Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Christ is in our midst!
Posted on 01/13/2011 6:41:32 AM PST by rhema
ELCA Bishops be warned. If you seek to remove pastors who disagree with the direction of the denomination, you will lose. That is what happened in Greenfield, Indiana, recently.
It all began with St. James Lutheran Church’s pastor, Larry Gember. The spiritual leader of the congregation, recommended that they vote to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (The St. James Church Council also recommend that they leave.) Pastor Gember outlined his thoughts in a letter to the congregation a few weeks before the church’s scheduled November 21, 2010, vote.
In the letter, Pastor Gember outlined troubling issues he saw within the ELCA. He mentioned his concern over the ELCA’s system of decision making and his theological concerns over what was happening in the ELCA, among other things. Near the close of Pastor Gember's letter he said, “I would like to be part of a church body that has relative peace and is joyfully focused on the basics of mission and evangelism. I see those things in both LCMC and the NALC. Therefore I urge you to vote 'yes' to the Council’s recommendation.” (read Pastor Gember’s letter here)
On November 21, the majority of the congregation at St. James Lutheran Church voted to leave the ELCA. Unfortunately the majority was 6% shy of the 67% needed. (87 members voted to leave the ELCA, 54 members voted to stay) (see here, under the “newsletter” link)
Less than a month after the November 21 vote, ELCA Indiana-Kentucky Synod Bishop William O. Gafkjen requested that Pastor Gember resign as an ordained minister in the ELCA. Bishop Gafkjen said he made this request because he did not want someone who is not committed to the ELCA and who, he claimed, is working to undermine the denomination, to be a pastor in the ELCA. (read Bishop Gafkjen’s letter and St. James Lutheran’s response here)
The request by Bishop Gafkjen is very troubling. It tells me that some, maybe most, of the leadership in the ELCA want to eliminate pastors who disagree with the direction the ELCA is taking. Exposing the ELCA has reported on other attempts by ELCA bishops to silence, blackball and remove pastors from the ELCA roster because the pastors would not go along with the ELCA and compromise their historic Christian and Lutheran understandings of God’s Word. (see here and here for examples)
It is evident that the ELCA desires to silence and remove the orthodox voice, which is the historic, worldwide understanding of Scripture. Peter, John, Luke, Paul and Jesus Himself would have been asked or forced to leave the ELCA based on their understanding of God’s Word and for the stand they took toward those who distort Scripture.
Pastor Gember has declined Bishop Gafkjen’s request to resign. On January 2, 2011, in a great show of support for Pastor Gember and Scripture, St. James Lutheran held another vote to leave the ELCA, which passed 172 to 50.
Jesus said, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” Matthew 10:14. That is what St. James Lutheran Church is doing, shaking off the dust. We all should do the same.
The original vote against leaving was 54. Looks like he didn't change anyone's mind, just got more to vote. Were the 50 just going for Hope and Change? or do they really feel that the direction the ELCA is going is Biblical?
I will have to ping the homeboys about this.
But, I have to agree with the authority of the ELCA to boot the guy-- even if I think that the ELCA is now run by lefties.
2 Timothy 4:3-5
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
And congregation front offices wonder why their flocks are shrinking!
Looks like the Bishop didn’t get the memo about respecting “bound consiences”. (/sarcasm)
ELCA => Hell in Handbasket.
As Groucho would say, "close but no cigar".
E xtremely
L ibertine
C ult of
A ntinomianism
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Christ is in our midst!
By their constitution, the congregation must confer with the Bishop before taking their second vote. That may be an appropriate time for the congregation to tell the Bishop to resign.
Nice off-hand slam, but one of the reasons to encourage former ELCAns to go the route of NALC/LCMC. LCMS has its own libs, and needs no more.
Nice off-hand slam, but one of the reasons to encourage former ELCAns to go the route of NALC/LCMC. LCMS has its own libs, and needs no more.
I am a member of the WELS (Wisconsin Synod). I never really new the Bible or my Savior until I attended this wonderful church.
I hope the pastor asked the bishop which Bible verses state that God approves of homosexuality.
Can the ELCA have it both ways? Aren’t pastors called by the congregation? The congregation is its own ‘franchise’ right?
The congregation could, if they wanted, fire the pastor and put out another letter of call. In my ELCA congregation, it’s the congregation that pays the salary of the pastor, not the ELCA itself.
In fact, the money goes from congregation to ELCA and really never comes back (what money goes to the ELCA).
It isn't only the congregation front offices. Denomination front offices are seeing congregations leaving.
Is a quorum of members needed to vote on these exit propositions? Or is the vote just based on those who choose to vote? Who exactly is accounted a "member" in an ELCA congregation? How is this vote verified for member participation only? I can see the liberal members bringing along a cadre of activist buddies to skew the vote (kind of like in Dem elections).
Each congregation has a Constitution which specifies the number of "Voting Members" required for a quorum. There is no uniform official standard.
Who exactly is accounted a "member" in an ELCA congregation? How is this vote verified for member participation only?
Voting members are defined (and this is a uniform standard across the ELCA) as those Confirmed (meaning, having been received through Confirmation a.k.a. "Affirmation of Baptism") members who have Communed and made a contribution of record within the current or preceding year.
"Year" is understood to mean the calendar year.
For a vote of such gravity the best procedure is to require all in attendance to sign in and to check those names against a list of those who are in fact "CCC" (Confirmed, Communing, and Contributing).
It is possible that a member who had been inactive could show up, Commune, and make a contribution of record (offering envelope or check) on the day of a meeting and thus suddenly become eligble to vote.
I know of one congregation (this happened well over a decade ago) which was going to have a major vote and the Council and Pastor thought it would be a good idea to offer Communion that Sunday in case someone wanted to become eligible. Needless to say, the opposition rounded up the inactives, who communed, contributed, and voted down the proposition.
Not too likely to happen these days as most ELCA congregations have offer Communion every Sunday at every service.
Even though it is ‘old right’? It isn’t very moderate though!
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