Lutheran Council Acts on Sexuality Recommendations
Top leaders in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America avoided deciding on several controversial requests to change the current standards of ordination that prohibit sexually active gays and lesbians into the ministry.
Top leaders in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America avoided deciding on several controversial requests to change the current standards of ordination that prohibit sexually active gays and lesbians into the ministry.
During its regular fall meeting in Chicago earlier this week, ELCA Church Council declined a request to review the “Vision and Expectation” document that outlines ordination standards. The council also referred to a separate board a resolution related to the church’s discipline in cases where ordination standards are violated.
The council of the ELCA Southwest California Synod in Glendale forwarded a resolution requesting the Council to authorize the denomination’s Vocation and Education board to conduct a review of the ordination standards. Under current standards, ministers are expected to practice fidelity in marriage and chastity if single; homosexuals are expected to be celibate since same-sex unions are not recognized as marriages.
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Under the California Synod’s request, the Education board would examine the standards from “a variety of biblical and confessional theologians from the church.” The Synod specifically wrote that the current standards "continue to create much of the disagreement within the ELCA on matters related to the role of gay and lesbian rostered ministers."
According to ELCA news, the Council declined the request and removed the resolution from its “en bloc” status.
In a separate decision, the Council referred to a separate board a resolution from the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod regarding the disciplining process for those who break the candidacy standards. Under current guidelines, ministers who violate the standards of ministry are defrocked. The Metro New York resolution recommended that a minister or pastor should not be disciplined if they are guilty solely of being in an active same-sex relationship.
Earlier this year, the ELCA task force on sexuality released three recommendations relating to homosexuality. The first urged members of the ELCA to stay together in spite of disagreements, the second asked the ELCA to keep the ministerial standards of chastity and fidelity, and the third asked to establish exceptions to the ministerial standards in cases where gay ministers were in “loving relationships.”
In June, delegates to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly – the denomination’s highest legislative authority – adopted the first two recommendations but rejected the third. As a result, there is no change in the ELCA's expectations of rostered leaders.
According to the Word Alone Network, a conservative renewal group within the ELCA, the Metro New York’s resolutions stand in defiance of the current ELCA regulations.
“The long and the short of it is, the Metro NY Synod is defying current ELCA regulations and rejecting the 2005 assembly's vote against a proposition that would have allowed for such ordinations, but only through a special approval process,” a statement from the Word Alone Network read.
The New York resolution has been referred to the ELCA Office of the Secretary in consultation with the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop, Vocation and Education, and ELCA Conference of Bishops. The Council requested that "a report and possible recommendations be presented to the (Council's) April 2006 meeting.
The Church Council is the ELCA’s board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The Council meet in Chicago from Nov. 11-13.
