wfn.org | Lutheran 'Wallet' Votes for Mission of the Church

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Title: Lutheran 'Wallet' Votes for Mission of the Church
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>October 13, 2009  

Lutheran 'Wallet' Votes for Mission of the Church
09-225-FI

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A spectrum of reactions followed decisions taken
by voting members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Churchwide Assembly in August. Some church leaders have suggested
withholding financial support from the denomination, while others have
said this is the time to increase funding.

The assembly adopted a social statement on human sexuality, and it
adopted proposals to change ELCA ministry policies, including a change to
make it possible for Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong,
monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in
ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.

The Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) is an alliance of ELCA
members and organizations opposed to the assembly actions. "We invite
faithful Lutheran congregations and individuals to direct funding away
from the national church body because of the 2009 churchwide assembly
decisions," said the CORE Web site.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, wrote in a Sept. 23
message to church leaders, "Although these actions are promoted as a way
to signal opposition to churchwide assembly actions or even to punish the
voting members who made them, the result will be wounds that we inflict
on ourselves, our shared life, and our mission in Christ."

Augusta Victoria Hospital, a medical facility of the Lutheran World
Federation on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, and a food pantry
near Madison, Wis., were ministries "outside of our building" that
inspired the 1,000-member St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Monona, Wis., to
tithe money it is raising to fix the church roof, said its pastor, the
Rev. Nicholas G. Utphall.

"Fixing our roof and paying our mortgage are certainly important
details in the life of our congregation, and those necessities have come
to serve as a reminder of the larger mission we are about here," he
said. "The news of congregations withholding money makes it seem very
appropriate."

Two senior pastors from St. Stephen -- the Rev Jon S. Enslin and the
Rev. Bruce H. Burnside - became bishops of the ELCA South-Central Synod
of Wisconsin. "Perhaps that keeps some of the work of the broader ELCA
more apparent in front of us, but it is also important to recognize the
vast extent of what our dollars do in this church," Utphall said.

"There is so much vital social and gospel work done by this church
in this country and around the world that there is simply no way to know
everything that we are doing as the ELCA. We regularly hear people say
that they are proud to be a part of this church and its work," he said.

St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Geneseo, N.Y., is going through some
lean years financially, but the 270-member congregation challenged itself
to increase the portion of its budget set aside as benevolence to the
ELCA Upstate New York Synod. "As a 'family' of the church, we feel it is
part of who we are as a church," said the Rev. Justin M. Johnson, pastor
of St. Timothy.

"It is important because we are trying to model tithing and
priorities," he said. "Not all of us agree about the churchwide assembly
resolutions, but we recognize that we are united under Christ's cross and
Christ's mission to the world," Johnson said. "There is no church
politics in that."

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