From the memory banks, a story repeated via many sources, but originally from the ELCA News Service itself:
Large ELCA Congregation Votes to Leave the Denomination
Via TitusOneNine:ELCA NEWS SERVICE
September 27, 2009
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Community Church of Joy, Glendale, Ariz., ended its affiliation Sept. 27 with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
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.
On its Web site, Community Church of Joy cited three documents to help make clear the reasons for the congregation's actions. One document is about Israel and another is about Holy Scripture. A third document references the actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly on the topic of human sexuality.
The assembly approved a series of proposals to change ministry policies, including a change to allow Lutherans in lifelong, publicly accountable, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers. The assembly also approved "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust" -- the denomination's 10th social statement, which addresses a spectrum of topics relevant to human sexuality from a Lutheran perspective.
The Rev. Stephen S. Talmage, bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, Phoenix, spoke to members of Community Church of Joy in early September. He said about 40 people were present, and about 20 of them were members of Community Church of Joy. Kallestad was not present.
"In the meeting I affirmed the ministry of Community Church of Joy," Talmage told the ELCA News Service. "I lifted up that Pastor Kallestad and the congregation have had a historical reputation of trying novel and creative things. They also, without a doubt, clearly have a heart for reaching the unchurched. They've pushed the envelope for the ELCA, having us look at how we do worship, how we evangelize and how we reach out."
Talmage said he also listed the ways in which Lutherans engage in mission and ministry across the country and overseas. "That will be lost, and that's sad," he said. "My hope is that, although they're leaving, we can still discover ways we can cooperate in ministry and celebrate our common commitment to growing disciples."
Talmage was not present for the Sept. 27 vote at Community Church of Joy. The Rev. John Q. Cockram, Shepherd of the Desert, Sun City, Ariz., represented the synod.
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Information about Community Church of Joy is at http://www.joyonline.org on the Web.
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GJ - I hesitate to remind readers - "I have been there too, and I heard Kallestad preach." Community of Joy is in our former suburb of Glendale, Arizona, so Mrs. Ichabod and I went there for a service. The pastor has a DMin from Fuller Seminary and the congregation never features its Lutheran identity - if it has one at all. Kallestad became famous for Entertainment Evangelism, a method used with WELS/ELS approval at The CORE, Latte
This 2009 news story mentions about 200 congregations in the LCMC. I believe they have 500-700 congregations now. The situation is so fluid that the facts are evasive. Congregations are in a constant state of looking at the issues, affiliating with dissenting organizations, and voting to join either LCMC or NALC. Some have started re-voting after the initial effort failed. Additional alternative Lutheran groups are also receiving new congregations.
ELCA decided to scare congregations into staying, with harsher rules. That should accelerate the exodus. Supposedly, former executives Crumley (LCA) and David Preus (ALC) think the merger they midwifed was a big mistake. How do you like that, Ichabodians? I have two former denominational executives who agree with me.
They are saying I was right, 23 years ago, and they were wrong. But - do SP Harrison, SP Schroeder, and Pope John the Malefactor listen up?
I wrote previously that Stan Olson was once a divisional head of ELCA (one out of four divisions). The four divisions were dropped and he was demoted to head of an office, the very office used to expedite the blessed reconciliation of ministers previously ousted from ELCA. The office he served so efficiently was liquidated in the latest melt-down of finances. Olson is old enough to retire, but he took on the presidency of Wartburg Seminary, an ELCA seminary in financial meltdown. Eventually, God will look at his resume and say, "Stan, you have been everywhere - professor, pastor, district bishop, senior executive, junior executive, seminary president."
