The president of the country's second-largest Lutheran denomination says the larger Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has taken an unbiblical approach in a report that recommends gays be allowed to serve in church leadership.
At an annual meeting with ELCA leaders on March 29, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick released a pastoral letter critiquing an ELCA proposal that would allow gays and lesbians to serve as pastors without discipline.
“The report does not speak clearly and authoritatively regarding homosexual behavior and the ordination of those who are openly involved in such behavior,” Kieschnick's letter said. “This goes contrary to the historic and universal understanding of the Christian church regarding what the Holy Scriptures teach about homosexual behavior as contrary to God's will and about the biblical qualifications for holding the pastoral office.”
In January, the ELCA released the report of a sexuality task force that offered measured recommendations for continued openness toward homosexuality within the church.
Though the report said homosexual relationships should not be blessed and that homosexual ministers should abstain from sexual relationships, it allowed for pastors who want to “provide pastoral care for gay and lesbian Lutherans.” The report also said the ELCA may choose not to discipline gay and lesbian ministers who are in committed relationships.
The ELCA, with 5 million members, and the LCMS, with 2.5 million members, are the largest Lutheran church bodies in the United States and have repeatedly disagreed about homosexuality.
Religion News Service