ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 20, 2010
ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod to Receive Seven Pastors
By 'Rite of Reception'
The Rev. Dawn Roginski, the Rev. Sharon Stalkfleet, the Rev. Ross Merkel, the Rev. Steve Sabin, the Rev. Paul Brenner and the Rev. Jeff Johnson. Not pictured: the Rev. Craig Minich and the Rev. Megan Rohrer." align="right" border="0" hspace="10" />
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is celebrating a "Rite of Reception" service for seven pastors on July 25 at St. Marks Lutheran Church, San Francisco.
"The service is being offered in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for the future of this church," said the Rev. Mark W. Holmerud, bishop of the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod, Oakland, Calif., which serves Northern California and Northern Nevada.
In April the ELCA Church Council authorized a rite proposed by the ELCA Conference of Bishops designed to receive pastors from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) onto the ELCA's roster of ordained ministers. To be used by the ELCA's 65 synod bishops in the next two years, the rite serves as a means of reception that embraces the ELCA's desire for reconciliation with ELM pastors serving ELCA congregations who wish to be recognized fully as ordained ministers in the denomination.
A key piece of the approved rite was that it "must be recognizable by fellow members of the Lutheran World Federation and among the ELCA's full-communion partners as containing signs consistent with ordination into the whole Church, in accordance with Lutheran Confessions, history and practice," according to information provided to council members.
ELM is an organization that credentials qualified candidates of all sexual orientations and gender identities for ordained ministry.
"These seven pastors (and one other pastor who will be brought onto the roster at a later date) have been offering exemplary ministry in congregations, nursing homes, to the people of the streets, and to youth in the East Bay," said Holmerud, despite the fact that the pastors were barred from official church rosters because they were not in compliance with ELCA ministry policies.
Ministry policies were changed by the council in April in response to the actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which directed that changes be made to make it possible for qualified candidates living in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and other professional church workers.
"Their reception onto the roster of this church is a way of acknowledging and celebrating the significance of their lives and ministries, and, we pray, will be a sign of Christ's blessings and presence through the ministry of the Sierra Pacific Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as we serve together in the future," Holmerud said.
Those to be received by the synod on July 25 are the Rev. Paul R. Brenner, the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson, the Rev. Craig M. Minich, the Rev. Dawn M. Roginski, the Rev. Megan M. Rohrer and the Rev. Sharon S. Stalkfleet.
In addition, Holmerud said the Rev. Ross D. Merkel's restoration to the roster will be celebrated during the worship service. The Rev. Steven P. Sabin, also restored to the roster, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination in late August with his congregation.
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Information about the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod is at http://www.spsELCA.org/ on the Web.
