EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

The 'Evangelical Lutheran Church in America' ('ELCA') is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by the merging of three churches and currently having about 4.78 million members, it is the largest of all the Lutheran denominations in the United States.^[1] The next two largest Lutheran denominations are the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (with approximately 2.5 million members^[2]) and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (with approximately 410,000 members). There are also many smaller Lutheran church bodies in the United States.
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States. The ELCA also has congregations in the Caribbean region (Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Before 1986, some of the congregations that form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada were part of the ELCA's predecessor churches. As of the acceptance of the document ''Called to Common Mission'' (CCM) in the year 2000, it is the only American Lutheran denomination in full communion with the Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion.
The ordination of women as pastors (ministers of Word and Sacrament) predates the ELCA and began in 1970, in the former Lutheran Church in America. Lutheran clergy are not referred to as priests or addressed as "Father," but have somewhat similar sacramental and leadership functions, modified by the Reformation conviction that ministry ultimately must be carried out by all members.

Organization and structure

The ELCA is headed by a Presiding Bishop, who is elected by the Churchwide Assembly for a term of six years. The Churchwide Assembly meets biennially in odd-numbered years and consists of elected lay and ordained voting members; between meetings of the Churchwide Assembly, the ELCA Church Council governs the denomination. The current presiding bishop, the Rev. Mark Hanson was elected in 2001 and was re-elected in 2007. The most recent Churchwide Assembly was held in August 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. The 2009 assembly is scheduled to meet in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The church perceives itself as having three expressions:
1) The national church
2) The regional synods
3) The local congregation
The Church is divided into 65 synods, one of which is non-geographical (the Slovak Zion Synod) and 64 regional synods in the United States and the Caribbean, each headed by a synodical bishop and council.^[3] Within the ELCA the term ''synod'' refers to the middle judicatory (referred to in some other Lutheran denominations as "districts" or "diocese").
Within the church structure are divisions addressing many programs and ministries. Among these are support for global mission, outdoor ministries, campus ministries, social ministries, and education. There are twenty-eight colleges and universities affiliated with the ELCA throughout the United States established by the predecessor bodies.
Many of the local congregations are legally independent non-profit corporations and own their own property. Actual governing practice within the congregation ranges from congregational-meeting led (more common in smaller churches), through elder- and council-led, to congregations where the senior pastor wields great, if informal, power (more common in larger churches).^[4]
See List of ELCA colleges and universities, List of ELCA seminaries, List of ELCA synods.

Predecessor churches

The ELCA formally came into existence on January 1, 1988, creating the largest Lutheran church body in the United States. The Church is a result of a merger between the 'Lutheran Church in America' (LCA), the 'American Lutheran Church' (ALC) and the 'Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches' (AELC), all of which had formally agreed in 1982 to unite after several years of discussions. The ELCA's three predecessor churches were themselves the product of previous mergers and splits among various independent Lutheran synods in the United States.^[5]

★ 'The American Lutheran Church'

★
★ In 1960 the American Lutheran Church, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church merged to form The American Lutheran Church, with the Lutheran Free Church joining in 1963. The ALC brought approximately 2.25 million members into the ELCA. Its immigrant heritage came mostly from Germany, Norway, and Denmark. It was the most theologically conservative of the forming bodies, officially teaching biblical inerrancy in its constitution (although seldom enforcing it by means of heresy trials and the like). Its demographic center was in the Upper Midwest (with especially large numbers in Minnesota).

★ 'The Lutheran Church in America'

★
★ In 1962 the United Lutheran Church in America, the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the American Evangelical Lutheran Church formed the Lutheran Church in America. The LCA brought approximately 2.85 million members into the ELCA. Its immigrant heritage came mostly from Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark and Finland. Its demographic focus was on the East Coast (centered on Pennsylvania), with large numbers in the Midwest and some presence in the Southern Atlantic states. There are notable exceptions, but LCA-background churches tend to be more formalistically liturgical than ALC-background churches. Its theological orientation ranged from moderately liberal to neo-orthodox, with tendencies toward conservative pietism in some rural and small-town congregations.

★ 'The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches'

★
★ In 1976 the AELC was formed from congregations that left the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod in a schism precipitated by progressive-traditionalist disputes over biblical literalism, academic freedom and ecumenism. Its establishment was precipitated by the Seminex controversy at the LCMS's Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in 1974. The AELC brought approximately 100,000 members into the ELCA. Its immigrant heritage came mostly from Germany; the complexion of its theology generally resembled that of the LCA, as the dissenting former "moderate" faction of the LCMS.

Presiding bishops

To date, three pastors have been elected to the position of presiding bishop of the ELCA. Herbert W. Chilstrom served as the first presiding bishop from 1988 to 1995. He was followed by H. George Anderson (1995-2001), who had previously been the President of Luther College. The current presiding bishop is Mark S. Hanson, who also serves as president of the Lutheran World Federation. Hanson's began his tenure as bishop in 2001; he was re-elected in August 2007 for a second term.

Beliefs and practice

See also http://www.elca.org/questions/, http://www.elca.org/communication/brief.html and http://www.elca.org/communication/faith.html
The ELCA is a member church of the Lutheran World Federation, a communion of Lutheran Churches throughout the world. Lutheranism is associated with the German reformer Martin Luther, with its official confessional writings found in the Book of Concord. The ELCA accepts the unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it in faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of that document.

★ ''Theological Position'': The ELCA is less conservative than the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) or Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), the second and third largest Lutheran bodies in the United States respectively. Generally speaking, practically all moderate-to-liberal Lutherans in the U.S. belong to the ELCA; all other Lutheran bodies in the U.S. espouse some form of doctrinaire confessionalism or pietism, or an admixture of the two.

★ ''Interpretation of Scripture'': ELCA clergy are unlikely to take the Bible literally, in concord with most liberal Protestant bodies and in sharp contrast to the LCMS or WELS. ELCA seminaries and colleges generally teach a form of historical-critical method of biblical analysis, an approach that, broadly speaking, seeks to understand the scriptures and the process of canon formation with reference to historical and social context. For a brief description, see What is the Bible? on the ELCA website. Because of its use of the historic confessions, its ideological basis in Luther's catechism and its tradition of retaining many Roman Catholic traditions, such as vestments, feast days, and the usage of a church-wide liturgy, there are many aspects of the typical ELCA synod church that are very Catholic and traditional in nature. For a brief description, see What is the Bible? on the ELCA website. The ELCA is a very broad organization, however, and there are large segments of the denomination that are "evangelical conservative," "confessional," "liturgical," "charismatic/renewal," "moderate," and "liberal activist," or even combinations of these. Each of these groups tends to see and use the Bible differently. This tolerant and young church body (1988) has generally perceived such diversity as an asset, instead of a liability or threat, as earlier generations likely would have.

★ ''Sacraments'': Like other Lutheran church bodies, the ELCA confesses two Sacraments, Communion (or the Eucharist) and Holy Baptism (including infant baptism). The ELCA holds to the doctrine of the Sacramental Union, in other words, the belief that Christ is truly present – body, soul, humanity and divinity – "in, with and under" (Augsburg Confession) the Bread and Wine, so that communicants receive both, the elements and Christ himself. Other denominations, mainly of conservative Reformed persuasion, sometimes erroneously perceive this as a belief in consubstantiation. The ELCA, however, rejects the belief of consubstantiation and regards attempts to explain in terms of philosophical metaphysics how the Eucharist "works" as disrespectful of, if not blasphemous against, the Sacrament's miraculous and mysterious character. The Roman Catholic Church believes in transubstantiation, while many other Protestant church bodies doubt or openly refute the Real Presence in the elements of communion. Unlike practically all other American Lutheran church bodies, the ELCA practices open communion, inviting all baptized persons to receive communion. In its quest to return to many of the traditional catholic (universal) practices, the leadership of the ELCA encourages its churches to practice the Eucharist at all services, although some churches still retain non-communion services that alternate with the full liturgy of the Eucharist. In addition to the two sacraments, the ELCA also retains the other five sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church - not as sacraments, but as acts that are sacramental in nature. These include confirmation, holy orders, extreme unction, confession, and marriage. Their practice and their view as "minor sacraments" varies between churches of a "high" and "low" church nature.

★ ''Ministerial training and ordination'': Pastors are trained at one of eight ELCA seminaries located throughout the United States. They generally hold a Bachelor of Arts degree or equivalent, as well as a master's degree in divinity, and are required to learn biblical Hebrew and Greek. Pastors are ordained by bishops under terms of ''Called to Common Mission'' (CCM), the full-communion agreement between the ELCA and The Episcopal Church, a phased embrace of the historic episcopate. Since the passage of CCM, a small number of pastors have received special dispensation under extraordinary circumstances for presbyteral ordination rather than episcopal ordination, under a bylaw exception passed by the 2001 Churchwide Assembly.

★ ''Worship styles'': The ELCA is undergoing a process of renewing its worship life. It recently released ''Evangelical Lutheran Worship'', a main resource for congregations. It is the first in a constellation of resources to be released in the next few years. The ELCA is a liturgical church where local customs flourish. Its worship life is rich and diverse, and is rooted in the Western liturgical tradition, though Lutheran-Orthodox dialog has some influence on Lutheran liturgy. Visitors to Lutheran churches will find some people who will make the "sign of the cross" on their body and others who do not. Many Lutheran Churches use traditional vestments (alb, cincture, stole, chasuble, cope, etc.) and liturgical colors: white, red, green, and purple – although in recent years, blue is worn for Advent, scarlet for Holy Week, gold for Easter Sunday only, and black, the traditional color for mourning, is now only worn for Ash Wednesday. Much of the dialog of the liturgy has its roots in the ancient tradition of the catholic church, and in fact, since the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, many parts of the ELCA's liturgy are worded exactly like the English Mass of the Roman Catholic Church.

★ ''Musical Heritage'': The musical life of ELCA congregations is just as diverse as its worship. Johann Sebastian Bach and African songs are part of the heritage and breadth of Lutheran church music. The new Evangelical Lutheran Worship has ten settings of Holy Communion, for example. They range from plainsong chant, to Gospel, to Latin-style music. Congregations worship in many languages, many of which are represented in Evangelical Lutheran Worship and upcoming worship resources. Other books often found in ELCA churches include the ''Lutheran Book of Worship'', ''With One Voice'', ''This Far by Faith,'' and ''Libro de Liturgia y Cántico ''.
'Comparison to LCMS in ELCA's point of view' according to the ''Honoring Our Neighbor's Faith'' ^[6]

Number	LCMS	ELCA
1	Believe in triune God	Same
2	Accept Lutheran Confessions as true teachings of biblical faith	Same
3	Believe that God comes to us through the Word and the sacraments	Same
4	Teach justification by grace through faith	Same
5	Believe that the Bible should not be subject to higher critical methods, rejecting much of modern liberal scholarship.	Many within the ELCA believe that the Bible can speak effectively through the use of higher critical study.
6	Believe that the Bible restricts women from certain church positions including ordained ministry	Believes the Bible permits, even encourages, full participation by women in the life of the church
7	High degree of doctrinal agreement necessary before fellowship is possible	Agreement on a more basic level is sufficient for fellowship.

Rostered ministry

A pastor in the ELCA church

As a Lutheran church body, the ELCA professes belief in the "priesthood of all believers", or that all baptized persons have equal access to God and are all called to use their gifts to serve the body of Christ. Some people are called to "rostered ministry", or vocations of church leadership and service. After formation, theological training, and approval by local synods these people are "set aside, but not above" through ordination or commissioning/consecration. The ELCA currently has four types of rostered ministers:

★ ''Pastor'': A term often used to refer to an ordained minister of "Word and sacrament". Pastors traditionally serve congregations, but this role is being expanded to include other forms of ministry as well (i.e.chaplains).

★ ''Deaconess'': A lay woman, married or single, who serves the Church in a variety of ways. Traditionally, deaconesses served in the caring professions as nurses, social workers, or teachers.

★ ''Associate in Ministry'': Serves local congregations, synods or other ministries in a variety of roles as parish administrators, parish musicians, youth ministry leaders, or other positions.

★ ''Diaconal minister'': A minister of Word and Service who may serve as a chaplain, youth minister, or in some aspect of social justice or advocacy work. This is the newest category established by the ELCA. A Diaconal minister is similar to the role performed by permanent deacons in the Episcopal Church.
The Division for Ministry at the ELCA's headquarters is responsible for the oversight and pastoral care of rostered ministers, in addition to the synodical bishop. Information on the Division's work and the various types of rostered ministry can be found at the Division's webpage.

Ecumenical relations

The ELCA is a member of the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and Christian Churches Together and is a "partner in mission and dialog" with the Churches Uniting in Christ.
The Church maintains full communion relationships with member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (which is a communion of 140 autonomous national/regional Lutheran church bodies in 78 countries around the world, representing nearly 66 million Christians), the Episcopal Church, the Moravian Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ. In 2005, the ELCA approved a provisional agreement with the United Methodist Church called "A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing", which is the first step toward reaching full communion with that denomination by 2008. Currently, the two denominations are working on a document called "Confessing Our Faith Together."
On October 31, 1999 in Augsburg, Germany, the Lutheran World Federation – of which the ELCA is a member – signed the ''Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification'' with the Roman Catholic Church. The statement is an attempt to narrow the theological divide between the two faiths. The ''Declaration'' also states that the mutual condemnations between 16th century Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church no longer apply.

Social issues

In general, the ELCA is a broad, inclusive organization with a majority of leadership that tends to be moderately liberal which emphasizes social justice among its core values. However, there is a great deal of diversity of opinion among its constituent congregations, and, thus, the ELCA has been the arena for a number of tussles over social and doctrinal issues during the years since it came into existence in 1988. In part, this is due to the fact that the ELCA assimilated three different Lutheran church bodies, each with its own factions and divisions, thus inheriting old intra-group conflicts while creating new inter-group ones. In general, however, the ELCA has avoided major schisms, partly by engaging in long periods of study and interactive deliberation before adopting new stances. Differences on issues usually reflect geographic differences among so-called "Red States" and "Blue States" in the U.S. generally, although historic demographic splits (e.g., urban liberalism over against rural or suburban conservatism) are often perceptible as contexts.
The ELCA's stances on social issues include:

Role of women

The ELCA ordains women as pastors, a practice that all three of its predecessor churches adopted in the 1970s. Some have become synod bishops since the formation of the ELCA (the most recent being the Rev. Claire Schenot Burkat, who was elected as Bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod on May 6, 2006).

Sexuality

ELCA policy documents state that "marriage is the appropriate context for sexual intercourse."

Creationism/evolution

The ELCA has not adopted an official position on creation or evolution, but there is general agreement on Historical and Form Criticism in biblical scholarship.

Homosexuality

The ELCA permits the rostering of men or women in same-sex relationships as of the August 11, 2007 vote at the Churchwide Assembly in Chicago. The Churchwide Assembly voted not to defrock gay and lesbian ministers who violate the celibacy rule who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships". The resolution passed by a vote of 538-431.^[7] However, it rejected measures that would have permitted ordaining gays churchwide.^[8] In past debates, the resolution failed to meet the two-thirds supermajority required for its adoption, and was defeated. The resolution did receive a majority, however. This issue has been discussed for many years and was hotly debated again at the 2007 Churchwide Assembly, although legal difficulties and upset in the Episcopal Church are likely to suggest continued caution about such change. In 2007, however no two-thirds supermajority was required.^[9]
The church's stance and ongoing deliberations on homosexuality have been the subject of sharp clashes. Groups such as Lutherans Concerned/North America are presently advocating for greater strides toward full acceptance and equality for gay men and lesbians, while "renewal" groups on the Right, such as Solid Rock Lutherans, seek to reverse moves in this direction.
The church has officially welcomed openly homosexual members within its congregations since 1991. In 1993, the Conference of Bishops issued an advisory statement which stated that "there is basis neither in Scripture nor tradition for the establishment of an official ceremony by this church for the blessing of a homosexual relationship. We, therefore, do not approve such a ceremony as an official action of this church’s ministry. Nevertheless, we express trust in and will continue dialogue with those pastors and congregations who are in ministry with gay and lesbian persons, and affirm their desire to explore the best ways to provide pastoral care for all to whom they minister." Some on both sides of the issue have regarded this position has providing room, and even tacit permission, for same-sex blessings by individual pastors or congregations. Some congregations and pastors do offer such blessings to their gay and lesbian members. Other church members have understood this language to preclude such blessings. The church's governing documents, including the church's discipline standards for pastors and congregations, neither specifically allow nor specifically forbid such services of blessing. The 2005 Churchwide Assembly continued this policy, urging the ELCA to continue to respect the 1993 guidance from its bishops while also reiterating its welcome to gay and lesbian persons and trust in pastors and congregations to provide faithful pastoral care.
Pastor Bradley Schmeling of St. John's Lutheran Church in Atlanta, Georgia refused to resign last year when Bishop Ronald Warren requested him to do so after Schmeling and Pastor Darin Easler admitted to being in a gay relationship. Easler is a former ELCA pastor and is now a pastor with the United Church of Christ.^[10] Schmeling was ordered to resign by August 15, 2007 and has since appealed the order. This created media attention in the southeastern United States. Due to the 2007 Churchwide Assembly's vote, Schmeling can now remain the pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church. On September 1, Bishop-elect H. Julian Gordy will take over for Warren.^[11]

Abortion

The issue of abortion has also been contentious within the ELCA. The church, in documents approved in 1991, set out its position on the matter as follows. The ELCA describes itself as "a community supportive of life," and encourages women to explore alternatives to abortion such as adoption. However, the church states that there are certain circumstances under which a decision to end a pregnancy can be "morally responsible." These include cases where the pregnancy "presents a clear threat to the physical life of the woman," situations where "the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not participate willingly in sexual intercourse," and "circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant." Regardless of the reason, the ELCA opposes abortion when "a fetus is developed enough to live outside a uterus with the aid of reasonable and necessary technology."

Clergy Sexual Abuse Cases

In March and April 2004, the ELCA agreed to pay the largest ''per capita'' settlement in a church abuse case in the United States to date. The payment was a combination of a jury award and a separate settlement, both stemming from civil suits filed by fourteen plaintiffs against the ELCA, a member synod, several church officials, one of the church's seminaries, and one of its congregations. The plaintiffs charged that they had been sexually abused by an ELCA minister at a church in Marshall, Texas, and that the defendants had been negligent in their oversight and evaluation of the offender. Seeking to reassure member congregations, a church spokesperson subsequently noted that "ELCA bishops do not have authority to reassign clergy, and they do not move known perpetrators to other ministry locations." The offending minister was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2003, and removed from the ELCA's clergy roster.
In January 2007, Kathleen Hopkins of the Asbury Park Press, Toms River, New Jersey, reported,

"Eight more men have come forward to join a lawsuit alleging they were molested as children during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by a now-deceased, one-time pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Brick. That brings to 19 the number of men making allegations against the Rev. Robert L. Slegel. In the year since the lawsuit was filed, the number of plaintiffs has grown from six, each of whom was seeking $5 million in damages. With the additional plaintiffs, the damages sought have grown to about $95 million, said their Toms River attorney, Robert R. Fuggi."^[12]

References

1. ELCA Quick Facts, retrieved June 12, 2007
2. About Us
3. For further information about the ELCA's structure and organization, see 2005 ELCA Constitution (pdf document, retrieved March 27, 2007)
4. See the Model Constitution for Congregations (retrieved March 27, 2007) - especially Chapter 5 "Powers of the Congregation" and Chapter 7 "Property Ownership".
5. For example, see Lowell Almen, ''One Great Cloud of Witnesses'', (Minneapolis:Augsburg Fortress, 1997) p.9-12 for a brief recounting of the formation of the ELCA; or the Roots of the ELCA is available online (retrieved March 27, 2007
6. p. 86 ''Honoring Our Neighbor's Faith'', Robert Buckley Farlee (ed.), Chicago: Augsburg Fortress, 1999. ISBN 0-8066-3846-X
7. Lutherans to allow pastors in gay relationships, retrieved August 12, 2007
8. Lutherans vote not to punish gay ministers
9. ELCA Council Recommends 2007 Churchwide Assembly Rules
10. Lutheran Church in Atlanta Plans to Keep Gay Pastor
11. A Pastoral Letter regarding the Bradley Schmeling disciplinary case and St. John's Lutheran Church, Atlanta, GA, retrieved August 12, 2007
12. Asbury Park Press, "8 more join lawsuit alleging molestation by ex-Brick pastor" January 3,2007 APP Press Full Story

External links

★ Main web site ELCA.org

★ Site introducing ELCA to seekers sharingfaith.org

★ ELCA Disaster Response ELCA.org/disaster

★ ELCA Global Mission ELCA.org/globalmission

★ ELCA Colleges and Universities

★ ELCA Seminaries

★ About.com: Five Christian Denominations Issue Joint Statement Opposing President Bush's 2006 Budget
A history of many of the bodies that merged to form ''ELCA'':

★ Wolf, Edmund Jacob. The Lutherans in America; a story of struggle, progress, influence and marvelous growth. New York: J.A. Hill. 1889.

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