INDIANAPOLIS — Conservatives upset over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) recent decision to allow noncelibate gay clergy have voted to create a free-standing synod and study for a year about whether to leave the denomination.
“Basically what we’re saying is that a year from now, we’re going to have a proposal of some form,” said Pastor David Baer of Whitewood, S.D., a member of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE), which hosted a meeting of 1,200 conservatives in an Indianapolis suburb Sept. 25–26.
The group approved a constitution for CORE and asked a steering committee to return in a year with recommendations on whether to leave the ELCA, merge with another Lutheran denomination or start their own. Ultimately the group hopes to “reconfigure” Lutheranism in North America to accord with traditional views of Scripture and homosexuality.
In August, the ELCA voted to allow Lutherans in “lifelong, publicly accountable, monogamous, same-gender relationships” to serve as clergy. The 4.6 million-member church also voted to allow congregations to “recognize, support and hold publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”
The free-standing synod CORE created Sept. 26 includes members of the ELCA but is not affiliated with the denomination, according to CORE, which has asked members to funnel donations away from the ELCA’s Chicago headquarters.
“God is calling us to do something,” said CORE’s chairman, Pastor Paull Spring of State College, Pa. “The ELCA has fallen into heresy. It is a time for confession and a time to resist.” (TAB)
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