One Lutheran church leaves, one mulling
Source:By Tom Stafford, Staff Writer 8:10 PM Tuesday, October 19, 2010
SPRINGFIELD — One Springfield Lutheran church has voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) over the denomination’s decision to allow ordination of gays and its blessing of same-sex unions, and members of a second Lutheran church have begun the process to do the same.
On Sunday, 78 percent of the members of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1801 St. Paris Pike, voted in favor of a motion to join the National American Lutheran Church, said the church’s senior pastor the Rev. Daniel Powell.
The National American Lutheran Church was founded this summer in Columbus; its member churches have traditional teachings on homosexuality.
Grace will have a second vote Jan. 16. A two-thirds majority is required to officially make the move.
Trinity Lutheran Church, 1612 S. Belmont Ave., was accepted into the NALC after its second vote Oct. 10. The majority was “about 80 percent on both votes,” said the Rev. Roger Herrick, pastor of Trinity Lutheran.
Herrick said the move “has very little to do with sexuality. It has most to do with accepting the scripture as the basis of our faith in life.”
Although also asserting that Biblical authority as the core issue, when asked whether sexuality played an important role, Powell answered with what he called a “qualified yes.”
Powell said the vote leaves “a broad level of sadness” among disappointed members. Both sides were “faithful people,” he said.
“People I love say ‘this just breaks my heart,’” he said.
Powell added that if Grace’s second vote mirrors the first, little will change theologically.
“We will continue to teach, preach and practice what we have been teaching, preaching and practicing for 95 years,” he said.
Herrick said those at Trinity feel a “sense of relief that we’re no longer going to have to deal with this issue.”
The Rev. John Pollock, pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, said that church will await the ELCA national assembly in August of 2011 before taking any action.
“There doesn’t seem to be a real groundswell,” he said.
Pollock added that a recent meeting of the Mad River Conference of about a dozen area ELCA churches, “all the other congregations seem not even to be discussing it.”
“It’s kind of a no-win situation,” he said. “No matter which way the vote goes, you’re going to lose people.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368 or tstafford@coxohio.com.
