The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

August 25, 2009

ELS keeping its distance

Lutheran group still holds homosexuality as a sin

By Brian Ojanpa

MANKATO — The Evangelical Lutheran Synod, a Mankato-based conservative Lutheran church body, wants to make one thing perfectly clear:

It should not be confused with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which voted Aug. 21 in favor of ordaining homosexuals in “active” relationships.

ELS President the Rev. John Moldstad said the similarity in names prompted church officials to proactively disassociate itself from the ELCA action.

“We did anticipate there would be people wondering about the confusion,” said Moldstad, who laments the ELCA decision.

“We’re very saddened to see churches go in a different direction from clear statements made in God’s word.”

According to an ELS prepared statement, it condemns homosexuality and extramarital relations as sin, and states that the only proper context for marriage is heterosexual union.

Moldstad agrees with many others that the ELCA’s decision will thin its ranks.

“One ELCA pastor in Michigan e-mailed me and said the ELCA may find it has cleared the way for a mass exodus of churches and individuals.”

The Rev. Jim Ahlquist of ELCA Messiah Lutheran in North Mankato thinks there would have been ramifications regardless of which way the vote went, and urged congregation members to heed the words of ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson: Don’t make any knee-jerk reactions.

“Step back and understand the magnitude of your decision if you decide to leave, because we will be diminished by your absence,” Hanson wrote in an open letter to ELCA membership.

Ahlquist thinks very few of Messiah’s members are ready to “cut the strings” with ELCA affiliation.

Moreover, he suggested the ELCA’s sanctioning of gay clergy ordinations is somewhat moot because the church already has pastors in same-sex relationships.

He said God should be the ultimate judge on the matter.

“Who are we to say who’s in and who’s out?”

ELCA Pastor Roger Haug of Grace Lutheran in Waseca said church officials and parishioners will meet for an open discussion on the vote following services Sunday.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of listening and trying to find commonality of viewpoints as opposed to differences,” Haug said. “I’m sure some people will discuss leaving the ELCA.”

Moldstad said that while the ELS condemns homosexuality, it welcomes people with same-sex attraction who want to be steered back to God-pleasing lives.

The ELS, which operates Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, has about 20,000 members in 132 congregations located mostly in the Midwest.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with about 4.7 million members, is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States.

The ELCA is less conservative than the ELS, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News