wfn.org | Wisconsin ELCA Congregation Rising from Painful Post-Assembly Conflict

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Title: Wisconsin ELCA Congregation Rising from Painful Post-Assembly Conflict
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>December 17, 2009  

Wisconsin ELCA Congregation Rising from Painful Post-Assembly Conflict
09-279-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sunday, Dec. 6, was the first good Sunday in a
very long time for the Rev. Gail Sowell and members of St. John Lutheran
Church.  On that day, the Edgar, Wis. congregation held a special meeting
and elected new leadership.

"We turned a corner," Sowell said in an interview. The
congregation's strong faith and a desire to move forward in mission have
resulted in a positive spirit among the members today.

Sowell left a Green Bay congregation last summer to accept a dual-
parish call in Edgar, where she was looking forward to a new ministry
experience.  Her installation Aug. 23 marked the start of her work with
two congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) --
Peace Lutheran Church and St. John.

Members and colleagues use word such

as "bright," "relational," "positive," "kind" and "principled" to describe
Sowell. She and other members would need all of those qualities and more
to survive a turbulent autumn.

Almost from the start of Sowell's ministry St. John and Peace were
caught up in whirlwind of conflict. Serious questions arose in both
congregations about the actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and
what the congregations should do in response.  Some members didn't like
the fact that Sowell said she favored those decisions.

The 2009 Churchwide Assembly adopted a social statement on human
sexuality by a two-thirds vote.  It also directed changes to ministry
policies that created the possibility that people in publicly
accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships could serve
as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal
ministers.  While many in the ELCA rejoiced over the decisions, the
congregations in Edgar and in other places didn't seem to agree.

Emotions were high, members were polarized and lay leaders in both
congregations wanted to vote quickly to leave the ELCA.  St. John
congregational council members held a meeting that first week and voted
unanimously, with one abstention, to recommend the congregation leave the
ELCA.  The council member who abstained said the congregation should slow
down.  Similar proceedings began at Peace.

False stories about Sowell began to circulate through the
congregations and the community.  Sowell, who never wanted the
congregations to leave, also tried to get the leaders to think about what
they were doing.  But "nobody would listen to any pleas to slow down the
process," Sowell said.

The St. John council set a vote to leave the ELCA for Nov. 8.  It
held two congregational forums, on Oct. 18 and Nov. 1.  The Oct. 18 forum
was particularly nasty, with many members reported to be "yelling and
screaming" at one another, Sowell said.  She wasn't there, because at the
time of the forum Sowell was leading services at Peace.  The Rev. Duane
C. Pederson, bishop of the ELCA Northwest Synod of Wisconsin, and the
Rev. William Christiansen, representing Lutheran Congregations for
Mission in Christ (LCMC), also met with members during that turbulent
month.  LCMC was mentioned as a possible destination for the
congregations after the ELCA.

"I had many conversations with Gail," Pederson said in an
interview, "often daily e-mails, trying to help her navigate the
situation.  I know she got many phone calls of support. I asked some
colleagues to call her."

"I can't imagine starting a job and two days later this whole thing
kind of blows up," said Lavone Runge, a 7-year member and librarian in
nearby Marathon City. 

The uneasiness in the congregation caused many members to stay away
from worship from Oct. 18 until the Nov. 8 vote.

What happened next was a surprise to many.  St. John members voted
106-67 on the proposal to leave the ELCA, but failed to achieve the
required two-thirds by four votes.  That night the council and other
congregational leaders met and resigned their leadership positions. The
one exception was the deacon who had earlier asked his colleagues to slow
down.  It was the end of a very difficult day.

"I was completely blindsided by this.  I was not expecting it,"
Sowell said. "I just sat there with tears running down my face wondering
what's happening to this congregation."

"I had never seen anything like this," said Runge. "The sad part to
me is that I joined the ELCA because it is all-inclusive.  What made the
church desirable to me is what kind of ripped it apart."  She added that
members seemed to forget the good things the ELCA has done, particularly
its work to advance the mission of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, across town, Peace Lutheran Church was having issues of
its own.  The congregation president had called Sowell during the
upheaval and said some members didn't like the way she preached. The
congregation didn't agree with the churchwide assembly decisions on human
sexuality. Worship attendance had fallen to about 20 per Sunday.  Sowell
had to go before members would return, the council president said.  All
Sowell wanted to do was keep the congregation together as a worshipping
community.

A few weeks ago, Peace took its first vote to leave the ELCA --
which passed unanimously -- and changed worship times to conflict with
St. John, making it impossible for Sowell to serve there, though she
still remains as its called pastor.

Finances were down in both congregations, and her salary had been
cut.  Unofficially, Sowell was out of a job at Peace, and unsure about
her future and the congregation's future at St. John.

>St. John experiences a revival

On Nov. 15 Sowell and others prepared for worship at St. John, not
knowing what to expect following the divisive vote just one week before.

What happened was another surprise: 145 people showed up for
worship -- the most that had been there since Sowell was installed.  "We
had people come back who had stopped coming at least since the Oct. 18
meeting," she said. With a shortage of Sunday School teachers, the result
of the previous week's resignations, six people volunteered on the spot
to teach, Sowell said.  Since that time, "dozens and dozens" of members
have stepped forward to volunteer for various roles at St. John.

"Remarkable," is how Runge describes the sudden turnaround.  She
was one of those who stayed away until the Nov. 8 vote because the
hostility among members made her weary.  "The next Sunday I saw such
warmth in the people that were left.  We've seen a real consensus of
people who really wanted to make this work."

John Hamann, former council president at St. John, now worships at
a "new" Lutheran congregation in the Wien Town Hall. He still worships at
St. John, too.  "I'm worshiping now in both places.  I haven't made up my
mind what I'm going to do," he said.  In fact, Sowell said, most of the
former council members have not given up their memberships at St. John.

Runge, who was elected to the council and is now secretary, and
other members, want Hamann and the others who left to return. "We want
each and every one of them back.  It's not about the money.  It's like
part of our family is missing," she said.

>St. John and the future

St. John's newly elected president, Rick Mueller, was baptized in
the congregation and has been a member for 49 years.  A homebuilder by
vocation, Mueller said the congregation needs to heal first. "Time heals
everything.  We will try not to look back. We will look toward the
future.  We want to try to get people to come back."

Pederson described the situation at St. John as "like a death and
resurrection experience."

"My role is to support the new leadership that has emerged and to
support the pastor of a congregation that is in 'deep transformation,'"
he said.

Sowell plans to invite the synod staff to work with the congregation
on its mission and vision.  Next year, St. John will celebrate its 125th
anniversary, she said.  Sowell said that she realizes now that God called
her to St. John for a reason.

"I have grown so much because of this," she said. "I have been
carried by the prayers of my former congregation.  People have called me
out of the blue to say, 'I'm praying for you.'"

"I am sure St. John is not only going to survive, it's going to
thrive," Sowell said.

>---

Information about St. John Lutheran Church and Peace Lutheran Church
is at http://www.stjohnelcaedgar.org/ on the Web.

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