Posted on 11/25/2010 7:26:40 AM PST by rhema
Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are proposing changing rules to make it harder for congregations to leave the church body.
At its Nov. 12-14 meeting, the ELCA Church Council proposed amendments to ELCA constitutions that would make the process of leaving the church body more difficult for congregations. The changes must be approved by the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
How ironic that ELCA leadership is so committed to disregarding the Law of God on sexual ethics but so determined to use the law of humans to coerce congregations to remain in the ELCA , said the Rev. Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE.
Many congregations are considering whether to remain affiliated with the ELCA as they have seen the church body move away from the teaching of the Bible.
Some have cited ELCA publications that question the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection of Jesus and promise salvation to non-believers as examples of the ELCAs move away from Scripture. Many have pointed to recent changes in church teaching and policy to allow pastors to be in same-sex sexual relationships in spite of the Bibles clear teaching to the contrary. Still others have cited ELCA congregations and synods that have utilized a radically rewritten Lords
Prayer that addresses God as our mother who is within us.
[ . . . ]
The proposed changes all of which make the process more difficult for congregations include the following:
**A congregation must hold a 30-day consultation period with its bishop before taking a first vote to leave the ELCA, in addition to the current 90-day consultation after a congregations first vote.
** The synod bishop is given authority to determine how the consultation will be conducted in consultation with the congregations council. The bishop will be able to appoint designees with whom the congrega- tion will be required to consult.
**The bishop or his/her designee must be granted the opportunity to speak at special congregational meetings regarding ending ELCA affiliation.
**A congregation will be required to vote by a two-thirds majority to join a new Lutheran church body, or else it will be conclusively presumed to have become an independent Lutheran congregation, potentially forfeiting its property.
** Congregations will be required to meet any financial obligations to the ELCA before leaving.
** Congregations must wait at least six months before taking another first vote if the original first vote does not achieve the required two-thirds majority.
**Congregations must wait at least six months and restart the process if their second vote does not achieve the required two-thirds majority. Congregations which fail to follow the specified process must obtain synod council approval in order to leave the ELCA.
And the funny thing is like I was saying they don't own our buildings we had to fund them out of member donations. We even helped pay for another "sister" church. The ELCA didn't contribute a penny.
Leaving the ELCA would hurt them and would have no effect on us. I will work diligently to try and get this done.
Thanks for the info!
Are they also going to chain them to the altar?
>>>I still like the Zion, Clear Lake approach.
>>Vote to leave the ELCA
>>Vote to join NALC or LCMC
>>Ignore the Bishop
The church is now rostered with LCMC - pastors awaiting their LCMC credentials. SInce the ELCA has already removed the pastors from the ELCA rolls, once the pastors get their LCMC credentials, it should be over for the ELCA. The bishop is an arrogant egomaniac, and is not going to let this go without a fight I have a feeling.
They may be able to congregations, but not congregants.
It seems like there’s a simple way around this whole convoluted vote, meet with the bishop, vote process.
Rather than the congregation leaving, individuals leave in a large group and start a new congregation affiliated with whatever denomination they want. What am I missing?
we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence.
For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Ghost uncreated.
The Father unlimited; the Son unlimited; and the Holy Ghost unlimited.
The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal.
As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite.
So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty.
So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords; but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity; to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion; to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.
But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation; that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Essence of the Father; begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Essence of his Mother, born in the world. Perfect God; and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood.
Who although he is God and Man; yet he is not two, but one Christ. One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by assumption of the Manhood into God. One altogether; not by confusion of Essence; but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the God the Father Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead.
Thanks. It was good to read these creeds.
BUMP your post.
You nailed it.
David Barnhart writes, The congregations listed below represent a net loss of baptized members for the ELCA of at least 223,228 since August 2009. Add to this number the membership of approximately 40 churches missing from our list, the tens of thousands who left to start new congregations, and the multiplied thousands who have left the ELCA on their own, and the numbers are staggering."
The erosion of congregations will become a stampede!
You are my Orthodox Brother (or Sister?)! I also left the ELCA for the holy Orthodox Church. But I had been basically Orthodox for many years before my Chrismation, because of my relationship with the local Serbian-American community.
I believe that the Orthodox Church is the true home of all Christians, and that the Lutheran Reformers (at least in some cases) were feeling their way toward the Orthodox Church, but were blocked by the Western mindset, as well as the Holy Roman Empire and the muslim Turk, which stood between the early Lutherans and any living Orthodox community. And I also believe that God is using all the horrible problems in the ELCA (which have been building for a very long time) to get Lutheran Christians to wake up and to see that they should at least check out the Orthodox Church.
ELCA members (and others) should attend Divine Liturgy in an English-language Orthodox congregation, stay for coffee hour and lunch, and ask both the priest and the faithful lots of questions. You may find that God is calling you into the Orthodox Church!
It'll take some doing to get the word out to the churches, however. Unlike the endlessly publicized ELCA "Sexuality Committee" deliberations, the proposed new requirements to exit Babylon probably won't get a lot of ink in ELCA publications. (Note that this whistle-blowing report came from Lutheran CORE, not the ELCA.)
The ELCA is more and more like the Soviet Union every day.
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