ELCA Council Asks for Data on Possible Study on Gay Ordination

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) asked the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation to prepare a "feasibility report" regarding a possible study on the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian people. The feasibility report, to be brought to the council at its April 2000 meeting, will include possible budget implications and time frames for such a study, the council determined.
The council met here Nov. 12-14. It functions as the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. Assemblies are held every other year; the next is Aug. 8-14, 2001, in Indianapolis.
The council's action is in response to a motion considered by the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly which resulted in the assembly's Reference and Counsel Committee referring the matter to the Church Council, asking that the council determine whether to initiate the study based on the department's evaluation.
The referred resolution called for a "full study" to be undertaken with the guidance of the ELCA Division for Ministry, Department for Synodical Relations and the Conference of Bishops. The resolution was proposed by Bruce H. Davidson, an assembly voting member from the ELCA New Jersey Synod. It asked for strategies "that might allow for the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian people."
Presently, non-celibate gay and lesbian people are precluded from the ordained ministry in the ELCA.
Kenneth W. Inskeep, director of the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation, told the council the costs of a study regarding the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian people would vary depending on the type and degrees of study the council wants to do.
"It's going to have costs," Inskeep said. "The question for us is what's adequate to gather this information."
Some council members expressed concern that the council's action to call for a feasibility report regarding a possible study might be misunderstood as authorization for such a study.
If the council chooses to approve a study, it would be one piece of data the council could use to confront the entire question of possibly ordaining non-celibate gay and lesbian people, said the Rev. Robert L. Dasher, council member, Columbia, S.C.
The council's action to seek a feasibility report would show the church is "moving forward cautiously," said the Rev. Karen L. Soli, council member, Virginia, Minn. The action is a "measured" approach allowing time for study, she added.
This year the ELCA has completed study materials related to the subject. A hospitality study, "Congregational Ministry with Gay and Lesbian People," was completed under the direction of the ELCA Division for Outreach. It was provided to congregations with which the division works and as information to the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver, and it is being made available to people on request, said the Rev. Richard A. Magnus, executive director, Division for Outreach, in remarks to the council.
This summer a print and videotape resource, "Talking Together as Christians about Homosexuality," was made available by the ELCA Division for Church in Society through Augsburg Fortress Publishers in Minneapolis. Some 2,000 sets have been distributed and there are back orders for several more, the Rev. Charles S. Miller, executive director, Division for Church in Society, told the council.

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