Another Sem Bites the Dust. ELCA Church Council approves seminary, university merger - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Will WELS/ELS be able to sustain
three little colleges within one day's drive?

ELCA Church Council approves seminary, university merger - News Releases - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 12, 2013
ELCA Church Council approves seminary, university merger
     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In a move toward advancing sustainable theological education, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved July 11 a merger between Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Calif. The Church Council serves as the ELCA board of directors.

     The merger is the result of conversations among university and seminary representatives who agreed that the two schools can best serve the ELCA’s work of theological education by moving toward a merger with the seminary becoming part of the university. [GJ - The seminary is broke but sitting on a goldmine - its land - just like Mequon.]

     “We believe that our integrity is well protected in the agreements that we’ve sent to you,” the Rev. Phyllis B. Anderson, president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, told the council via teleconference.

     In recent years representatives of the ELCA’s eight seminaries have been working with one another and other partners to organize their educational and administrative work in ways that advance a wide-reaching and sustainable theological education network that meets the leadership needs of a “church in mission.” In this work, the ELCA’s 26 colleges and universities have emerged as important partners.

     A merger of an ELCA seminary and university occurred for the first time in 2011 between Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, N.C., and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.

     In his report to the council, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson reported on the approval of the first eight members of an ELCA Theological Education Advisory Council. The denomination is committed to addressing in a holistic way issues on theological education, leadership development, candidacy, call and rostered leaders.

     In other business the council:

+ Elected the Rev. Marit Bakken, Black River Falls, Wis., to the council for a term ending in 2015. Bakken is a student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

+ Recommended that 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly consider the “Book of Faith” initiative as a continuing emphasis and priority in this church. The 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly will gather Aug. 12-17 in Pittsburg. The 2007 assembly established the initiative designed to encourage deeper engagement with the Bible.

+ Received an update on the development of the ELCA churchwide organization strategic plan for 2014 to 2016.

+ Received an update from the Rev. Jeffrey D. Thiemann, president and CEO of Portico Benefits Services -- the ELCA’s healthcare provider. Portico representatives attended 52 of the 65 ELCA synod assemblies this year to assist with transition and rollout of new plans in anticipation of the Healthcare Reform Act.

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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 4 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of “God's work. Our hands,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

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More Are in Church in the SynCons Than in ELCA?But Does That Count the ELCA-Cons of ELCA, NALC, LCMC?

Our UOJ is working!

narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "Steadfast Lutherans » Guest Article — ELCA Has Big...":

While the article from "Steadfast Waltherians" properly states the errors of ELCA, is Missouri rubbing its hands about possibly being bigger someday? It is truly about souls, or it is about money and prestige? Is it about Lutheran orthodoxy? No, because the LCMS is ELCA-like in many regards.

The stats for Missouri are also declining, but the article failed to mention that.

http://www.thearda.com/Denoms/D_887_t.asp

According to Wikipedia, the 2010 LCMS membership was 2,278,586.

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narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post "More Are in Church in the SynCons Than in ELCA?But...":

I have to issue one correction to my post: The number of clergy in the LCMS is not in decline. Note the general trend of the clergy-to-congregation ratio increasing post-WWII. Although there was a "Seminex Dip" in the mid-70's and a few dips in the 90's, this spread has generally increased since WWII.

Is this partially due to people leaving the cities for the suburbs? Is this partially due to more parishes having assistant pastors? Whatever the reason(s), I find this interesting, especially considering the number of sem grads on permanent CRM-status, Missouri-speak for "being punished."

For a synod that allocates roughly one-percent of its budget for the sems, Missouri sure likes to rake in the money from sem students.

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GJ - Someone has trouble with the facts. Three different groups, supposedly at odds, can be grouped together: LCMS, WELS, ELS. The ELS will soon exist only as a historical footnote, according to its own study.

ELCA should be counted together with the bishops' synod (NALC) and the earlier break-off (LCMC) because they have a similar doctrine, except for the ordination and marriage of gays. They ordain women and practice open communion. Wait a minute - so does WELS and the ELS.

This old "My group is better than your group" makes Steadfast utterly boring and predictable. They only allow discussion among those who agree with their ossified and unearned praise for themselves.

The only measure of success is fidelity to the Word, and none of the above are even close to that.

The SynCons and ELCA-cons agree with this,
so they are failing together, epicly.

Aardvark Alley + Bo Harald Giertz, Bishop and Theologian +

+ Bo Harald Giertz, Bishop and Theologian +:

+ Bo Harald Giertz, Bishop and Theologian +

12 July AD 1988

Bo Harald Giertz was born 31 August 1905 in Räpplinge, Borgholm, Öland (Kalmar), Sweden. He came from a prominent family and his father was a noted surgeon and head of one of Sweden's largest hospitals He was also an atheist. Bo planned to follow in his father's path and in 1924 he enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of Uppsala. While there, however, theological students began challenging his belief system and, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, left the school of medicine, and entered the University School of Theology.

In 1934, Giertz was ordained in the Linkoping Cathedral. He became assistant to the bishop and was given responsibility for working with the youth. His own faith and his conviction concerning the relevance of Christianity were on display for the thousands of young people who came under his care. Even as orthodox Lutherans lauded him, he also drew attacks from moderninsts in the Swedish state church and secularists as his writings spread in newspapers and periodicals. The public knew him as a talented and faithful confessor of a Church doctrine that was based in Scripture, confessed in the Creeds, and expounded in the Lutheran Confessions.

Giertz became a priest in Torpa in 1938, serving that parish until 1949, when he was consecrated as Bishop of Gothenburg. While serving Torpa, he wrote With My Own Eyes, a retelling of the Gospels (1947), four theological works, Christ's Church (1939),Church Piety (1939), The Great Lie and the Great Truth (1945), and The Battle for Man (1946), the catechetical book The Foundation (1942), and two novels The Hammer of God (1941) and Faith Alone (1943). These latter, particularly Hammer of God, became popular throughout Scandinavia and then around the globe.

The attention to theology and care for souls that Giertz evidenced in Torpa continued when he became Bishop of Gothenburg in 1949. As the youngest man elected and consecrated to serve the Church of Sweden as a diocesan bishop, he combined a somewhat pietistic type of pastoral care with High Church Lutheran theology, traits that are noticeable in his novels. Following the decisions of the Swedish Parliament and the Church Assembly to ordain women in the Church of Sweden (1958), Giertz became a leader of the opposition. In that same year, he invited all confessional groups in the Church of Sweden to form The Church Movement for Bible and Confession in response to the Assembly's decision.

The demands of the bishopric and the challenges of women's ordination and modernist theology slowed his writing for a time but once he became Bishop Emeritus, Giertz returned to the printed word in full force. He wrote The ABCs of Our Christian Faith in 1971, following it with The Knights of Rhodos (1972), another best-selling novel, the devotional books To Believe in Christ (1973) and To Live with Christ (1974), a new translation of the New Testament with Commentary (1977-1982), and, as a nonagenarian, he wrote The Living God — A Guide to the Christian Faith (1995). Most of Giertz's writings are not now available in English but new translations have begun to appear as the desire to read him grows.

Giertz pioneered a return to every Sunday celebration of the Lord's Supper, something that had largely vanished in the Church of Sweden due to the erosion caused by Pietism and Rationalism. He strongly urged pastors to pray the Daily Offices, something he applied in his own devotional life. Although often rejected by the leaders of the Church of Sweden, Giertz remains popular with true Lutherans in his own country, throughout Scandinavia, and across the world. Of him, the Reverend Hans O. Andrae wrote, "In his vision of the One Holy Christian and Apostolic Church, Giertz integrated a vibrant Evangelical-Lutheran orthodoxy, the Church's traditional liturgy, and sincere church piety into a harmonious and powerful wholeness."

Suggested Lection

Psalm 46
Isaiah 55:6-11
Romans 10:5-17
John 15:1-11

Collect

O Lord God, heavenly Father, we pray that, as You raised up Bo Harald Giertz to lead Swedish Lutherans into a renewed appreciation of their confessional heritage and trust in the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, and as You spoke to the entire Church through his writings, so You would continue to provide faithful pastors and leaders, keep us steadfast in Your grace and truth, defend us against all enemies of Your Word, and bestow on Christ's Church Militant Your saving peace; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

  ¶ 00:00 | 

Comments:

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# posted by  Mickal Pitts : 05:35

Very nice!
"as a nonagenarian, he wrote The Living God — A Guide to the Christian Faith (1995)" - Actually, this is a compilation of three booklets written by Giertz in the mid-1980s, i.e., while he was around age 80. The booklets were then later published together in one volume in 1995. (See A Hammer for God, p. 14).

'via Blog this'

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GJ - The correct way to copy material is to cite it at the beginning, as I do with the link and the name in the headline. Ending without a link and only a "HT" is dishonest and deliberately deceptive. HT means hat-tip, which would be appropriate with a link if only the idea, not the words, came from that source.

I wondered how a publishing house could put up with the plagiarism and dishonesty of Paul McCain, but then I saw the bio for his boss.

Both men share a desire to give a false impression which does not survive a close examination. McCain is only an MDiv with two years of parish experience, which was spent running the campaign of Four-Synod Barry. He cannot write, edit, or articulate Lutheran theology.

Likewise, Kintz gives the impression of having a doctorate in theology. Instead, he has an drive-by online degree in education. Since he changed from being a bookkeeper to publisher and started that online degree when he was hired, he was not in a program that demanded any intellectual rigor.

Therefore, both men are noteworthy in their attempt to create a false impression, but that is what we get for our dollar today. I do not buy from CPH because I consider it a warning label.

2011 report from CPH. Form 990.

Bruce Kintz - salary and benefits - $290,000.

Paul McCain - salary and benefits - $192,000.

Steadfast Lutherans » Guest Article — ELCA Has Biggest Split in American Church History

WELS/ELS and Missouri have
no business working with ELCA
or feeling superior to ELCA.
Thrivent builds with Habitat for Humanity.
Isn't that a warning?

Steadfast Lutherans » Guest Article — ELCA Has Biggest Split in American Church History:

Guest Article — ELCA Has Biggest Split in American Church History

July 12th, 2013Post by Steadfast Lutherans

by Rev. Kevin Vogts

Since shortly after its formation in 1988 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been fixated on deviant sexual behavior, culminating in the endorsement of homosexual pastors in 2009, homosexual “marriage” in 2011, and the election last month of their first homosexual bishop.  Dr. James Nestingen, a highly respected scholar and retired ELCA seminary professor, recently concluded that promoting acceptance of deviant sexual behavior has actually replaced the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the primary mission and message of the ELCA.

Those within the ELCA demanding these radical changes asserted it is necessary for the ELCA’s very survival.  Supposedly, they simply must move into the 21st century on these issues, or otherwise they will be so out-of-step with modern society that it would mean the demise of their denomination.  By the way, this is the same deceptive reasoning behind similar disturbing changes recently in the Boy Scouts of America.

However, the ELCA has now released some startling statistics that show the exact opposite has actually happened:

• When the ELCA was formed in 1988 they had 5.2 million members, but they are now down to only 4 million members–a staggering loss of over 1.2 million members, or 23% of their membership.  They have also lost 1,500, or 13%, of their congregations, from approximately 11,000 to 9,500.  As they “celebrate” this year the 25th anniversary of the ELCA, the fact is that during that time they have lost more members and congregations than make up many entire denominations!
• Of these losses, over 500,000 members and 1,000 congregations have left the ELCA in just the last four years, triggered by their endorsement of homosexuality beginning in 2009.  This is actually the biggest denominational split in American church history, and is directly attributable to that decision.
• Another measure of the ELCA’s decline is that in 1988, 2.1% of all Americans were members of the ELCA, but by 2011 that figure had fallen to 1.3%.  The National Council of Churches reports that the ELCA has “the sharpest rate of membership decline” among all mainline Protestant denominations.  Like Avis car rental which used to advertise “We’re Number 2–But We Try Harder!” the LCMS has historically always been the second-largest American Lutheran church body.  However, at the ELCA’s current rate of losing members–nearly 6% in 2010–in just a decade the LCMS will surpass the ELCA as the largest American Lutheran church body, and a few decades after that the ELCA will cease to exist.
• Even among those congregations remaining in the ELCA average weekly worship attendance from 2003 to 2011 dropped 26%.  The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has 2.3 million members and the similarly conservative Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has 300,000 members, yet even with our smaller combined membership of 2.6 million the LCMS and WELS have more people actually sitting in the pews each Sunday than the ELCA with 4 million members.
• Donations to the ELCA on the national level were $88 million in 2008 but plunged to only $40 million in 2011.
• Luther Seminary, the ELCA’s largest seminary, located in St. Paul, Minnesota, announced that last year they had a $6 million operating deficit on a budget of $27 million.  This was due largely to a recent sharp decline in donations to the seminary, reportedlyincluding a couple that for many years had given $1 million a year to the seminary but stopped their donations after the ELCA’s endorsement of homosexuality.  The seminary was forced to cancel many of its programs and lay off a third of the faculty and staff.
• Since the ELCA’s endorsement of homosexuality, many other Lutheran church bodies around the world have severed their historic ties with the ELCA, and are instead seeking new relationships with the LCMS.  This includes many of the largest and fastest-growing Lutheran church bodies in the world, such as the Lutherans in Ethiopia with over 6 million members–nearly as many as all American Lutheran church bodies combined.  The center of world Lutheranism is shifting from Europe and America to Africa, Asia, and South America, and the LCMS is becoming the theological leader of these growing Lutheran church bodies.  While the ELCA is becoming increasingly isolated in world Lutheranism, at our national convention this month the LCMS will enter into formal fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Liberia, Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Church of Togo.

The Lord warns:

“There will be false teachers among you, who will surreptitiously introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful, licentious ways.”  (2 Peter 2:1-2)

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you formerly had when you lived in ignorance.  Instead, just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:14-15)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)

These passages show how misdirected and sinful it is to accommodate the church’s doctrine and practice to the world’s wicked ways.  It is also foolish and futile.

On the one hand, the world will never be satisfied–until Christians completely renounce their faith.  More importantly, the Lord will never bless such unfaithfulness to Him and His Word.

We see from the sad example of what’s happened to the ELCA–the biggest split in American church history–that whatever churches and other organizations such as the Boy Scouts imagine they will gain by giving in to the world is dwarfed by what they will surely lose.

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GJ - I predicted ELCA's future when I published "Out of the Depths of ELCA" before the merger took place. I left - only to discover that the ELS, WELS, and LCMS leaders were in bed with the same people they were publicly loathing.

When I proved this from AAL/LB publications, the information was hidden from that time on.

Joel Hochmuth proved that WELS has nothing to brag about. The Lavender Mafia does not stop at the borders of a synod, to say, "Oh, we are not in pulpit and altar fellowship."

I lost track of all the LCMS homosexual pastoral scandals. One congregation had to give the victim their property to pay for the damages.