ST. LOUIS (ELCA) – Starting new congregations and mission outreach were dominant topics in discussion among leaders of the two largest U.S. Lutheran church bodies meeting here March 30.
Twice a year, representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS) meet as the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation. The two denominations work together in disaster response, world relief, military chaplaincy and various social ministries.
"As I move around our church body, I think we're claiming the 'evangelical' in our name," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, adding that the ELCA sees itself as enabling people to be in mission locally.
The Rev. Gerald B. Kieschnick, LCMS president, noted that the Missouri Synod is encouraging partnerships between congregations and districts to start new congregations. "Among our district presidents, I see a healthy amount of energy," said Kieschnick.
Members of the Committee on Lutheran Cooperation noted similar approaches among their regional judicatories to train lay ministers. Working under the supervision of ordained clergy, lay workers often serve in rural congregations and among ethnic populations that cannot afford a full-time pastor.
The committee also reviewed the supply of pastors in their respective church bodies. The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, said the ELCA has a total of 1,252 in the candidacy system for ordination. About one-fourth of the candidates are available this spring for ordained ministry in the ELCA. He noted that seminary graduates are older, with the average age being 40.5 compared with 34.9 in 1990. He added that the ELCA Board of Pensions estimates that 6,000 active pastors will be retiring in the next 15 years.
The Rev. C. William Hoesman, president of the LCMS Michigan District and chair of the LCMS Council of Presidents, reported the Missouri Synod has 165 seminary graduates available for calls this spring. Hoesman said there are about 800 vacancies with some 400 of those congregations actively seeking pastors.
The committee also dealt with their churches' relationships with church bodies overseas, budgets, health care and retirement programs for church workers, and dialogues with other denominations.
ELCA representatives previewed the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly which will be Aug. 8-14 in Orlando, Fla. Under the theme "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever," Almen said key issues will include a worship book and other resources, proposals for constitution and bylaw revisions, strategies for mission work among people of African and Middle Eastern descent, and recommendations from the task force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality.
On March 29, most of the committee members also participated in a theological discussion, hearing presentations on the report and recommendations of the ELCA Studies on Sexuality and on LCMS guidelines for service of women in congregational offices. The presenters were the Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director, ELCA Division for Ministry, and the Rev. Samuel H. Nafzger, executive director, LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations.
Olson said two recommendations from the task force – to concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the midst of disagreement and to continue to respect the pastoral guidelines of a 1993 statement of the ELCA Conference of Bishops – have received general affirmation. Being widely discussed is a third recommendation that the ELCA "may choose to refrain from disciplining those who for the sake of conscience and for the sake of outreach ministry and the commitment to continuing dialogue, call or approve partnered gay or lesbian candidates."
During those discussions, LCMS representatives provided a response to the report and recommendations of the task force. The response said the LCMS sees scriptural authority as the foundational issue on same-sex unions. "The report does not speak clearly and authoritatively regarding homosexual behavior and the ordination of those who are openly involved in such behavior," the LCMS response said. "This goes contrary to the historic and universal understanding of the Christian Church regarding what the Holy Scriptures teach about homosexual behavior as contrary to God's will and about biblical qualifications for holding the pastoral office."
ELCA representatives on the committee were Carlos Peña, ELCA vice president; the Rev. Charles S. Miller, ELCA executive for administration; the Rev. Randall R. Lee, director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs; and the Rev. E. Roy Riley, bishop of the ELCA New Jersey Synod and chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops. Participating in the theological discussions were Olson and the Rev. JoAnn A. Post, First English Lutheran Church, Platteville, Wis.
In addition to Kieschnick, Hoesman and Nafzger, Missouri Synod participants on the committee were the Rev. William R. Diekelman, LCMS first vice president; the Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig, LCMS secretary; and Dr. Thomas Kuchta, treasurer and administrative officer of the Board of Directors. Also participating in the theological talks were the Rev. Walter A. Maier III, professor, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Rev. Ralph Blomenberg, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Seymour, Ind.
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* Roland Lovstad is a freelance reporter from St. Louis.
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
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