decisions.

Kieschnick told the ELCA leaders that "we do have a real concern as
the LCMS for doing everything we possibly can to deliver ministry" to
people in need. "We don't take this lightly. We believe that working
together with other partners can enhance the ministry that's delivered to
the recipients," he said. Cooperative ministry relationships with the
ELCA will certainly be a topic to be discussed at the 2010 LCMS
convention in Houston, Kieschnick added.

Hanson expressed gratitude to Kieschnick for his comments. "What you
have said is very clear (and) honest," the presiding bishop said. He said
Kieschnick's remarks would be "well-received" when Hanson reports to the
ELCA Conference of Bishops, meeting Oct. 1-6 in Chicago.

Others echoed the comments of the two church leaders. The mission of
the cooperative ministries is bigger than both church bodies, said the
Rev. M. Wyvetta Bullock, ELCA executive for administration. "We've made a
commitment to serve 'the least of these' and a commitment to work with
people at the margins. Now is not the time to walk away from the mission
we've been given," she said.

The Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig, LCMS secretary, said it may be
difficult to work together in some cases, "but it doesn't mean the other
90 percent are not possible." He asked leaders of cooperative ministries
here to help while the churches "sort this out."

"We believe, teach and confess some things that bind us together
such as our common understanding of Baptism," said the Rev. Samuel
Nafzger, director of church relations and assistant to the president. He
expressed hope that the churches could pledge to each other "to do, in
good conscience, what we can do with integrity and in faithfulness to our
respective doctrinal positions."

The leaders also reported key information about their denominations:

+ Hanson said ELCA leaders continue to have conversations with
global and ecumenical partner churches regarding the assembly's actions
on human sexuality.

+ The LWF Council will meet this month in Geneva, and it will elect
a new general secretary, Hanson said. The current general secretary, the
Rev. Ishmael Noko, plans to leave office next year.

+ The International Lutheran Council (ILC), which met in August in
Seoul, South Korea, unanimously adopted a statement on same-gender
relationships and the church, Nafzger said. It said Scriptures
testify "that the lifelong committed union of one man and one woman is
the place the Lord intends for human sexuality to be lived out," and it
said the ILC believes the practice of homosexuality violates the will of
God. He also reported that the Rev. David Mahsman has been asked by the
International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), a joint project of
the LCMS and its partner church in Germany, the Selbstaendige Evangelish-
Lutherische Kirche, to serve as its managing director. The ILSW will seek
to work together with other Christians in Wittenberg, including the ELCA
Wittenberg Center, whenever possible," Nafzger said.

+ Both churches reported income declines for 2009 and struggles to
meet budget goals, mostly due to current economic conditions in the
United States.

Attending for the ELCA were Bullock and Hanson, plus David D.
Swartling, secretary; the Rev. Donald McCoid, executive, Ecumenical and
Inter-Religious Relations; Carlos Pena, vice president; and the Rev. E.
Roy Riley, bishop, New Jersey Synod. 

Attending on behalf of the LCMS were Hartwig, Kieschnick, Nafzger,
plus the Rev. William R. Diekelman, first vice president; the Rev. Joel
Lehenbauer, executive director, Commission on Theology and Church
Relations; and Ronald Schulz, chief administrative officer.

Also present were Deffenbaugh; Anne Wilson, LIRS executive vice
president; the Rev. John Nunes, president, Lutheran World Relief; and
Jill Schumann, president and chief executive officer, Lutheran Services
in America.

For information contact:

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