Policy on gays may cause Centerville church to split
By Jill Kelley, Staff Writer
Updated 8:46 AM Tuesday, November 9, 2010
CENTERVILLE — One of the Miami Valley’s largest churches is considering an “amicable separation” of its congregation in response to a policy allowing gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as ministers.
On Nov. 2, Epiphany Lutheran Church sent a letter to its congregation of about 3,000 members asking them to cast an informal vote about the separation, “in hopes of moving beyond our differing opinions concerning the (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s) August 2009 social statement.”
The ELCA debated the issue for many years, and last year’s formal decision has been divisive for many affiliated congregations. ELCA spokesman John Brooks said 291 of the organization’s more than 10,000 congregations, including Trinity Lutheran Church in Springfield, have voted to leave since the 2009 policy change.
At Epiphany, which has reported financial struggles and declining attendance as a result of the division, the church’s Congregation Council voted 10 to 5, with one abstention, to separate the church. The council recommended the separation after considering whether to fully support the ELCA, leave the ELCA or revisit a previous resolution to “agree to disagree.”
The congregation is being asked to vote in an informal “straw poll” as to whether it should separate. The results will not be considered an official congregational vote.
Neither the Rev. John Bradosky, the church’s senior pastor, nor church council members could be reached for comment.
Longtime church member Marilyn Campbell of Centerville said she does not want the church to split. “It is so confusing and heartbreaking to see the people in such a rift,” she said. “Our pastor, Pastor John, who I really like, won’t give an inch on this matter. He keeps the pot boiling.”
The voting deadline is Nov. 15. The council will hold its annual meeting Dec. 5. In August, Epiphany opened its Austin Campus at Sheehan and Social Row roads in Washington Twp.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
