Schism in Lutheran church raises scriptural, financial concerns
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For the Elderton Lutheran Parish, the national church's 2009 vote to permit some gay clergy appeared to be a final sign that the denomination had pulled up its biblical roots. Last winter it left the 4.5 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for a new Lutheran body, as have seven other congregations from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod. Another four are in the process of voting to leave.
"There is no hostility toward the ELCA. Yes, it was difficult, but it was a matter of understanding who we are as children of God," said the Rev. Joyce Dix-Weiers, pastor of the two linked congregations in such a remote part of unincorporated Armstrong County that the mailing address is Shelocta, Indiana County.
"The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was the tip of the iceberg. The question of how the church understands scriptural authority was the crux of the problem."
Most of America's mainline Protestant churches have been divided for 30 years over whether sexual relationships between people of the same gender are always sinful. Theological conservatives cite Bible verses condemning such acts, while their opponents argue that the passages were conditioned by ancient cultural biases. The Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and United Church of Christ, all had significant splits as they moved to accept openly gay clergy.
The fracturing in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been quiet because there has been no property litigation. The denomination has provisions that permit departing parishes to keep their property if they follow certain procedures.
Most departing congregations have joined either the new North American Lutheran Church or the 10-year-old Lutheran Congregations In Mission for Christ. Both are theologically conservative, but the latter is less hierarchical. All congregations that recently left the Southwestern Pennsylvania synod joined the North American Lutheran Church.
To date, the North American Lutheran Church has nearly 250 parishes with 100,000 members. The Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ has about 675 churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says that 444 parishes voted to leave after the gay ordination decision, but that it has started more than 300 new churches. Its parish count remains at about 10,000. The Southwestern Pennsylvania synod has 193 parishes.
First Published May 31, 2011 12:00 am
