Title: ELCA Council Receives Report on Gay and Lesbian Acceptance
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 21, 1999

ELCA COUNCIL RECEIVES REPORT ON GAY AND LESBIAN ACCEPTANCE
99-104-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) responded to requests from two of its 65 synods that the church's
restrictions on ordaining gay and lesbian people be lifted.  The ELCA
Church Council received a report prepared by five units of the church,
sent it as a response to the two synods and transmitted it as
information to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  Two related resources will
be made available to the church's 11,000 congregations later this year.
     The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.  The
council met here April 9-12.  Assemblies are held every other year; the
next is August 16-22 in Denver.
     The 1996 assembly of the ELCA's Metropolitan Washington, D.C.,
Synod resolved to ask the ELCA's 1997 Churchwide Assembly to remove "all
written impediments in ELCA documents to the ordination of otherwise
qualified openly gay and lesbian candidates who are committed to
lifelong, faithful relationships."
     The Metropolitan Washington, D.C., and Sierra Pacific Synods each
held assemblies in 1997 asking the Churchwide Assembly to remove from
"Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline" the sentence which reads,
"Practicing homosexual persons are precluded from the ordained ministry
of this church," and to remove from "Vision and Expectations: Ordained
Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America" the sentence
which reads, "Ordained ministers who are homosexual in their 
self-understanding are expected to abstain from homosexual sexual
relationships."
     The ELCA Division for Ministry was the lead unit in drafting the
response because it is responsible for developing standards for
ordination in consultation with the ELCA Conference of Bishops.  In 1998
the council asked five church units to prepare a "bundled" report of
their "activities relating to homosexuality" for the churchwide
assembly: Commission for Women and Divisions for Church in Society,
Congregational Ministries, Ministry and Outreach.
     The bundled report listed five "observations and convictions:"
-- "The baptized members of this church include both homosexual and
heterosexual persons;"
-- Matters of personal identity, "religious beliefs, moral convictions
and powerful emotions" surface in discussions about sexual orientation;
-- "Changing and differing understanding of homosexuality touch the
church's mission and ministry in a variety of ways;"
-- There can be no "schedule" set to begin and conclude discussions on
sexual orientation; and
-- "This can be a 'teaching moment' offered by God and, therefore, the
church need not be afraid to take up the task."
     Each unit involved in the response added its own report.
     "The Division for Ministry is not proposing a change in the
standards for rostered ministry related to non-celibate gay or lesbian
persons," it said in its report.  "However, the division is committed to
a process of continuing study, personal reflection and conversation ...
that would be involved in either continuing the present policy of the
ELCA or in changing it."
     The ELCA Division for Church in Society (DCS) has been developing
models of "moral deliberation" -- ways congregations can engage in
conversations on difficult subjects while respecting all possible views.
The 1997 Churchwide Assembly asked the division to report in 1999 on
"moral deliberation that can serve this church in its commitment to
continuing dialogue on issues related to human sexuality, including
homosexuality."
     "We want conversation," said Ingrid Christiansen, Chicago, DCS
board chair.  "We have been encouraged by the churchwide assembly to
continue to provide materials to the church, to continue the
conversation on human sexuality, and we want that conversation to go on
in a climate of civility."
     The ELCA has identified moral deliberation as a significant area
of ministry for the 21st century.
     DCS oversaw eight events, each sponsored by a different
organization and tested a different model for moral deliberation.  The
report to the 1999 assembly includes findings from those events.
     The division is producing a resource "to assist congregational
discussion of homosexuality" and another resource "on moral deliberation
of a more general nature," both to be available later this year.  The
council asked that the resource on homosexuality be made available to
all congregations "upon request."
     The council asked also that a resource the ELCA Division for
Outreach developed on "Congregational Hospitality to Gay and Lesbian
People" be made available to all ELCA congregations.  A study team of
staff from several units of the church prepared the resource in
consultation with the Conference of Bishops.  It was originally meant to
assist pastors developing new congregations.
     The Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) is the ELCA's
unit which relates directly to the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO).
As its part of the bundled report, the DCM board included a 1998 LYO
resolution that the youth organization "seeks a partnership with all
members of the ELCA, particularly with clergy, laity, theologians and
church officials, as we pursue a dynamic, interactive, and open and
welcoming ministry with gay, lesbian and bisexual young people."
     The church's Commission for Women has dealt with the question
"What does it mean to be a hospitable church to lesbian women?" in
several settings since 1995.  In 1997 it conducted one of the eight DCS
events.  The commission's steering committee videotaped a meeting in
which lesbians shared "their personal stories and struggled with the
language of 'moral deliberation.'"
     "The Commission for Women has tried to make sure that lesbians'
voices have been heard as we've had this discussion about being
welcoming," said the Rev. Ann M. Tiemeyer, St. Jacobus Lutheran Church,
Woodside, Queens, New York, who chairs the steering committee.
     "We do see it as an important part of looking at how sexism,
racism and classism intersect," said Tiemeyer.  "We've found that some
of the issues around hospitality and welcoming into the church for
lesbian women are the same for heterosexual women.  We struggle with
some of the same realities of where the church is very welcoming and
where it sometimes isn't."

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html