ATLANTA (ABP) — An ecclesiastical panel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has issued a decision upholding — but decrying — punitive action against an openly gay Atlanta minister.
In the Feb. 7 decision, the disciplinary hearing panel said that Brad Schmeling, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, was clearly in violation of two church policy documents because he now is in a committed sexual relationship with another man.
However, the committee also said that the two sets of disciplinary guidelines “are at least bad policy, and may very well violate the constitution and bylaws” of the denomination.
The panel's decision, written by James Ellefson, recommended that Schmeling's ministerial credentials be revoked. But it postponed the action until August, following the denomination's annual meeting, in the hopes that the church might change its policies regarding gay clergy.
Ellefson said that, should a higher church court determine that the policies excluding openly gay pastors in the ELCA are unconstitutional, “then this committee would find, with near unanimity, that there is nothing about Pastor Schmeling's acknowledged and stipulated homosexual relationship that would impede the proclamation of the gospel or the right administration of the sacraments.”
The decision came after Schmeling informed Ronald Warren, bishop of the ELCA's Southeastern Synod, that he had entered into a committed same-sex relationship with a man who was a former ELCA minister. The denomination's rules do not bar openly gay people from serving as clergy, but they do require gay ministers to remain celibate.
According to the decision, both Warren and the congregation at St. John's — Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church — were aware of Schmeling's sexuality when he became pastor in 2000. Schmeling assured Warren that he would alert him if he ceased being celibate. In 2006, the pastor alerted the bishop to the relationship he had entered.
Warren praised Schmeling's ministry in dramatically revitalizing the once-moribund St. John's and said he was personally sympathetic to Schmeling. However, he said his ecclesiastical duties require him to file disciplinary charges against the pastor.
In a Feb. 8 letter to the St. John's congregation, Schmeling said, “In some ways, I hoped to be finished with the process, but I now believe that the committee has given us an amazing opportunity to continue a conversation that will help our church more faithfully preach the gospel.”
A Feb. 9 statement from a conservative group that opposes pro-gay movements in mainline Protestant denominations criticized the decision's rationale.
“While we commend the ELCA clergy committee for upholding church law in this matter, we remain disappointed in the statement of the committee, which essentially calls for a method to bypass the guidelines,” said Jim Tonkowich, president of the Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy.
“The IRD believes that the ELCA committee decision should be centered on the word of God, not on an arbitrary attempt to circumvent it in order to appease the culture.”
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Read more:
Statement of ELCA disciplinary hearing committee (PDF document)