I just received this email from WordAlone, a group working for reform of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). WordAlone's mission is to call the ELCA to once more embracing the foundational belief that the Bible, as the Word of God, is the authoritative source and norm of our life, faith, and practice. The article quotes the informed musings of one of our most eminent leaders, pastor and church historian James Nestingen.
Nestingen addresses crisis in ELCA
by Betsy Carlson, editor
After hearing an inspiring talk by Prof. James Nestingen,
WordAlone Network members heard about its board of
directors’ proposals to look into forming an association of
“confessing” congregations and a house of studies to
prepare individuals for ministry, as an alternative to
present seminaries.
Nestingen told his hearers that now is the time for the
WordAlone to prepare to possibly be forced out of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America because of its stand
to live by the truth of Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions.
He said a couple of things have occurred that have made
WordAlone’s standing in the ELCA more precarious. For one
thing, the ELCA has not responded to the WordAlone
Theological Board’s Admonition for the Sake of the True
Peace and Unity of the Church; and ELCA bishops have made
it almost impossible for candidates to obtain exceptions to
the requirement of ordination by bishops in Called to
Common Mission, the full communion agreement with The
Episcopal Church USA.
The other event is the recent actions of the ELCA Church
Council, by a nearly unanimous vote, to propose the
creation of a process for granting exceptions to ELCA
ordination qualifications requiring celibacy of gay and
lesbians seeking ordination or consecration or
commissioning to ministry. This exception, if okayed by the
ELCA Churchwide Assembly next August in Florida, would
allow gays and lesbians in same-sex relationships to be
ordained and rostered as ministers at the discretion of the
Conference of Bishops.
"I never thought I’d ask this,” Nestingen stated, “but what
do we do now?”
He said now is the time to look into creating alliances
with other ELCA members who “have been pushed to the
margins. “This church is leaving us, stripping us of
standing in the body which we have cherished,” he
commented.
Now is the time to take provisional steps for the sake of
WordAlone’s witness and for the sake of its congregations,
he said. “Jesus has always loved sinners and is always at
his best when there is no human hope. He may turn this
around and bring us from this long crucifixion we have
endured in this church to resurrection.”
As he finished, the 450 to 500 persons gathered rose to
give him a long, standing ovation.
Board members Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt, a professor of religion
at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D., and
Pastor Randy Freund of Faith Lutheran Church in Hutchinson,
Minn., then presented resolutions to look into creating a
house of studies and an association of confessing churches.
Along with WordAlone president Jaynan Clark Egland, they
answered questions from WordAlone members, such as: “Will
members of the new association be required to join
WordAlone?” The answer was, “No.” The board members
suggested that much of what the house of studies and new
association will look like is still to be determined. They
acknowledged they don’t know if the association ultimately
will leave the ELCA or not.
Further discussion of the proposals and votes on the
resolutions are expected Tuesday.
WordAlone is meeting in convention at St. Andrew’s Lutheran
Church in Mahtomedi, Minn. Keynote speakers are discussing
the authority of Scripture in teaching sessions.
3 comments:
The link to WorldAlone is not working.
I really wanted to check out this site as I am looking for a new church that would feel "right" to me. I truly believe in the teachings of Luther but my church seems to have gone in a direction that I am not comfortable with. This seams to be an organization that I should look into.
I think that I've fixed the link to WordAlone.
Mark, I heard you on Hugh Hewitt's radio show and your brief mention of the ongoing tradgedy in the ELCA. I have watched with sadness for years as this almost unstoppable drift in the ELCA. It is sadness because I grew up in the ELCA and previously the LCA. I learned the gospel and the authority of the scripture through the ELCA (though possibly because that was in the 1960's and 1970's) and it frustrates me to see this change. Having lived through the succession of "studies" about homosexuality over the last 10-12 years from the church leadership, I realized that the goal was not to poll the opinion of the congregations or the members but simply to wear us down to accept their goal....the goal of what has been recommended to the Churchwide Assembly. These actions, along with the declarations of the pastor of our congregation caused us the make the decision to leave our ELCA congregation of 25 years to go to the nearby Missouri Synod congregation. The decision was made with great sadness, but with the need to protect our son from teachings we could not agree with. I pray that WordAlone can suceed in moving the Spirit in the leadership of the ELCA, or in making them the starting of a new church body. I fear that a schism like the Episcopal Church is experiencing is coming to the
ELCA.
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