Childs to Lead ELCA Studies on Sexuality

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. James M. Childs Jr. will direct a four- year study on homosexuality for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The study is meant to help the church answer questions about the ordination of homosexual clergy and the blessing of same- gender relationships. The study will also feed into the preparation of a social statement on human sexuality.
Childs, 62, is the Joseph A. Sittler Professor of Theology and Ethics and director of academic development, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. On Feb. 1 he will become director of the ELCA studies on sexuality and work out of the church's Chicago offices, while on leave from the Trinity faculty.
In August the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly asked the Division for Ministry and Division for Church in Society to lead a comprehensive four-year study of homosexuality and report back to the 2003 and 2005 Churchwide Assemblies. The assembly also asked the Division for Church in Society to prepare a social statement on human sexuality.
The two divisions developed a six-point "protocol" to coordinate the assembly mandates. The protocol outlines how leadership in the projects will be shared, the selection of a study director, how the director is to be supervised, the selection of a task force, how and when study reports will be issued and how study documents will be authorized for distribution.
"The sexuality studies that the church has mandated are of critical importance," said Childs. "There is a great deal at stake for our witness to the gospel, our understanding of authority, our capacity for moral deliberation, and our care for one another in maintaining 'the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,'" he said, citing a biblical letter from St. Paul to the early Christian church.
"I want to assure the church that these study processes will be attentive to God's Word, open, fair, rigorous, and as representative and participatory as possible," said Childs. "I pray we shall all be one in constant prayer and one in trusting our Lord's promise of the Counselor, who will provide us with the guidance and strength we need to be faithful in seeking to discern the will of God," he said.
"I'm very excited about the fact that James Childs will be the director of the study," said the Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, executive director, ELCA Division for Ministry. "He brings a very strong knowledge of the church," Wagner said.
Childs is "a respected theologian. He is open-minded. He has been a seminary dean for 20 years, so he knows how to work with people. I think he has just the right blend of qualities for the director of the study, said Wagner.
Wagner called Childs "a friendly, competent person, who makes others feel at ease when he is around them. At the same time he's very efficient. He's very bright, and he is fully aware of the complexities of this study."
Childs is past chair of the board of the ELCA Division for Church and Society. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion; he is a member of the Society of Christian Ethics and serves on its board of directors.
The Rev. L. James Wylie, interim executive director, ELCA Division for Church in Society, said Childs "is well-known to this segment of our church, and he has the full confidence of all those people who know him and know his work well."
Childs, a pastor of the ELCA, earned degrees from the former Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; Union Theological Seminary, New York; and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Ordained in 1966, he served as pastor of Resurrection Luther Church, Richmond, Va., a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS).
In 1968, Childs joined the faculty of Concordia Senior College. In 1976 he became a visiting professor of theology at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind., and in 1978 he joined the faculty at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. He served 20 of his 23 years at Trinity as academic dean and 1989-1990 as interim president.
Childs wrote the chapter "Ethics and the Promise of God: Moral Authority and the Church's Witness" in "The Promise of Lutheran Ethics," which the ELCA Division for Church in Society commissioned in 1998.
In 2000, Childs authored "What it Means to be Lutheran in Social Ministry" for Lutheran Services in America (LSA). The 32-page booklet was designed to help board and staff members of Lutheran social ministry organizations define their agencies' Lutheran identity. LSA is the largest human-service network in the United States and Caribbean -- an alliance of the ELCA, LCMS and their 280 social ministry organizations.
Childs is author of more than 20 journal articles and has contributed chapters to seven different books. He wrote seven books, including "Faith, Formation and Decision: Ethics in the Community of Promise," 1992; "Ethics in Business: Faith at Work," 1995; Greed: Economics and Ethics in Conflict," 2000; and "Preaching Justice: The Ethical Vocation of Word and Sacrament Ministry," 2000.

For information contact:
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