ELCA Council Receives Report on Gay and Lesbian Acceptance

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) responded to requests from two of its 65 synods that the church's restrictions on ordaining gay and lesbian people be lifted. The ELCA Church Council received a report prepared by five units of the church, sent it as a response to the two synods and transmitted it as information to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Two related resources will be made available to the church's 11,000 congregations later this year.
The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. The council met here April 9-12. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is August 16-22 in Denver.
The 1996 assembly of the ELCA's Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod resolved to ask the ELCA's 1997 Churchwide Assembly to remove "all written impediments in ELCA documents to the ordination of otherwise qualified openly gay and lesbian candidates who are committed to lifelong, faithful relationships."
The Metropolitan Washington, D.C., and Sierra Pacific Synods each held assemblies in 1997 asking the Churchwide Assembly to remove from "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline" the sentence which reads, "Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the ordained ministry of this church," and to remove from "Vision and Expectations: Ordained Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" the sentence which reads, "Ordained ministers who are homosexual in their=20 self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships."
The ELCA Division for Ministry was the lead unit in drafting the response because it is responsible for developing standards for ordination in consultation with the ELCA Conference of Bishops. In 1998 the council asked five church units to prepare a "bundled" report of their "activities relating to homosexuality" for the churchwide assembly: Commission for Women and Divisions for Church in Society, Congregational Ministries, Ministry and Outreach.
The bundled report listed five "observations and convictions:" -- "The baptized members of this church include both homosexual and heterosexual persons;" -- Matters of personal identity, "religious beliefs, moral convictions and powerful emotions" surface in discussions about sexual orientation; -- "Changing and differing understanding of homosexuality touch the church's mission and ministry in a variety of ways;" -- There can be no "schedule" set to begin and conclude discussions on sexual orientation; and -- "This can be a 'teaching moment' offered by God and, therefore, the church need not be afraid to take up the task."
Each unit involved in the response added its own report.
"The Division for Ministry is not proposing a change in the standards for rostered ministry related to non-celibate gay or lesbian persons," it said in its report. "However, the division is committed to a process of continuing study, personal reflection and conversation ... that would be involved in either continuing the present policy of the ELCA or in changing it."
The ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) has been developing models of "moral deliberation" -- ways congregations can engage in conversations on difficult subjects while respecting all possible views. The 1997 Churchwide Assembly asked the division to report in 1999 on "moral deliberation that can serve this church in its commitment to continuing dialogue on issues related to human sexuality, including homosexuality."
"We want conversation," said Ingrid Christiansen, Chicago, DCS board chair. "We have been encouraged by the churchwide assembly to continue to provide materials to the church, to continue the conversation on human sexuality, and we want that conversation to go on in a climate of civility."
The ELCA has identified moral deliberation as a significant area of ministry for the 21st century.
DCS oversaw eight events, each sponsored by a different organization and tested a different model for moral deliberation. The report to the 1999 assembly includes findings from those events.
The division is producing a resource "to assist congregational discussion of homosexuality" and another resource "on moral deliberation of a more general nature," both to be available later this year. The council asked that the resource on homosexuality be made available to all congregations "upon request."
The council asked also that a resource the ELCA Division for Outreach developed on "Congregational Hospitality to Gay and Lesbian People" be made available to all ELCA congregations. A study team of staff from several units of the church prepared the resource in consultation with the Conference of Bishops. It was originally meant to assist pastors developing new congregations.
The Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) is the ELCA's unit which relates directly to the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO). As its part of the bundled report, the DCM board included a 1998 LYO resolution that the youth organization "seeks a partnership with all members of the ELCA, particularly with clergy, laity, theologians and church officials, as we pursue a dynamic, interactive, and open and welcoming ministry with gay, lesbian and bisexual young people."
The church's Commission for Women has dealt with the question "What does it mean to be a hospitable church to lesbian women?" in several settings since 1995. In 1997 it conducted one of the eight DCS events. The commission's steering committee videotaped a meeting in which lesbians shared "their personal stories and struggled with the language of 'moral deliberation.'"
"The Commission for Women has tried to make sure that lesbians' voices have been heard as we've had this discussion about being welcoming," said the Rev. Ann M. Tiemeyer, St. Jacobus Lutheran Church, Woodside, Queens, New York, who chairs the steering committee.
"We do see it as an important part of looking at how sexism, racism and classism intersect," said Tiemeyer. "We've found that some of the issues around hospitality and welcoming into the church for lesbian women are the same for heterosexual women. We struggle with some of the same realities of where the church is very welcoming and where it sometimes isn't."

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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