The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided today to join the Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ in allowing the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. According to the Associated Press:
Leaders of the nation’s largest Lutheran church voted Friday to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.
Gays and lesbians are currently allowed to serve as ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America only if they remain celibate. The proposal to change that passed with 68 percent approval.
At 4.7 million members and about 10,000 congregations in the United States, the ELCA is one of the largest yet to take a more gay-friendly stance on clergy.
The final decision on whether to hire gay clergy in committed relationships will lie with individual congregations.
Some critics of the proposal have predicted its passage could cause individual congregations to split off from the ELCA, as has been the case with other Christian denominations, including the Episcopal Church.
Two predictions: 1) Membership loss in the ELCA, which has already cost the denomination more than 10% of its membership and over 700 congregations since it was formed in 1987, and which has accelerated since 2002, will get even worse in the years ahead; and 2) there will be deafening silence after the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod speaks tomorrow.
UPDATE: According to the Living Church Foundation, they’ve also approved same-sex blessings.
August 22, 2009 at 9:53 am
Good news indeed. Hopefully the PCUSA will follow suit soon. Nice to see churches leading again for once.
Numbers, numbers, numbers. I’m sure the bean-counters will make their dire predictions (while conveniently ignoring the membership loss in conservative denominations). Not surprising. Jesus’s path is a narrow way, and some people just aren’t up to it.
August 22, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Very easy to predict membership loss as Christianity itself has seen loss in the last 20 years in the us.
August 22, 2009 at 5:32 pm
But not all denominations by any means, which is the point–by and large, it is the mainline that is declining most rapidly, and conservative or traditional denominations such as the Assemblies of God and Orthodox Church in America that are growing.
August 24, 2009 at 8:44 am
So are the Mormons and the JWs, David. Surely you’re not arguing that numerical growth is an indication of correct theology?
August 24, 2009 at 9:35 am
No.
August 24, 2009 at 11:07 am
Good, I didn’t think so.
Every study I’ve read says that the vast majority of the decrease in numbers in the mainline can be attributed to demographic factors, so I would hesitate to make more of these numbers than is actually there. Give it a few years and the more conservative churches will be showing the same decline. At that point I hope that all churches, mainline and conservative, can stop trying to make these numbers mean something they do not, and instead focus on what they really mean: the need for effective evangelism across the board.
According to recent figures, the SBC is perhaps already showing signs of this decline, though some folks unfortunately seem to want to ignore that fact.
August 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm
At that point I hope that all churches, mainline and conservative, can stop trying to make these numbers mean something they do not, and instead focus on what they really mean: the need for effective evangelism across the board.
Amen to that.