Posted on 11/03/2009 10:01:33 AM PST by rhema
ELCA synods will not have the option of upholding traditional Christian teaching on marriage and homosexuality in their standards for pastors and other rostered leaders according to a draft of candidacy rules released Oct. 10 by the ELCA churchwide organization.
No synod or bishop may make decisions on ministry standards that differ from the new policies of the ELCA churchwide organization as defined by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the policy draft explains. The ELCA now allows pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships.
“By the governing documents, all candidacy and call decisions are made on an individual basis, thus no body can make a blanket statement of approval or disapproval for a group of candidates. Nor can a body alter the policies which this church has accepted. However, a decision making body may express its general understanding of what will best serve the mission of Christ in the places and times for which they have decision making responsibility. No body can restrict the authority given to another by the governing documents. Thus, for example, a synod council cannot bind a synod call committee nor can a synod bind its congregations, but any of these entities may express convictions and preferences to the others,” the draft states.
The only option for a synod candidacy committee that wishes to uphold traditional standards for sexuality is to transfer a candidate to another ELCA synod. “There is local option on same-sex blessings — no congregation is to be forced to perform them (that is what the Assembly adopted; we will have to see how it develops). But ordination policy as proposed is, so far as I can see, tolerance as long as one does not obstruct. A synod could urge partnered gay and lesbian candidates to go somewhere else, but it could not outright refuse them,” the Rev. Dr. Michael Root of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary wrote on the “Lutherans Persisting” blog.
The proposed standards suggest that those who believe in biblical standards for sexuality resign from synod candidacy committees: “Individuals who have a share in discernment and decision-making responsibility need to decide whether they can function in that role under the new policies.”
Professor Root and those participating in the discussion at Lutherans Persisting have traced the way the decisions on allowing pastors and other rostered leaders to be in same-sex relationships were transformed from the local option proposed by the Sexuality Task Force to indisputable change in ELCA policy by the ELCA Church Council.
Heh... who did not see this coming.
Maybe they figure that decimating the ranks of the church - destroying it - is just as good as perverting it from within. so it’s a win-win for them.
People are asking, "Are you a sodomy or non-sodomy Lutheran?"
I fixed it for them.
So when the majority of Lutheran churches stop sending $$’s the synod will be stuck with their new rules and a few queer preachers?
Sodom Land.
Good for them. Cut off the money to the sodomy church. This is all they understand.
Amen brother. Cut off the cash is the name of the game.
Unfortunately we have to fight back against these devious creeps. It could be worse - they use to feed us to the lions. ;-)
As I recall, didn’t one church sucessfully sue to retain their assets against the confiscation of the parent church? That would be a good sign for the flocks.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
well....that lasted about 2 minutes..suddenly, when they settled, the parishes were not separate entities but part of the whole so the parishes got assessed huge amounts to pay for what the diocese elite settled for...
my point is.......I hope the Lutheran churches are individual entities and not just considered an asset of the larger group.....the national people like to proclaim individuality except when it comes to money and then all of a sudden they all belong to the national church....
As always with liberals, tolerance is a one-way street.
I'm guessing that the triangle in the circle represents the Trinity, but I wondered if this type of symbol is common in Lutheran churches, or is something new.
Wow. It’s hard to believe that some of these people want to join the Catholic Church.
NOW comes the open coercion! All that foofarar about “bound consciences” was just that—foofarar!!!!
The ELCA mis-leaders are just as bad as their false god obama, who is “the one” they really follow, not Christ.
Well, back in 2008 God Himself took me out of the grasp of the ELCA mis-leaders and all their tommyrot and delusions. He will take many others away from them over the next year or two. Thanks be to God!!!!
Und you vill celebrate faggotry or you vill be SHOT !
The symbol you are describing sounds like a conflation of the “cross of victory” (Cross above a globe) with a symbol of the Trinity.
If I recall correctly this is something sold through the ELCA church supply & publishing house Augsburg-Fortress.
Traditionally the globe had bands of equal length, like a pair of lines of latitude plus a band of equal length running vertically. The three points of the bands were to represent the Trinity; but I suppose someone felt the symbol could be improved by replacing the bands with the triangle.
To: SmithL ELCA leaders emphasize it's up to individual congregations whether they want gay or lesbian pastors.
For now.
29 posted on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 9:59:00 PM by xone [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
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