Friday, November 19, 2010 02:52 AM
BY MEREDITH HEAGNEY
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
An Upper Arlington-based church that was one of the 10 largest in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) officially has left the denomination after disagreements over homosexuality.
Most members of the 5,800-member Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, which has three campuses, were troubled by what they viewed as the liberal drift of the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S.
On Oct. 31, members voted 558-28 to leave the ELCA. It was a second vote, as required; the first vote passed in June."
Celebrate!
The tenth annual gathering of LCMC, "Celebrate Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday Today and Forever", took place at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley, MN, October 3-6. This was indeed a time to celebrate as we thanked and praised God for ten years of His guiding LCMC, the milestone of over 500 congregations in the association, and a record breaking attendance of nearly 1100 members and guests.***
GJ - ELCA's answer is to pass new rules making it even more difficult to leave. Meanwhile my old pal from New Testament at Yale is taking over the bankrupt Wartburg (ironic, no?) Seminary, founded by W. Loehe.
WELS DP Robert Mueller called me a "trouble-maker" because I challenged the LCA about abortion and homosexuality before I left the LCA in 1987. He said angrily, "You cause trouble every where you go."
It took some time, but 500+ congregations now agree with me.
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John has left a new comment on your post "Local Lutherans quit denomination | The Columbus D...":
Rev. Jackson,
I attended a Lutheran Free Conference in St. Cloud, MN, on October 30th.
One of the presenters was a pastor of the LCMC. His presentation showed that the ONLY difference between the LCMC and the ELCA was the subject of homosexual clergy. It appeared that the LCMC and ELCA are in agreement on all other issues, including the ordination of women.
I live in the Twin Cities area and know that Calvary, Golden Valley is a huge congregation. The fact that it is LCMC means nothing more than that it is one of 500+ congregations that hold to all of the ELCA teachings other than practicing homosexual/lesbian pastors.
Where does the LCMC state that it stands against abortion?
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GJ - I am not sure that is true, because of many Internet posts I have seen from the departing ELCA people. However, they probably do have a weak adherence to the Confessions, which means they are less hypocritical than Missouri, WELS, and micro-mini synods. I am not defending the LCMC but I am promoting anyone's exit from ELCA.
I will write more in a new post. I did say previously that maintaining women's ordination will lead them back to an ELCA-like position, no matter where they are now.
