ELCA NEWS SERVICE August 17, 2003 ELCA Assembly Considers "Listening Posts" for Gay, Lesbian People 03-CWA-51-MR MILWAUKEE (ELCA) -- The 2003 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) considered a motion designed to encourage the 5 million-member church to organize "listening posts" for the purpose of hearing the experiences of Lutherans who are gay and lesbian. The assembly voted to refer the motion to the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality as "information." The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 11-17 at the Midwest Airlines Center. There are about 2,100 people participating, including 1,031 ELCA voting members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Making Christ Known: For the Healing of the World." Sally Young, Waterloo, Iowa, a member of the ELCA Church Council, presented the motion to the assembly along with a recommendation that the motion be referred "as information" to the task force. The recommendation came from the council's Committee of Reference and Counsel, which Young chairs. The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. Allison A. Guttu, voting member, ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod, who submitted the motion to the committee, asked the assembly to substitute her motion for the committee's recommendation. With a vote of 386 to 586, the assembly declined to substitute Guttu's motion for the committee's recommendation, and then voted 834 to 136 to accept that recommendation. In her motion, Guttu wrote that the purpose of the listening posts is "to provide opportunities for conversations with gay and lesbian Lutherans, not to debate homosexuality, ordination or same-gender blessings." Such listening events would be conducted at each of the ELCA's 65 synods in 2004 and 2005 and at the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly took three actions to call the ELCA into a process of study on homosexuality. That assembly called for a progress report on the studies to the 2003 assembly; a final report with recommendations to be presented to the 2005 Churchwide Assembly; and, asked the ELCA Division for Church in Society to prepare a social statement on human sexuality. Current ELCA policy expects ministers to refrain from all sexual relations outside marriage. Since the church has no official policy on blessing same-gender relationships, this precludes homosexuals in relationships from ordained ministry. The ELCA Conference of Bishops, an advisory body of the church, stated it does not approve of such ceremonies. To oversee the church's studies on sexuality, a task force was assembled by the ELCA Division for Ministry and Division for Church in Society in May 2002. The task force assists the divisions in developing study materials, recommendations and proposals regarding the assembly mandates. -- -- -- Information about the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be found at www.elca.org/assembly/03 on the Web. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news