ELCA Task Force Turns Its Attention To Statement On Sexuality

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A 14-member task force that provided a report and recommendations on homosexuality to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in January met here Feb. 18-20 to consider the rest of its assignment -- to help develop a social statement on human sexuality for the church to consider in 2007. The task force expressed serious concerns about the quality of a proposed social statement that it would have to generate for churchwide circulation as a draft in early 2006.
"We are very aware of the brief timeline," said the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, chair of the task force of the ELCA Studies on Sexuality and bishop of the ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Mass. If a social statement is to be ready for consideration at the 2007 assembly, a first draft of the statement would need to be distributed by January 2006.
"One of the things we wrestled mightily with at this meeting was the question of whether or not we can in fact do the quality of work and the kind of study needed to produce a social statement for that timeline," Payne said. The next meeting of the task force will be here Sept. 23-25.
Human sexuality is a "huge topic," Payne said. Through the studies "we had asked people to recommend what they think should be included [in the social statement], and there was just an enormous list of issues and topics. Therefore, we did some serious thinking about what the scope of a social statement needs to be and whether or not it can in fact be completed in the given timeline."
"At this point, we are bringing to the board of the ELCA Division for Church in Society and to the Church Council a proposal to see if there might not be some more flexibility to do the kind of work we feel we need to do to get it done," Payne said. The council set the 2007 date for the completion of the social statement, "so that's the body that will decide whether or not they feel this actually can be done," she said.
In small group and plenary discussions the task force members shared a number of ideas they had gathered from responses to the studies and from hearings held across the church. They said they heard an urgent need from the church and from society for a positive word about human sexuality to counter negative trends in the culture.
They discussed ways to explain such Christian values as protecting the vulnerable, loving one's neighbor as one's self and preserving the good gifts of creation. They also talked about power and the systems of society that make it attractive to turn people into objects for abuse and/or for sale as sexual commodities.
Task force members said they had heard a need for the church to offer some form of guidance for teens, parents and pastors on developing healthy relationships and dealing with questions of personal morality, while a social statement could provide a theological framework for what the church wants to say to society.
They discussed what they felt could be produced in time for the 2007 assembly. They also imagined what could be developed if more time were available, such as educational resources on "satellite issues," materials presenting a theological basis for moral deliberation in congregations and households on various topics of human sexuality, and essays from ethicists and theologians.
The ELCA's chief legislative body is the churchwide assembly, which meets every other year; the next assembly will be Aug. 8-14 in Orlando, Fla. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide assemblies; its next meeting is here April 8-11.
The 2001 assembly mandated a study in preparation for decisions the 2005 assembly is to make on homosexuality. The 2001 assembly also asked for a social statement on human sexuality but did not set any deadlines for its development.
In April 2002 the council said discussion of human sexuality would proceed "in tandem" with the homosexuality study, with 2006 to 2007 to be the time period in which the church will focus on developing the draft of the social statement.
The ELCA Division for Ministry and Division for Church in Society assembled the task force in May 2002. The task force developed two studies, "Journey Together Faithfully" parts one and two.
The first study was based on "A Message on Sexuality: Some Common Convictions," which the council adopted in 1996, outlining matters of sexuality accepted by Lutherans. That study was issued in the summer of 2002.
The second study was subtitled "The Church and Homosexuality" and issued in September 2003. It was designed to help ELCA members consider how the church will respond in 2005 to questions about blessing same-sex relationships and accepting lay and ordained ministers in such relationships.
Payne said responses to the first study will inform the development of a social statement on human sexuality, "but the work on the report and recommendations took up just about all the time and energy we've had up until this point."
"This was a very intense meeting for the task force members, because it was the first time we have been together since the publication of the report and recommendations," Payne said.
The task force devoted some time at its meeting to "debrief" about their experiences since the report and recommendations became public. "For the most part, there's been a positive response," Payne said. "Even if people do not agree with the recommendations, they have expressed gratitude for the work of the task force," she said.
The report on the task force's first three years of work included three recommendations for the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to consider in August, when it is expected to answer two key questions on homosexuality: Should the church bless same-gender relationships? Should the church allow people in such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and ordained ministers?
The task force recommended that the ELCA:
+ concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreements
+ continue to respect the pastoral guidance of a 1993 statement of the ELCA Conference of Bishops opposing the blessing of homosexual relationships but remaining open to pastors wanting to provide pastoral care for gay and lesbian Lutherans
+ continue under current standards that expect unmarried ministers to abstain from sexual relations -- defining marriage as being between a man and a woman but respecting the consciences of those who find these standards in conflict with the mission of the church, the ELCA may choose to refrain from disciplining gay and lesbian ministers in committed relationships and from disciplining those who call or approve partnered gay or lesbian people for ministry.
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Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news