ELCA decision splits church

A theological dispute has turned into a breaking point for many churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. ELCA churches around the country are distressed after the August 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, where a number of controversial resolutions on human sexuality and homosexuals in ministry were passed.

The controversy has loomed on the horizon ever since the ELCA was formed, according to Interim Campus Pastor Carl-Eric Gentes.

“What you have at the churchwide assembly is 16 years of discussion,” Gentes said. “The ELCA has been dealing with this for a very long time.”

Among the decisions made by the Assembly were to pave the way for formal recognition of same-sex unions, to open the pastorate to persons in same-sex unions and to authorize an updated, comprehensive ELCA social statement on human sexuality.

To many ELCA churches, the assembly marked the end of a long, uphill battle. For others, however, the decisions come as an affront to years of tradition, church teaching and scriptural understanding.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Gentes said. “There have been some that are absolutely elated, some who are very, very angry and some who are caught in the middle.”

Some churches and members within the ELCA are taking action in protest. A group called Lutheran CORE, which is a subset of ELCA churches and members, is considering breaking away and forming a new North American Lutheran Church.

Robert Benne, director of the Center for Religion and Society at Roanoke College, Va., is one of the leading voices in the CORE and NALC movements and was a delegate at the 2009 Assembly.

“I felt kind of liberated, honestly,” Benne said. “I’d had enough of this rearguard fighting, and I wanted to be part of something that I could feel really positive about.”

Although still small, the NALC movement is steadiy gathering members and congregations.

“We don’t know how many congregations will go with the NALC, but we already have a lot of large congregations on board,” Benne said.

Although most ELCA churches have thus far remained within the denomination, few have escaped without some sort of internal conflict and division.

Dan Baldwin (‘12), the deacon of community action in Campus Ministries, is the son of one of the ministers at Immanuel Lutheran in Scarville, Iowa.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of members who are fed up with it, who are saying, ‘I just can’t be a part of the Church,’” Baldwin said.

For Baldwin, the most troubling development in the wake of the 2009 Assembly is the movement of churches breaking away from the ELCA.

“Whether you agree or disagree with the decision, to leave the church is not the right move,” Baldwin said. “We have to look at the work that we’re doing and not get hung up on something we disagree on theologically.”

Among the resolutions passed by the Assembly was one declarinng respect for members’ bound consciences, which was intended to prevent breaks within the church, according to Gentes.

“You should not be forced to move against your conscience and what scripture is telling you,” Gentes said. “We should respect each other in our bound conscience and continue to live together in spite of our differences.”

Unfortunately for many people in the ELCA, the issue of human sexuality had reached such a height that cooperation was no longer an option.

“It didn’t matter which way the vote went,” Baldwin said. “There was going to be a big explosion of events either way. There was talk on the other side saying, ‘If this [the new resolutions] doesn’t pass, we’re going to split from the ELCA.’”

Another Luther student whose home congregation has been divided is Joe Rosholtz (‘11). His family attends Trinity Lutheran in Watertown, Min., which is currently discussing whether to remain in the denomination.

“After the decision was made, immediately there were a number of families who chose to go a different route,” Rosholt said.

All sides agree that the dispute over homosexual clergy and unions is only the tip of the iceburg.

“This specific issue is just part of a bigger situation,” Rosholt said. “It’s about what the role of the Bible is going to be. Is it going to be our church that conforms to culture, or vice versa?”

Although the conflict in the ELCA has caused pain for some, those caught in the struggle hope that the church will emerge stronger on the other side.

“The time is over where you just go with the flow,” Benne said. “This problem will not go away.”