wfn.org | ELCA Council Drafts, Forwards Three Resolutions on Homosexuality

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 11, 2005

ELCA Council Drafts, Forwards Three Resolutions on Homosexuality
05-063-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) developed and forwarded three resolutions to the
ELCA Churchwide Assembly this summer.  The resolutions address whether or
not the church will bless same-sex relationships and whether or not the
ELCA will allow people in such relationships to serve the church as
professional lay and ordained ministers.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.  The
council is composed of 37 members, including the four officers of the
ELCA -- presiding bishop, vice president, secretary and treasurer.  The
council met here April 9-11.  Assemblies are held every other year; the
next is Aug. 8-14, in Orlando, Fla.
     The third of three resolutions that the council put on the assembly
agenda would "create a process for the sake of outreach, ministry and the
commitment to continuing dialogue, which may permit exceptions to the
expectations regarding sexual conduct for gay or lesbian candidates and
rostered leaders in life-long, committed and faithful same-sex
relationships who otherwise are determined to be in compliance" with the
conduct the church expects of its ministers.
     "Rostered" leaders of the ELCA are lay and ordained ministers of the
church. Lay ministers are associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal
ministers.
     The process for granting an exception to the church's current
policy -- expecting gay and lesbian ministers to abstain from sexual
relations -- begins with the "reasonable assumption or confirmation" that
an ELCA congregation would invite the person to serve in a ministry
setting, according to a description of the proposed process that
accompanies the council's recommendations.
     The ELCA's 10,657 congregations are organized into 65 synods, each
headed by a bishop.  If the synod bishop supports the congregation's
invitation and the synod's governing council agrees, that synod council
would ask the ELCA Conference of Bishops to permit the assignment of a gay
or lesbian minister to the inviting congregation.  The conference is made
up of all 65 synod bishops, the ELCA presiding bishop and ELCA secretary.
     The minister is expected to provide "evidence of intent to live in a
life-long, committed and faithful same-sex relationship."
     The Church Council drafted specific bylaws that the Churchwide
Assembly will consider, defining the process for exceptions.  The bylaws
clarify that, once an exception is granted, the minister cannot be
disciplined for non-compliance with expectations by a future bishop or
council.
     The council's recommendations serve as a starting point for the
deliberation and decisions of the Churchwide Assembly in August.  The
assembly will have resolutions from synods and from its own voting
members, and the report and recommendations of a task force for the ELCA
Studies of Sexuality.
     On Jan. 13 the task force released a report on its first three years
of work.  The report included three recommendations for the assembly to
consider in August:
 + concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of
disagreements
 + continue to respect the pastoral guidance of a 1993 statement of the
ELCA Conference of Bishops opposing the blessing of homosexual
relationships but remaining open to pastors wanting to provide pastoral
care for gay and lesbian Lutherans
 + continue under current standards that expect unmarried ministers to
abstain from sexual relations -- defining marriage as being between a man
and a woman -- but, respecting the consciences of those who find these
standards in conflict with the mission of the church, the ELCA may choose
to refrain from disciplining gay and lesbian ministers in committed
relationships and from disciplining those who call or approve partnered
gay or lesbian people for ministry
     "It's difficult for the council to see that we would have a policy
and not enforce it," said Carlos Pena, council chair and ELCA vice
president, Galveston, Texas.  "At the same time, the council realized that
it is a reality and, for the sake of outreach and ministry, we need to
create some opportunity for candidates who are living in a committed
relationship to be ordained and to provide ministry in specific
locations."
     In keeping with the first task force recommendation, the Church
Council drafted an assembly resolution "that the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America -- its members, congregations, synods, churchwide
organization, and agencies and institutions -- be urged to concentrate on
finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreements,
recognizing the God-given mission and communion that we share as members
of the body of Christ."
     The council drafted a second assembly resolution "that the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continue to respect the guidance of
the 1993 statement of the Conference of Bishops" and "that this church
welcome gay and lesbian persons into its life ? and trust pastors and
congregations to discern ways to provide faithful pastoral care to
same-sex couples."
     The third assembly resolution included bylaw language the assembly
would need to approve to implement the exception process.  It also
directed that the church periodically review and evaluate the process.
     Adopting or amending bylaws of the ELCA requires approval by
two-thirds of the voting members of a churchwide assembly.  The first two
assembly resolutions would need a simple majority or approval by more than
half of the voting members.
     Before the council discussed an initial draft of the resolutions, it
granted voice to visitors representing two groups within the ELCA -- Good
Soil, wanting the church to "remove all policy obstacles for the
ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people called into
ministry," and Solid Rock Lutherans, upholding the ELCA's current
standards on sexual conduct and ordination.
     Jeff R. Johnson, University Lutheran Chapel, Berkeley, Calif., and
Jeannine Janson, San Francisco, co-chairs of Good Soil, presented a
petition with more than 1,200 signatures.  "We ask the Church Council to
put forward resolutions that will remove all policy obstacles for the
ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people called into
ministry.  We ask the Church Council to put forward resolutions that do
not restrict the right of ELCA pastors to bless committed same-sex
relationships," the petition said.
     The Rev. Roy A. Harrisville III, teaching pastor, Calvary Lutheran
Church, Golden Valley, Minn., and executive director, Solid Rock
Lutherans, told the council that the ELCA ordains gay and lesbian pastors
now but does not condone homosexual behavior.  He said granting exceptions
would change traditional definitions of what it means to be Christian and
create two classes of clergy.  "I doubt very much that we will be able to
live with two classes of clergy for very long," he said.
     The council's program and services committee presented initial drafts
of the resolutions to the council.  The council decided by voice vote
without dissent to forward the first resolution to the Churchwide
Assembly.
     Council members considered replacing the second resolution with one
that called for "a liturgical means by which some pastors could conduct a
service that provides evidence of a life-long committed same-gender
relationship."	That motion failed 7 to 26.
     The council considered wording from the council of the ELCA Greater
Milwaukee Synod to "recognize and affirm" those who bless same-gender
relationships and those who do not, respecting one another "as we examine
our understanding and practices."  That motion failed 11 to 22.
     The council accepted an amendment that moved the last half of the
second resolution -- "that this church welcome gay and lesbian persons
into its life ? and trust pastors and congregations to discern ways to
provide faithful pastoral care to same-sex couples" -- from the draft
resolution's informational section.
     With that amendment, the council decided by voice vote without
dissent to forward the second resolution to the Churchwide Assembly.
     The council debated a substitute resolution for the third resolution
calling for revision of ELCA documents that outline the church's
expectations regarding the sexual conduct of its ministers and its
guidelines for discipline, deleting references to homosexuality.  The
motion failed 10 to 24, with 1 abstention.
     Council members considered an amendment to the third resolution,
removing the Conference of Bishops from the exception process.
     The Rev. Jennifer J. Thomas, council member, Milwaukee, said she
feared that the process "would politicize the Conference of Bishops
instead of building up the body of Christ."
     "I find myself welcoming the collective oversight of the Conference
of Bishops" in the exception process, said the Rev. Michael G. Merkel,
council member, New Haven, Conn.
     The motion failed 8 to 24.
     The council debated another substitute resolution for the third
resolution that would have suspended policy that calls for disciplining
ministers in same-gender relationships until the ELCA adopts a social
statement on human sexuality.  The motion failed 5 to 27.  Earlier in the
meeting, the council approved a new timeline for such a statement to be
developed by 2009 instead of 2007.
     Council members approved some editing of the third resolution and
voted 32 to 2 to forward the third resolution to the Churchwide Assembly.
-- -- --
     The complete document, "Recommendations from the ELCA Church Council
to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly on Sexuality Studies," is available at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/pdf/050411churchcouncil.pdf on the
ELCA Web site.

EDITORS:  Jeff R. Johnson serves as pastor of an ELCA congregation but is
not on the roster of ELCA clergy.

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