FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIRST TWIN CITY CONGREGATION VOTES TO LEAVE ELCA
A 96 percent majority of the members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis voted on Sunday, September 27, to leave the ELCA. Due to the outcome of the recent ELCA Churchwide Assembly decisions regarding the role of Scripture and the ordination of practicing homosexual and lesbian persons, St. Paul's was forced to act.
Back in October of 1990, the congregation's Council set a policy that if the ELCA ever moved to allow such ordinations, the congregation would immediately begin the process to leave. "We feel quite affirmed by the hundreds of congregations who are contemplating the same move." said St. Paul's Senior Pastor, Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. "Since the ELCA vote, the reaction across the country has been swift and overwhelming. I have received phone calls from all over the country from pastors and members of congregations who are withholding funds from the national church, and are preparing to move to a newly forming Lutheran denomination, the LCMC. The phone at the LCMC office in Michigan has been ringing off the hook." In a separate action, over 1,200 ELCA leaders met last week in Indiana to begin work on another breakaway synod.
"When the ELCA took actions that even the liberal United Methodist and Presbyterian Church USA have repeatedly rejected, the sign was clear that the stranglehold of the activist fringe have taken control of the leadership of the church. Those of us in the center, representing over 80% of ELCA Lutherans in the pew, can see that it's time to form a new church body. It's time to build a positive, grace-filled, missional church- the ELCA that could have been." According to its process, St. Paul's congregation will now go through a process of consultation with the local ELCA bishop, and then hold a second vote at least 90 days after the first, which must pass by two-thirds.
St. Paul's is a legacy congregation in downtown Minneapolis. Founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1872, it was the fourth Lutheran congregation founded in the city. Today it draws members from a 60-mile circle across the Twin Cities. It is internationally recognized for its college-level programs of cross-cultural ministry education.
From the ELCA News Service:
The congregation was the 10th largest in the ELCA with 6,800 baptized members. According to the 2009 ELCA Yearbook, Community Church of Joy's current operating expenses are more than $2.7 million. It gave more than $207,915 to the ELCA and other organizations in benevolence. By a unanimous vote of 129-0, Community Church of Joy terminated the relationship at a congregational meeting following worship.
"I was praying that (the vote) would be a clear direction from the congregation," said the Rev. Walter P. Kallestad, senior pastor of the congregation. Seeking to be consistent with the congregation's decision, Kallestad announced to the congregation his intention to resign from the ELCA's clergy roster.
Two votes were taken as part of a process to end the affiliation. An initial vote took place June 28, when 185 members voted 174-11 in favor of ending the relationship. Also in June, voting members chose to join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ -- an association of 197 congregations in the United States "rooted in the Lutheran Confessions."
Community Church of Joy's vision, values and mission are no longer aligned with the ELCA, according to Kallestad. "There is such a different direction that the ELCA has chosen, a path they're traveling on, and we really believe that it just was not consistent to where God has called us. And so we're parting," he told the ELCA News Service.
For the full Release visit the ELCA News Wire.
There is also a related article at The Christian Post.
From the Christian Post article:
On its website, Community Church of Joy cited three documents to help make clear the reasons for the congregation's actions. One document is on ELCA’s policy toward Israel, which the church says is not supportive of the nation.
FIRST TWIN CITY CONGREGATION VOTES TO LEAVE ELCA
A 96 percent majority of the members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis voted on Sunday, September 27, to leave the ELCA. Due to the outcome of the recent ELCA Churchwide Assembly decisions regarding the role of Scripture and the ordination of practicing homosexual and lesbian persons, St. Paul's was forced to act.
Back in October of 1990, the congregation's Council set a policy that if the ELCA ever moved to allow such ordinations, the congregation would immediately begin the process to leave. "We feel quite affirmed by the hundreds of congregations who are contemplating the same move." said St. Paul's Senior Pastor, Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. "Since the ELCA vote, the reaction across the country has been swift and overwhelming. I have received phone calls from all over the country from pastors and members of congregations who are withholding funds from the national church, and are preparing to move to a newly forming Lutheran denomination, the LCMC. The phone at the LCMC office in Michigan has been ringing off the hook." In a separate action, over 1,200 ELCA leaders met last week in Indiana to begin work on another breakaway synod.
"When the ELCA took actions that even the liberal United Methodist and Presbyterian Church USA have repeatedly rejected, the sign was clear that the stranglehold of the activist fringe have taken control of the leadership of the church. Those of us in the center, representing over 80% of ELCA Lutherans in the pew, can see that it's time to form a new church body. It's time to build a positive, grace-filled, missional church- the ELCA that could have been." According to its process, St. Paul's congregation will now go through a process of consultation with the local ELCA bishop, and then hold a second vote at least 90 days after the first, which must pass by two-thirds.
St. Paul's is a legacy congregation in downtown Minneapolis. Founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1872, it was the fourth Lutheran congregation founded in the city. Today it draws members from a 60-mile circle across the Twin Cities. It is internationally recognized for its college-level programs of cross-cultural ministry education.
From the ELCA News Service:
Large ELCA Congregation Votes to Leave the Denomination
09-214-MRC
The congregation was the 10th largest in the ELCA with 6,800 baptized members. According to the 2009 ELCA Yearbook, Community Church of Joy's current operating expenses are more than $2.7 million. It gave more than $207,915 to the ELCA and other organizations in benevolence. By a unanimous vote of 129-0, Community Church of Joy terminated the relationship at a congregational meeting following worship.
"I was praying that (the vote) would be a clear direction from the congregation," said the Rev. Walter P. Kallestad, senior pastor of the congregation. Seeking to be consistent with the congregation's decision, Kallestad announced to the congregation his intention to resign from the ELCA's clergy roster.
Two votes were taken as part of a process to end the affiliation. An initial vote took place June 28, when 185 members voted 174-11 in favor of ending the relationship. Also in June, voting members chose to join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ -- an association of 197 congregations in the United States "rooted in the Lutheran Confessions."
Community Church of Joy's vision, values and mission are no longer aligned with the ELCA, according to Kallestad. "There is such a different direction that the ELCA has chosen, a path they're traveling on, and we really believe that it just was not consistent to where God has called us. And so we're parting," he told the ELCA News Service.
For the full Release visit the ELCA News Wire.
There is also a related article at The Christian Post.
From the Christian Post article:
On its website, Community Church of Joy cited three documents to help make clear the reasons for the congregation's actions. One document is on ELCA’s policy toward Israel, which the church says is not supportive of the nation.
Another is about Holy Scripture, which ELCA claims in its social statement on homosexuality “cannot be used in isolation as the norm for Christian life and the source of knowledge for the exercise of moral judgment.”
Community Church of Joy noted how ELCA’s website states that the writers of the Bible “sometimes provide differing and even contradictory views of God’s word, ways and will.”
They also pointed to a number of argumentative comments in the Lutheran Study Bible, including misleading translations and its silence on Apostle Paul’s comment on homosexuality as sin.
Lastly, the third document noted activities taken by ELCA promoting homosexual clergy.
Read the full article at the Christian Post.
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