ELCA Ministry Board Meets, Discusses Topics of Homosexuality

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Ministry will continue to study issues related to homosexuality, especially the possible ordination of gay or lesbian Lutherans. Several conversations and actions taken during the division's board meeting here Oct. 14-17 "reflected a desire to continue a discerning conversation on this whole topic," said Kevin J. Boatright.
"In the past we have been operating under a directive from the churchwide assembly," said Boatright, Madison, Wis., newly-elected board chair. That directive culminated in five churchwide units preparing a "bundled" report for the 1999 Churchwide Assembly on "Homosexuality and the Church."
In his report to the board, the Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, the division's executive director, listed "several key issues for the future which are emerging and which in one way or another we will be engaging in all of our programs in the coming years." He included "human sexuality," saying it "defines our very natures and brings with it great power for good and for pain."
"Our division again is in the spotlight on the question of the potential ordination of practicing gay and lesbian persons. How can our discerning conversation continue to develop in ways that are constructive and reassuring to the church rather than damaging and frightening?" Wagner asked.
Other "key issues" Wagner listed were inclusiveness, ecumenism, engagement with youth, shared leadership between rostered leaders and lay members of congregations, and the health and wellness of rostered leaders.
"We would like to look at specifically at least one of those at each of our next few board meetings," said Boatright. "There were a number of topics addressed that we will continue to use to guide the agenda of this board for the next couple years."
Zane K. Buxton, manager of judicial process, Office of the Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Ky., gave the board a brief history of the Presbyterian church's dealings with the issue of ordaining homosexual people since 1966.
The Presbyterian General Assembly of 1970 affirmed by a nine-vote margin that "the practice of homosexuality is sin," he said. The 1978 assembly added, "Our present understanding of God's will precludes the ordination of persons who do not repent of homosexual practice."
Buxton concluded that, for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), church membership for gay and lesbian people is appropriate, while ordination is not -- although celibacy is an option. The protection of civil rights is appropriate, while homophobia is not, he said. Presbyterians are free to disagree with but not defy this interpretation, Buxton added.
The ELCA "Definition and Guidelines for Discipline of Ordained Ministers" states: "Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the ordained ministry of this church." The church's "Vision and Expectations" states: "Ordained and commissioned ministers who are homosexual in their self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual relationships."
The ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly denied a motion to suspend enforcement of these standards. A second motion, asking the Division for Ministry and the ELCA Conference of Bishops to propose strategies leading to the removal of these standards, was also defeated.
A previous meeting of the division's board proposed that it hear reports from representatives of church bodies with which the ELCA has a relationship of full communion to learn how they have dealt with the possible ordination of gay and lesbian members. At this meeting the board proposed that a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC) be invited to its next meeting.
The UCC's 204 regional associations set their own policies and standards for ordination and several have ordained openly gay or lesbian people. The UCC's national body of delegates, the General Synod, has urged the associations not to deny ordination solely because of a candidate's sexual orientation.
Presidents of the ELCA's eight seminaries informed the Division for Ministry board of continuing conversations on their campuses about issues related to homosexuality in the life of the church. The board asked the presidents "to prepare periodic reports, papers and perspectives from the seminary communities regarding this matter."
In other business, the board authorized the ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission to award eight full-tuition scholarships to students attending each of the church's eight seminaries in Spring 2000. The action outlined a two-stage process of selection which asked each seminary to nominate three candidates and the Fund for Leaders in Mission steering committee to direct the final selection.
Cynthia J. Halverson, national director of the Fund for Leaders in Mission, told the board the fund has about $500,000 in it with another $1.2 million expected. She said the fund's goal is to gather $200 million in the next 25 years, so it can help all ELCA seminarians.
"This is very important to this division," said Boatright. "It is basically an attempt to raise private dollars to support the tuition and fees of students attending our seminaries. This fund has been in the works for a couple years, and we have been waiting anxiously to see its beginning."
The ELCA Division for Ministry board: + elected Boatright to a two-term as chair; Phyllis C. Wiederhoeft, Madison, Wis., as vice chair; Phyllis Stromme, Kennewick, Wash., as secretary; and Vincent Peters, New Brighton, Minn., and the Rev. Lawrence R. Wohlrabe, Redwood Falls, Minn., as executive committee members. + approved a 2000 budget of $6,020,435 for the Division for Ministry, including $3,979,900 in grants to the eight ELCA seminaries. The division budget is $20,000 larger than the previous year's, and that money bolstered the budget of specialized pastoral care ministries. + organized itself into a structure of five committees: ministry in church and world, ministry formation, ministry education, ministry care and ministry support. Four or five of the board's 21 members serve on each committee, bringing motions to the full board. + granted $10,000 to each of the ELCA's three clusters for theological education for implementation of their "research and development" proposals. + heard a report on "Recruiting and Equipping Indigenous Leaders for Mission Responding to God's Call" by the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, ELCA director for multicultural leadership development, and agreed to change the name of the "alternate route to ordination" to "Theological Education for Emerging Ministries." + assigned money and personnel to produce two brochures in Spanish which invite Lutherans to consider and pursue careers in the church, and requested a comprehensive plan for development of division resources in languages other than English. + heard a report from the Rev. Donald A. Stiger, ELCA director for specialized pastoral care, on the findings of a survey conducted among 1,046 ELCA members in Specialized Pastoral Care ministries. + approved five continuing education institutes as ELCA Life-Long Learning Partners: Augsburg College, Office of Continuing Education, Minneapolis; Crossways International, Minneapolis; ELCA Wittenberg Center, Wittenberg, Germany: Lutheran Center for Theological Studies, Rocky Mountain Region, Englewood, Colo.; and The Melanchthon Institute, Houston. + appointed the Rev. Frederick D. Fritz, Mankato, Minn., to the board of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; the Rev. Todd A. Hunter, Darlington, Wis., to the Fund for Leaders in Mission steering committee; the Rev. George Murphy, Talmadge, Ohio, to the ELCA Working Group on Science and Technology; Richard Rouse, Tacoma, Wash., to the Faith and Life Forum board; and Robert Sandoval, Albuquerque, N.M., to the board of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. + received an<